The FAA Aircraft Registry issued a notice today to the FAA Public Documents Room Permittees, copy attached. The notice confirms that in an effort to keep personally identifying information that may be in the documents confidential parties will no longer be able access Work in Progress files.
When documents are filed with the FAA they are file stamped with the date and time of filing. The documents are then quickly indexed against the equipment involved, normally within a few hours, thus providing notice to the public that a filing exists. This is important because priority of the conveyance filed under the FARs relates back to the date and time the documents are filed, not when they are recorded or show up in the FAA record for an aircraft/engine/propeller/spare part location.
Historically filed documents were moved to Work in Progress or “loose documents”, yet we could access copies of the documents from the FAA Public Documents Room. There is no way to know with certainty what documents were filed, parties involved, etc., by just looking at the FAA index.
Under the new process when parties run an index and determine documents were recently filed, they won’t be able to access the Work in Progress or “loose documents” for about 12 days +/-. This won't affect every deal, but there are many transactions where documents may be showing up on the index, but not processed, prior to a closing. It will likely affect matters involving imports, where the notice of cancellation received by the FAA may not be available for days. Cancellation notices often contain references to filings or other parties that create clouds on title. In some instances law firms will not be able to provide clean opinions until the documents are processed and moved out of work in progress, which will likely delay closings.
The Registry has worked with the aviation industry to address similar issues in the past, and we expect they will provide solutions where possible.
Please reach out to the McAfee & Taft Aviation Group if you have questions.
This article was originally published by Scott McCreary with McAfee & Taft on October 31, 2024.
