AOPA says pretty much anything to do with aircraft storage and active maintenance and construction should be considered an “aeronautical use” and be permitted in hangars on federally funded airports. In comments to the FAA (PDF) on its proposed policy on the definition of aeronautical uses, AOPA says it wants the FAA’s policy to use “common sense” and reflect “the practical realities of general aviation flying and ownership.” In a news release the organization was to the point. “Specifically, the association is asking the FAA to classify every hangar that houses an airworthy aircraft, or one that is under active construction, repair, or renovation, as being in aeronautical use,” the story on AOPA’s website reads. “AOPA is also asking the FAA to consider the construction of an aircraft an aeronautical use.” As we reported earlier this month, the FAA has extended the comment period on the policy and comments are due by Oct. 6.
The FAA has received more than 2,000 comments on its proposed policy, which grew out of a couple of disputes at federally funded airports and requests by both AOPA and EAA to clarify what can be in a hangar at a federally funded airport and what activities can take place there. The FAA determined that only the “final assembly” of homebuilt aircraft is an aeronautical use and most of the comments received so far protest that interpretation.
