Are Your Aerial Markings Out of Compliance?

Countless companies are currently one foot out of compliance with FAA Aerial Marking guidelines, facing fines up to $400,000 as their structures pose a significant danger to passing aircraft.

Effective November 2020, the FAA has mandated that all manmade, above-ground structures exceeding 499 feet are an obstruction in the airspace and must be marked in accordance with FAA Aerial Marking guidelines. The previous requirement was 500 feet.

Utility companies operating thousands of lines and towers across the country are especially affected by changing FAA aerial marker heights but especially slow to comply. Why? Their asset data is siloed, disorganized, and therefore useless when regulations call for large-scale change.

Utility companies generate billions of data points every day that go unrecorded. Essential information gets lost in desk drawers, email folders, or spreadsheets. Utilities can’t get thousands of towers and lines into compliance if they can’t tell what’s out of compliance in the first place. That’s where we come in.

As a compliance engineering company, EKN combines decades of engineering expertise and technical skill with regulatory excellence. We build customized databases that capture those vital pieces of data before they fall through the cracks. By tracking invoices, work orders, maintenance requests and more, we hold the key to a source of truth on the status of every asset in the field—and we don’t stop there.

Our engineers are also experts at navigating the regulatory complexities of the FAA. We’ll devise an asset strategy which denotes which lines should be prioritized, which violations can be justified and where the FAA may be willing to make exceptions. Then, we ensure the aerial marking process is successful all the way through to implementation.

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