How the FAA Is Alerted to Aircraft Service Difficulties

For the federal government, the first inkling of catastrophic structural failure in the nation’s commercial air fleet would come to the FAA by way of its Service Difficulty Report system.

By federal law, every airline and aircraft service facility is required to report to its FAA district office all instances of mechanical difficulty it encounters on any airplane in 16 specific categories of failure or defect. Additionally, it is required to report any other defect if, “in its opinion,” this defect endangers any aircraft. Moreover, all FAA inspectors are required by law to report all “significant malfunctions or failures or (defective) conditions.”

When the cause of a malfunction is uncertain, or a corrective action is not specified, as in the case of an accident that remains under investigation for a lengthy time, Service Difficulty Reports (SDRs) are filed in an “open” status. These “open” reports are closed when all details are complete.

The SDRs are compiled and computerized at the FAA Safety Data Branch in Oklahoma City. Analysts review them for malfunction trends that might predict future failures. They also get warnings about trends from a computerized alert system. Summaries and reports are sent to district and regional offices to notify FAA inspectors about trends or about problems in other parts of the nation. SDR data also goes to airlines and to aircraft manufacturers.

In cases involving unsafe conditions likely to exist in other aircraft, the FAA issues Airworthiness Directives--or ADs--which call for special inspections, specify ways to correct failures and set deadlines.

In the most serious cases, emergency ADs are issued by wire.