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Title 49 — TransportationRelease 119-73not60

§44725 Life-limited Aircraft Parts

Title 49 › Subtitle SUBTITLE VII— AVIATION PROGRAMS › Part A— AIR COMMERCE AND SAFETY › Subpart iii— safety › Chapter 447— SAFETY REGULATION › § 44725

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The FAA Administrator must write rules to make sure parts that have reached their allowed life and are taken off aircraft are handled so they cannot be put back on a plane. Safe ways to do this include keeping the part apart so it cannot be reused, permanently marking it, destroying it so it cannot be reinstalled, or marking it with hours or cycles of use (when practical) and updating that info each time the part is removed or retired. The FAA can also approve other methods. The FAA must publish a proposed rule within 180 days after the law is passed and issue a final rule within 180 days after the public comment period ends. The rules cannot require marking of parts removed before the rules take effect, and they cannot stop the use of a life-limited part that is otherwise airworthy.

Full Legal Text

Title 49, §44725

Transportation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall conduct a rulemaking proceeding to require the safe disposition of life-limited parts removed from an aircraft. The rulemaking proceeding shall ensure that the disposition deter installation on an aircraft of a life-limited part that has reached or exceeded its life limits.
(b)For the purposes of this section, safe disposition includes any of the following methods:
(1)The part may be segregated under circumstances that preclude its installation on an aircraft.
(2)The part may be permanently marked to indicate its used life status.
(3)The part may be destroyed in any manner calculated to prevent reinstallation in an aircraft.
(4)The part may be marked, if practicable, to include the recordation of hours, cycles, or other airworthiness information. If the parts are marked with cycles or hours of usage, that information must be updated every time the part is removed from service or when the part is retired from service.
(5)Any other method approved by the Administrator.
(c)In conducting the rulemaking proceeding under subsection (a), the Administrator shall—
(1)not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this section, issue a notice of proposed rulemaking; and
(2)not later than 180 days after the close of the comment period on the proposed rule, issue a final rule.
(d)No rule issued under subsection (a) shall require the marking of parts removed from aircraft before the effective date of the rules issued under subsection (a), nor shall any such rule forbid the installation of an otherwise airworthy life-limited part.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The date of the enactment of this section, referred to in subsec. (c)(1), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 106–181, which was approved Apr. 5, 2000.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section applicable only to fiscal years beginning after Sept. 30, 1999, see section 3 of Pub. L. 106–181, set out as an

Effective Date

of 2000

Amendments

note under section 106 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

49 U.S.C. § 44725

Title 49 — Transportation

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60