Speak Up!

It’s time to let our voices be heard. We need to do our part to participate in the Federal Government’s rulemaking process. The FAA recently published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) titled Mechanic Certification: Inspection Rating and Recent Experience Requirements in the Federal Register. The proposed rule will affect FAA certified mechanics with Inspection Authorization. The proposal would change the Inspection Authorization (IA) to an Inspection Rating. The new rating would carry the same privileges and limitations an IA, but would NOT require renewal every two years or have an expiration date. Instead, the responsibility of currency would rest with the Inspection Rated mechanic to complete required activities to continue to exercise the privileges of that rating. 

I encourage our readers to take some time to read the entire NPRM to understand the changes the FAA is proposing. Once you have read the NPRM, take some time to digest the proposal and think about how it will affect you.  What do you like about the proposed rule change? What do you dislike about it? How will it affect you as an IA? How will it affect your business or place of employment? How will it affect aviation maintenance safety? 

After you have taken some time to understand the NPRM and how it will affect you, put together your thoughts and comment on the proposal. This is important. We have the opportunity to comment on this NPRM to let the FAA know how we feel about these proposed changes. We must all take the time to submit our comments! 

Don’t rely on our variety of alphabet groups to voice their opinions for you. Don’t rely on magazines like ours to voice our opinion for you. Speak out! Let YOUR voice be head!

Think your voice doesn’t matter? Think again! More than 25 years ago (seems like just yesterday) the FAA proposed changes to mechanic ratings (Part 66) that would have established new Aircraft Maintenance Technician [AMT] and Aircraft Mechanic Technician, Transport [AMT(T)] ratings to more closely align with EASA certifications and ratings. By the time the comment period ended, the FAA was flooded with so many comments, many of them critical of the changes, that it ended up scrapping its proposed changes. 

Please take some time to read the NPRM at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/01/2026-13282/mechanic-certification-inspection-rating-and-recent-experience-requirements and submit your comments before the August 31, 2026 deadline.

Thanks for reading!

Joe Escobar