Story ID: 149Feb18
Govt Shutdown Spotlights FAA Registry Vulnerability
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: Nearly 18,000 FAA workers are furloughed and a number of activities ceased under the shutdown, including NextGen efforts.
Word Count: 1096
As Congress scrambled to reach an agreement to end the government shutdown last month, the lack of protections for the U.S. aircraft registry once again became a major concern for the aviation industry.

The U.S. Department of Transportation released a lengthy list of activities and personnel affected by the shutdown that began on January 20, including the aircraft registry, aviation rulemaking, NextGen activities, airman certificate issuance and approvals of unmanned aircraft systems, among many others. In all, DOT said, 17,859 of the FAA’s 45,668 employees were on the furlough list.

Those not furloughed are involved in safety-sensitive positions such as aviation inspectors or air traffic controllers. In addition, activities that continued included maintenance of navaids, airmen medical certification, limited certification services, on-call accident investigation and foreign relations of aviation safety-related matters, among others. The FAA issued a statement as the shutdown rolled in that “There will be no impact to safety or safety oversight for the traveling public.”
'Unprecedented Action'
The move to close the registry during the shutdown followed the practice of the 16-day-long shutdown in 2013. But that was an unprecedented move; the registry had been unaffected during prior shutdowns. The decision to categorize the registry as a “non-exempt” activity that is subject to a government shutdown had a profound effect in 2013. Estimates are that the 2013 shutdown affected hundreds of aircraft transactions valued at $1.9 billion. And once the shutdown ended, it took weeks for the agency to restore operations to their normal levels.

Congress in 2013 appealed to the FAA to re-examine the decision to include the aircraft registry on the shutdown. Numerous House and Senate lawmakers signed letters asking why the agency had reversed course from previous shutdowns to include the aircraft registry.

In subsequent years, the concern that the registry remained vulnerable to government shutdown has persisted. Lawmakers included provisions in long-term FAA reauthorization proposals to shield the registry from shutdowns, and individual bills to keep the registry open were introduced in the House and Senate. “Not only is this office essential to ensuring to the day-to-day operations of the aviation industry, but the database it houses is essential to maintaining our national security interests in the event of a 9/11-style terrorist attack,” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) in introducing his version of the bill in the Senate.

But despite the pain of 2013, Congress still hadn’t finalized any protections by the time the most recent shutdown took effect.
Long-term Plan Needed
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) stressed that this is another reason why Congress needs to reach agreement on long-term FAA reauthorization.

"It's ironic the one aspect of the government shutdown of most immediate concern to general aviation, the shuttering of the FAA's aircraft registry, could have been avoided had House Republicans dropped its proposed 'airlinization' of air traffic control and approved the FAA authorization, a provision of which requires the registry to remain open during these shutdowns," added National Air Transportation Association (NATA) president Martin Hiller.

GAMA and NATA were among a half-dozen general aviation groups that in January wrote the DOT, urging that it be reopened regardless of a shutdown. The registry, the groups argued, performs essential safety and security functions, in line with international aviation treaties.

“DOT has authority under the Anti-deficiency Act to staff the U.S. Registry as it is vital to protection of human life and property, and necessary for the U.S. to fulfill its ongoing international legal obligations under the Chicago Convention and the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (‘Cape Town Convention’) relating to the registration of aircraft,” the associations said.

The FAA’s own public statements have underscored the agency’s belief that the registry affects public safety and security, the associations said, citing as an example agency statements that the out-of-date registrations could result in loss of property or personal injury. The groups further note FAA estimates that 10,000 aircraft registrations expire each month.

“We commend you for taking actions to bring off furlough other safety-sensitive FAA personnel, but urge you in the strongest possible terms, in the interests of safety, security, and our international obligations, as well as the enormous economic consequences of its closure, to immediately reopen the aircraft registry,” the groups said in their appeal to DOT secretary Elaine Chao.

Also signing the letter were leaders of the National Business Aviation Association, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Experimental Aircraft Association and Helicopter Association International.

Beyond concerns of the registry, the industry feared ramification of the overall shutdown. “General aviation is among the nation’s most regulated industries, with daily oversight and essential services provided by several federal agencies,” NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen said as the shutdown began. “If history is any guide, this shutdown could severely impact the industry, jeopardizing jobs and causing economic harm.”

The concerns cross FAA activities, as well as “services and decision-making from myriad other agencies, including the DOT, the Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection,” Bolen added.

At press time, negotiations on reopening the government centered on the passage of another short-term extension of government funding, possibly to early or mid-February.

This means Congress still must come to a compromise on full-year appropriations. The House and Senate have authored full-year transportation appropriations bills that would provide a boost to FAA’s funding in Fiscal Year 2018—the House, to $16.6 billion; and Senate, to nearly $17 billion.

The full-year bills included a number of other provisions that the industry has been watching, such as a directive to improve use of organizational delegation authority, improved studies on Part 135 activity and continued privacy protections for real-time flight tracking activity. The Senate version of the full-year bill also includes an outright ban on a transition of FAA air traffic control functions to an independent entity. That measure emphasized the clear opposition of Senate appropriators to the ATC proposal.

The series of continuing resolutions and specter of a shutdown has provided fuel to advocates of creating an independent user-funded ATC organization. “There is the exhausting potential for it to happen again…This cycle of dysfunction in funding perfectly underscores the critical flaws in the current system [and is] why A4A is advocating for air traffic control modernization,” Airlines for America (A4A) president and CEO Nicholas Calio said when negotiations over the budget loomed during a previous appropriations negotiation.

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