As a government agency, the FAA is a bureaucracy at its best, or worst, depending upon your perspective. Sometimes that bureaucracy results in the FAA taking a long time to investigate or initiate an enforcement case. If that happens and the FAA pursues an enforcement action against a certificate holder more than six months after occurrence of the offense the FAA alleges violates the FARs, the certificate holder may be able to assert a “stale complaint” affirmative defense based upon the FAA’s delay. For more information on the stale complaint defense and how it works, please read my latest article: Analyzing a Stale Complaint Affirmative Defense in the Face of an Allegation of Lack of Qualification.