The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- United States (Federal Aviation Administration; federal sector regulator)
- Level
- Federal
- Authority
- 49 U.S.C. § 106(f) and § 40113 (general rulemaking); § 44701 (safety standards); § 44703 (airman certificates); good-cause exemption from notice and comment, 5 U.S.C. § 553(b)(3)(B), (d)(3)
- Issued
- 2020-05-04 May 4, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-04-30
- End
- 2021-03-31 (SFAR 118 as published; amended by SFAR 118-1 (85 FR 38763) and SFAR 118-2 (85 FR 62951, effective Oct. 1, 2020 through Apr. 30, 2021)) (read as 2021-03-31)
- In force
- Apr. 30, 2020 to Mar. 31, 2021
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q2
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Workplace rulesOther
- Addressees
- air carriers (parts 121, 125, 135)
- fractional ownership programs (part 91 subpart K)
- pilots, flight engineers, flight instructors, mechanics with inspection authorization
- pilot schools (part 141)
- remote pilots (part 107)
- Functions reached
- HR crew qualification, training, checking and medical certification
- OP flight operations (essential-operations condition; overflow aircraft ferried to storage)
- WF workforce availability (crews kept qualified only under emergency grace periods)
- CB air carriers and their customers (schedules dependent on crew availability)
- Collection
- Aviation and surface-transport regulators AGY-AVIATION-SURFACE
Operative words
"DATES: Effective April 30, 2020 through March 31, 2021." SUMMARY: "This Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) provides regulatory relief to persons who have been unable to comply with certain training, recent experience, testing, and checking requirements due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. This relief allows operators to continue to use pilots and other crewmembers in support of essential operations during this period. Additionally, this SFAR provides regulatory relief to certain persons and pilot schools unable to meet duration and renewal requirements due to the outbreak. This rule also allows certain air carriers and operators to fly temporary overflow aircraft, a need resulting from the outbreak, to a point of storage." Body: "The FAA is providing relief for second-in-command (SIC) qualifications, pilot flight reviews, specific recency of experience requirements, and the PIC proficiency check for pilots that operate aircraft that require more than one pilot flight crewmember or are turbojet-powered."
Enforcement
14 C.F.R. part 13 (FAA civil penalties and certificate action under 49 U.S.C. §§ 44709, 46301); relief is conditioned on the SFAR's eligibility terms (operations "in support of essential operations"; training and checking completed within the extended grace periods)
Notes
The FAA's own finding, in a legislative rule, that COVID-19 stay-at-home and social-distancing orders made ordinary training centers, simulators, testing centers and medical examiners unavailable; the rule recites that "stay-at-home orders" and the CDC's recommendations prevented compliance. Evidence of a compelled modification of airline, charter and flight-school operations nationwide from March 2020. The 'temporary overflow aircraft' provision documents the mass grounding of fleets.
Retrieval noteText read from the Federal Register PDF (govinfo). SFAR 118 published at 85 FR 26326-26355.