New Service Difficulty Reporting Rules to be Withdrawn

The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing to withdraw a final rule published on Sept. 15, 2000 that would have amended the reporting requirements for certificate holders concerning failures, malfunctions, and defects of aircraft, aircraft engines, systems, and components. The effective date of this final rule has been delayed several times and is now Jan. 31, 2006. "We are proposing to withdraw this rule to allow the FAA time to re-examine the service difficulty report (SDR) program based on comments received and other developments since the final rule was published." We are also proposing several amendments that improve the existing SDR program because they did not receive significant comment when proposed in the final rule. The FAA will accept comments on the proposal until Oct. 14, 2005.