{"id":11595,"date":"2024-10-21T09:42:27","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T13:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=11595"},"modified":"2024-11-01T06:47:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T10:47:39","slug":"loa-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/loa-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"LOA Guide for US Operators"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\">Applying for Letters of Authorization (LOA) from the FAA can be a tricky old process. Because there are so many different things you need permission for, you might need various LOAs.<\/p>\n<p>An LOA is a formal \u201cyou\u2019re allowed to do that\u201d certificate given to an operator, permitting them to conduct a <strong>specific flight operation<\/strong>, fly in <strong>certain airspace<\/strong>, or use a <strong>particular bit of equipment<\/strong>, or <strong>document.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The folks at Nimbl (the new name for AviationManuals) have issued an updated guide which tells you what LOAs are, when you need them, and how straightforward the application process can be.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">You can <a href=\"https:\/\/gonimbl.com\/get-your-loa-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>download a copy of the guide here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_26389\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gonimbl.com\/get-your-loa-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26389\" class=\"wp-image-26389 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/NIMBL-LOA-guide-collage-1-1024x579.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"579\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/NIMBL-LOA-guide-collage-1-1024x579.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/NIMBL-LOA-guide-collage-1-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/NIMBL-LOA-guide-collage-1-768x434.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/NIMBL-LOA-guide-collage-1-1536x869.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/NIMBL-LOA-guide-collage-1-2048x1159.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-26389\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click for PDF.<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>The guide includes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Who needs what and where, for Part 91 and Part 135 operators.<\/li>\n<li>List of key terms, and explanations of the most common LOAs and why you would need them.<\/li>\n<li>Separate elements of an LOA application &#8211; some discussion on the process.<\/li>\n<li>Turnaround timeframes for different LOAs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 class=\"p2\">Who issues me my LOA?<\/h4>\n<p class=\"p2\">The FAA, but more specifically, your local FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). You can find a location of those <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/about\/office_org\/field_offices\/fsdo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">So, a Principle Operations Inspector, known as a <strong>POI<\/strong> is the person at the <strong>FAA FSDO<\/strong> who will issue your <strong>LOA<\/strong>. Don\u2019t you just love aviation acronyms \ud83d\ude03<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"p2\">How to apply<\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li class=\"p2\">First things first, check the guide, and <strong>work out what LOAs you need.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\">Then decide <strong>who the actual operator is.<\/strong> The FAA say this is \u201cthe person or entity who has operational control of the aircraft.\u201d But they don\u2019t mean the pilot flying it &#8211; they mean the person who has <strong>legal control, not operational control. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\">Decide who is the <strong>responsible person<\/strong>, what your primary address is, and then work out which FSDO is going to be the closest. <em>Sometimes operators get confused about this point and think they are able to choose which FSDO they can submit to, not realizing that the address on the documents matters a lot to where they can submit.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Contact your local FSDO<\/strong>, work out what they need you to send them, and send it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Now the FAA will review your application.<\/strong> Turnaround times vary according to which LOA you\u2019ve applied for &#8211; it can take anywhere from three weeks to six months, so you\u2019ll want to get it right the first time! If it gets rejected, they will send you a detailed list of why to help you when you re-apply.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4 class=\"p2\">Anything else?<\/h4>\n<p class=\"p2\">If you have any questions about the process, or if you need help with any of the above, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/gonimbl.com\/get-your-loa-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.gonimbl.com<\/a> or send them an email at <a href=\"mailto:info@gonimbl.com\">info@gonimbl.com<\/a>. They have a dedicated team of LOA experts who provide support to operators in preparing all the paperwork, plus ongoing support as you go through the FAA submission process. (Also, we&#8217;ve known them for a long time, and can confirm they&#8217;re nice people!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Applying for Letters of Authorization (LOA) from the FAA can be a tricky old process&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":26388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1729,1728,1286,2273],"class_list":{"0":"post-11595","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-briefings","8":"tag-fsdo","9":"tag-letter-of-authorization","10":"tag-loa","11":"tag-nimbl"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11595"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26438,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11595\/revisions\/26438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}