Employment of former FAA employees

This regulation restricts fractional ownership programs from hiring former FAA Flight Standards inspectors who recently oversaw their operations. Specifically, a fractional owner or program manager cannot employ or contract with a former FAA inspector to represent them before the FAA if that inspector, within the previous two years, was responsible for inspecting or overseeing their specific operation.

"Acting as an agent or representative" means making any written or oral communication to the FAA on the program's behalf, regardless of the specific matter involved.

This is a "cooling-off period" rule designed to prevent conflicts of interest—ensuring inspectors don't regulate an operator with an eye toward future employment there, and preventing operators from gaining unfair advantage by hiring their former regulators.

The restriction doesn't apply to individuals already employed by the fractional program before October 21, 2011, when this rule took effect.

*This is a plain-English summary for study only. The official 14 CFR text on this page is controlling — always read the current regulation and consult a CFI.*