TAC 2000 Removed from FAA Accreditation Program

The FAA announced the removal of Transonic Aviation Consultants as an accreditation organization. The FAA is also removing the associated standard (TAC 2000) from the AC 00-56B list of acceptable standards. This has been announced through an FAA “Information for Operators:” Removal of Transonic Aviation Consultants from Advisory Circular (AC) 00-56B, Voluntary Industry Distributor Accreditation Program, InFO 24004 (04/23/24). This FAA InFO provides an explanation for why this has happened.

Advisory Circular (AC) 00-56B has been revised to reflect change one. One of the most significant changes in this revision is that the list of accepted Quality System Standards and their associated Accreditation Organizations has been moved online. This makes it easier for the FAA to make changes to this list.

The FAA’s online listing of accepted Quality System Standards and their associated Accreditation Organizations no longer lists TAC-2000 nor Transonic Aviation Consultants.

What Does This Mean for Distributors?

The FAA has said that “[a]t this time, no action is recommended for owners of parts obtained from distributors who were previously accredited by Transonic.” This means that there is no FAA-recall for parts that came through those distribution channels.

The FAA has determined all existing TAC-2000 accreditations will expire on the earlier of (a) the expiration date indicated on their certificate, or (2) January 24, 2025. This means that all TAC-2000 certificates will expire (for AC 00-56B purposes) in less than 9 months, and no later than January 24, 2025.

Companies accredited to TAC-2000 will have until the expiration date to pass an audit by another authorized accreditation party, if they want to enjoy seamless listing on the AC 00-56 database.

ASA serves as the accreditation database manager. The FAA has directed ASA to notify the FAA if ASA receives a new request to add a TAC-2000-accredited distributor to the program’s database, with an accreditation date after January 23, 2024. The FAA will review these requests on a case-by-case basis and if the accreditation is acceptable, then the FAA will allow ASA to add the distributor to the database.

In all cases, the FAA has directed ASA to remove all TAC-2000-accredited-distributors when their accreditation expires or on January 24, 2025, whichever is sooner.

Want to learn more? Join us at the ASA Quality Committee meeting in June!