FROM THE PUBLISHER
IA RENEWAL OPTIONS DWINDLING?
As we approached the end of March this year (the due date for IA renewal annual training requirements), something strange happened. The world shut down! Fortunately for most aircraft mechanics, all training seminars which had taken place from state to state had already happened and for the 2019/2020 IA renewal period — training opportunities weren’t a huge issue. Since that time, there have already been
PUBLISHER
GREG NAPERT
gnapert@DOMmagazine.com
some “kinks” introduced into the IA renewal recurrent training system. In addition to the dwindling number of online opportunities (ones that were established specifically for renewing your IA), the state- or organization- run IA renewal meetings held each year between January and March have decreased as well! Probably the most notable kink in the tradition of annual training for IAs is the COVID19 factor. Although it’s still yet to be determined, we don’t know if these meetings will be allowed to take place next year. I certainly hope that this entire “social distancing” experience is history by March 2021, but we don’t know what the future will bring. One indication that things may have changed significantly is a letter that has been released by the FAA from the Branch that approves IA renewal courses stating that “The FAA will not accept applications for new IA Refresher courses until the publishing of new FAA guidance and instructions for the IA Refresher Training Programs.” How long it will take the FAA to publish new guidelines and what those guidelines will be based on are yet to be determined. To mitigate the fact that the FAA doesn’t appear to have the resources to approve new courses, the FAA has given a blanket approval for existing courses and has authorized limited changes to these courses to accommodate “Social distancing guidelines.” According to the letter, “In response to the COVID 19 Emergency and requests from IA Refresher Course Providers, the FAA is authorizing “current” IA Refresher Course Providers to revise their course material, as appropriate to meet social
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distancing recommendations and the needs of Inspection Authorization holders.” In addition, the FAA is allowing course
providers to make minor changes to their courses under a few guidelines: So what’s an IA to do? Most importantly — DON’T
PROCRASTINATE! If you aren’t confident that you aren’t going to do at least 4 Annual inspections (See FAR Part 65.93 for details), start training as soon as you have an opportunity. There are two online IA renewal training courses that I’m aware of that are reasonably priced. One is from Gleim (www.
gleimaviaiton.com) and the other is from Blue Tuna (
iarenewal.com). Additionally, training companies such as FlightSafety have switched over to doing their initial and recurrent training programs online during the coronavirus crisis and will continue to offer these courses regardless as we move into the future. The courses are for the most part FAA approved for IA renewal training and the online courses should transfer over with the recent FAA acceptance of social distancing practices. So, if you are scheduled for a course from a training provider such as FlightSafety, GLOBALJET Services, CAE, etc. be sure to ask them if their courses are on the FAAs list of IA renewal accepted courses. Finally, you can check on the current list of approved IA renewal courses on the
FAASafety.gov website. Either search for “IA approval” on the site or go directly to
https://www.faasafety.gov/WINGS/pub/ IATrainingProviders/
IaUnderMaint.aspx, select the link for IA Renewal Course List, and select the document “Acceptable IA Refresher Training” The bottom line — waiting until the
last day of March 2021 to sneak away for a Saturday IA renewal meeting (as many have done in the past) WON’T cut it! If you want to keep your IA rating, start thinking about training today.
Thanks for reading. Greg Napert, Proud to be an A&P
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