On the afternoon of Thursday, October 31, 2024, David Cox, Division Manager for the FAA Aircraft Registry, issued a frightening memo to the aviation industry worthy of its Halloween delivery date. In just two paragraphs, Manager Cox announced the imminent death of the public’s rightful access to certain documents filed with the FAA for notice purposes in the aircraft records of the FAA, generally known as Work in Process (“WIP”).
The FAA reasoned that documents accessed during the WIP phase of FAA processing might improperly contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII). With this veiled excuse, by the following Tuesday, November 5, public access to WIP was cutoff, severing vital parts of every living aircraft transaction ripe for examination. This is the chilling post-mortem effect.
To set the stage, let me explain what this means to you and anyone engaged in aircraft transactions. Simply put, WIP is every document or piece of correspondence the FAA receives relating to a specifically described aircraft, engine or propeller (and spare parts locations), until that document is determined by the FAA to be recordable. That is, we will not be able to review the document to determine its effect on the aircraft title until the FAA has taken the time required to do all the following:
Index the documents
Scan the documents into images compatible with the FAA system
Assign the documents to an examiner
FAA examiner to review the document submitted, determined such to meet the requirements of recordability and, finally,
Include the document in the FAA record relating to that aircraft, engine or propeller.
This processing of documents currently takes on average about two (2) weeks. This two weeks is a problem for all of us because, if you stand ready to close your aircraft or engine transaction and anything shows up on the FAA’s index, the parties must delay closing until the FAA makes those documents available to the public to review. We must know exactly what has been filed to confirm to the parties whether clear title is being passed and whether the FAA will process the documents we are filing.
As described above, the FAA's first step is to index documents filed. This simply means someone at the FAA types into the FAA network that they have received a document [by general type], referencing a specific aircraft, engine or propeller [by make, model and serial number], along with the date and time such entry is being made into the FAA system. For the past fifty (50+) years, the FAA has provided the images for review by the public immediately following the indexing and imaging of documents filed. This ability to view documents is vital and has been part of the document processing procedure because reviewing the documents themselves is a vital piece of the entirety of the aircraft and engine records.
Reviewing WIP and indexed information has, until November 5, allowed us to see at least the following:
Bills of sale filed for an aircraft but not yet recorded
Mortgages filed with the FAA and in the process for recording
Leases filed with the FAA and in the process for recording
Mechanics and artisan’s liens filed against an aircraft
Notices of deregistration from foreign civil aircraft registries, a precondition to the FAA processing any Bill of Sale and Aircraft Registration Application to result in U.S. registration of the aircraft
Letters to change or reserve a specific N number
Letters from the FAA rejecting the filing of a specific document and requesting additional information before processing the same for recordation
To offer a bandage for our Halloween horror scene, the FAA reminded us that we can check the FAA public website for this information. However, the website is only updated at midnight each night, after the day has passed. Furthermore, the FAA website does not provide sufficient information to determine whether title is clear at closing. There is no ability to view the documents referenced, and the website only includes information relating to aircraft, not engines or propellers.
“Here we go again,” you might be thinking, “yet another fourth-quarter shock announcement from the FAA Aircraft Registry!” You may recall that in December 2022 we alerted you to a similar action taken by the FAA cutting off public access to Ancillary Files. It took the industry four months to explain to the FAA that access to ancillary files was crucial to the public’s reading of FAA records. Then again, six short months later, in May 2023, the FAA announced that the public would no longer have access to the FAA Aircraft Registry’s legal counsel.
With this ever-increasing decline in most areas of public-facing service, the FAA Aircraft Registry seems to have lost sight of the most important part of its original commission. This commission was made clear by the United States Congress through the General Provisions of Title 49 of the U.S. Transportation Code. That title commissions the Secretary of Transportation to consider the following matters, among others, as being in the public interest and consistent with public convenience and necessity:
"[P]lacing maximum reliance on competitive market forces and on actual and potential competition… [by] developing and maintaining a sound regulatory system that is responsive to the needs of the public and in which decisions are reached promptly to make it easier to adapt the air transportation system to the present and future needs of – the commerce of the United States…." (49 U.S.C. §40101(a)(7))
Considering this highest-level commission by Congress, if the FAA is as passionately concerned about the possible revelation of PII as they claim to be, the FAA should assign a team of people to review documents the instant they are filed, confirming whether there is PII included. If there is PII, redact that information and immediately thereafter make the document available to the public in WIP. This process could take only minutes, not days.
What is the solution? Once again it remains relatively simple. First, restore public access to WIP as these are public documents, filed in the public domain and because they are, the moment they are filed they become crucial to aircraft title issues. Then, second, work with the industry to arrive at a non-disruptive method for resolving the FAA’s concerns about revealing PII.
We will continue to update the public on any progress made in identifying a solution to this problem, hopefully by working closely with the FAA Aircraft Registry.
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