Supplemental type certificates range from relatively minor changes to major system improvements. From the smallest change to the most expansive, buying an STC and changing an airplane via the approval always represents a major commitment, and locks the airplane owner and the STC owner into a relationship. What happens when the owner of the STC goes AWOL?
As the general aviation fleet ages, the issue of abandoned STCs will only grow. Some upgrades were made decades ago. People move on from their business interests. They fly west. They forget their obligations to support the product. When this happens the FAA has a formal process that helps aircraft owners stay legal.
FAA Order 8110.120 details each player’s responsibilities and actions when an STC—or any type certificate holder for that matter—is suspected of abandoning their obligations.
It says, in part, that an interested party makes a request to the FAA, saying that the STC holder isn’t responding to their request, and that they would like the engineering data. The FAA must then try to find the STC owner through certified mail and the FAA website. If there’s no answer to the request, and no STC activity has been recorded for the past three years, the agency can make the determination that the certificate has been abandoned. When that happens, the FAA is authorized to release all engineering data.
Three years is obviously a long time to wait when it’s already known that the certificate holder no longer supports the product. Thankfully the FAA can make exceptions to the three-year waiting period in cases where safety of flight is in question.
Given that thousands of STCs are supported only by one person, it makes sense to perform some due diligence before investing in the product. The future airworthiness of your airplane depends on it.
