FAA Draft Revision of AC 120-78 – Electronic Signatures, Recordkeeping and Manuals
The Federal Aviation Administration recently issued a draft revision of AC 120-78 clarifying and expanding its guidance on the use of electronic recordkeeping in various flight and maintenance operations. The AC continues its requirement for FAA approval or acceptance of electronic recordkeeping systems.
However, the AC, in a note following paragraph 4(d) of the AC, indicates an intent to exempt plain vanilla Part 91 (as opposed to Part 91, Subpart K) operations from what is a fairly detailed compliance requirement:
NOTE: Part 91 operators are not required to obtain FAA acceptance prior to maintaining records electronically, however, part 91 operators may obtain FAA acceptance to maintain records electronically.
It clear from reading both the original AC and this draft revision, that the primary focus of the AC is the required record-keeping associated with the more highly regulated flight, maintenance and training operations of Parts 121, 125, 129, 133, 135, 137, 141, 142, 145, and 147. The Part 91 Note appears to be an attempt to exempt less-regulated Part 91 activities from this compliance burden. However, as I have commented to the FAA on the draft, if this is the intent, I think it falls short I two respects.
First, despite the language in the Part 91 Note, other sections of the AC suggest the opposite. For example, ¶11 of the draft AC says “FAA review and acceptance or approval is required to use a system for electronic signatures, and/or electronic recordkeeping, and/or electronic manuals.” While the broad brush of the Part 91 Note may be an attempt to overcome this language, there should be greater clarity on this.
Second, if the Part 91 Note is intended to broadly exempt certain activities, it should expanded or otherwise incorporated into the AC in a way that better clarifies what is being exempted from acceptance/approval requirements. As an example, the AC by its terms applies to flight training records. The overall thrust of the AC suggests this is meant for FAA-approved Part 141 and 142 schools and training centers, and not for less formal Part 61 training, where records are kept primarily in pilot logbooks. Indeed, while pilot logbooks under §61.51 are probably the type of Part 91 operator records that the Note intends to exempt from approval or acceptance requirements, this is not clear from the Part 91 Note itself.