NBAA is voicing objections to an FAA proposal to require electronic Pilot Records Database (PRD) reporting, saying the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) raises a range of privacy and other concerns.

Open for comment through June 29, the NPRM specifies that the PRD is designed to facilitate sharing of pilot records among air carriers and other operators. Under the NPRM, air carriers, public aircraft operators, air tours, fractional providers, and corporate flight departments would be required to enter pilot data into the PRD and would also have access to data contained within the PRD. The NPRM further would require air carriers, fractional providers, and certain other operators to evaluate available data in the PRD before hiring a pilot candidate.

NBAA has called on its members to weigh in on the proposal, warning it would have a “substantial impact” on a large contingent of the business aviation community. Specifically, the association is concerned over a requirement in the proposal to include check pilot comments from training events in PDR records, as well as “overly burdensome and inconsistent” reporting requirements that encompass historical records dating back nearly a decade.

Of particular concern is an attempt to define a corporate flight department. “Business aviation organizations are not homogenous, cookie-cutter entities. Each flight department is structured differently, maintains different records, and has unique hiring and employment policies,” NBAA maintained.