FAA Independence Under Threat: What It Means for You

What’s happening:

This week, the White House issued a sweeping executive order titled Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies. The order gives the Executive Branch greater control over independent regulatory agencies—including the FAA, SEC, and FCC—requiring all proposed and final regulations to receive direct presidential approval.

For the FAA, this means the end of its independent authority over air safety regulations. Every Airworthiness Directive (AD) and Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD)—critical measures that address unsafe flight, maintenance and ground conditions—would now be reviewed by the executive branch. This extra step could create delays in approving critical safety fixes, allowing unsafe aircraft to stay in the sky longer than needed.

How this affects you: 

• Delays in Fixing Safety Problems: ADs and EADs could take much longer to be approved, keeping unsafe aircraft in operation.

• Increased Risk: If safety directives take longer to pass, more accidents could happen.

• More Pressure on Mechanics: You’ll work hard to identify and report safety issues, but if rules take too long to be approved, your job gets harder and more frustrating.

What you can do:

The best way to protect our industry is to stay informed and speak up. The FAA’s independence has kept air travel safe for decades and this new order threatens to slow down its ability to act quickly on safety issues.

• Understand the AD process and how the rules are created.

• Stay Connected with industry organizations that advocate for aviation safety.

• Report unsafe conditions—your role in keeping aircraft safe is more important than ever.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be dropping more tips on how you can keep aviation safe, but for now keep your nose in the books, stay informed, and strive for a safety mindset in everything you do. Don’t forget share Mechanic’s Log with your friends and spread the news.