STC holders should take advantage of summertime opportunities to highlight FAA oversight issues to government auditors.

Congress’ May 2024 reauthorization of the FAA, required the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) to audit the FAA’s Flight Standards and Aircraft Certification Services (see P.L. 118-63, Sec. 821). Last November, the first of three audits mandated by the law was initiated to address consistency of FAA oversight of supplemental type certificates.

The OIG has two objectives for its initial audit of the FAA. It intends to determine whether:

(1) The FAA has sufficient controls in place to provide reasonable assurance that inspectors are consistent in determining what aircraft alterations require an STC.
(2) FAA inspectors process STC applications consistently across FAA offices and geographic regions.

ARSA members holding STCs must provide the OIG input to support these determinations. The association has two opportunities for doing so this summer:

(1) Meet directly with the OIG audit team. It is currently performing FAA office site visits with open invitations to industry to schedule input meetings:

June 23-25 – Chicago

June 26 – Milwaukee

Interested members should email the audit team lead directly to schedule an in-person meeting or inquire about online connection options.

(2) Answer ARSA’s ongoing “quick question”:

Note: The question is displayed in its own, embedded window. If the “Submit” button is not visible on the screen, you must scroll within the survey window to submit your response.

If the embedded survey does not appear/load, open the survey independently by visiting: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/STC_audit

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