Updating Manual Requirements To Accommodate Technology

This final rule updates the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) manual requirements to reflect industry use of electronic and paper manuals. The amendments apply to fractional ownership operations; domestic, flag, and supplemental operations; rules governing the operations of U.S.-registered civil airplanes which have a seating configuration of 20 or more passengers or a maximum payload capacity of 6,000 pounds or more when common carriage is not involved; and commuter and on-demand operations. This action requires manuals accessed in paper format to display the date of last revision on each page, and it requires manuals accessed in electronic format to display the date of last revision in a manner in which a person can immediately ascertain it. This action also revises the requirement for program managers or certificate holders to carry appropriate parts of the manual aboard airplanes during operations. The FAA instead requires program managers or certificate holders to ensure the appropriate parts of the manual are accessible to flight, ground, and maintenance personnel when such personnel are performing their assigned duties. Lastly, this rule updates outdated language that refers to accessing information in manuals kept in microfiche. The FAA removes this outdated language and simply requires that all manual information and instructions be displayed clearly and be retrievable in the English language.