""How is this going to effect the vintage aircraft owner ""
Every old aircraft in existence with out factory support can be maintained by the use of the AC 43-13 as a reference for repairs.
Those with factory maintenance manuals are maintained IAW these manuals still today, no matter how old the manuals are.
So, what did this do for us?
It simply made the FAA give up data they protected thinking it was intellectual property of some debunk companies. WE rebuilders now can under the Freedom of information act get blue prints, engineering data, and stress figures that they denied us in the past.
It all started when a restorer had a data tag from a Fairchild 45, and asked for the FAA blue prints and engineering. and the FAA denied the request, because it was intellectual property of a company that didn't exist.