Warbird Information Exchange

On Tuesday, June 13, 2006, ICAS leadership met with the FAA's National Air Show Coordinator, Jeff Weller and his boss Mike Brown. The meeting allowed ICAS to explain several problems that air show performers and organizers have with Change 31 to Chapter 49. Several performers have been faced with waivers that say "Aircraft Maneuvers may not direct energy toward any spectator area. Certain related maneuvers and procedures, however, may be authorized as outlined below." [followed by three provisions of little use to most performers] Among the most important progress made was a commitment from the FAA to publish a revised Special Provision #27 that will state, "non-aerobatic maneuvers are authorized without energy toward the crowd considerations." To further deal with unworkable waivers, FAA agreed to publish a notice (signed by the Director of Flight Standards Services) to all the FSDOs and IICs that says, "Special provisions that are not on the FAA's current list of special provisions can only be added to a waiver with the concurrence by the appropriate regional air show coordinator or the National Air Show Coordinator." To help the FAA, ICAS is requesting its members to review their waivers as soon as possible and notify ICAS headquarters and the National Air Show Coordinator of unworkable situations. ICAS will continue to work on these and other important FAA regulatory issues.