FAA Moving To Electronic Distribution of ADs, SAIBs

The FAA in a Federal Register policy change notice published Thursday said that, effective immediately, it will cease distributing printed versions of key continued airworthiness information, including airworthiness directives (ADs) and Special Airworthiness Information Bulletins (SAIBs) to certain groups.

Among the changes:

AD mailings will no longer include the AD preamble, but rather just the rule's text;

Engine ADs will be mailed out only to owners and operators who have registered their engines; and

SAIBs will no longer be mailed out at all.

All ADs will still be published on the Web via the Federal Register. SAIBs are available at this page on the FAA's Web site. The page also has a "subscribe" feature that will notify subscribers when new SAIBs have been posted.

The agency will continue to mail out emergency ADs, but will not mail out the subsequent, identical full version as published in the Federal Register.

The FAA is accepting comments on the policy change through Sept. 8. See the notice for details on how to file comments.