WASHINGTON, 20 Aug. 2012.Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials have extended the comment period, originally scheduled for 20 Aug. 2012, for the proposed rewrite of Part 145.
Part 145, Repair Stations, imparts “the rules a certificated repair station must follow as well as any person who holds, or is required to hold, a repair station certificate,” according to an FAA representative.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) also sets policy for aeronautical repair stations (Part 145 organizations in Europe and the U.S., and Part 571 organizations in Canada) and issues repair station certificates for repair stations located outside the European Union (EU), which permits foreign repair stations to perform work acceptable to the European Union on EU aircraft.
The Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA), partnering with other associations, requested an extension to this “critical and wide-ranging proposal regarding how AEA members operate their repair station businesses,” says an AEA spokesperson. The extension has been granded. The comment period for FAA’s proposed Part 145 rulemaking, originally published on 21 May 2012, has now been extended until 19 Nov. 2012.
“This proposal makes wholesale changes to the avionics industry with potentially damaging and costly repercussions,” according to the AEA. The FAA “proposes to remove radio and instrument ratings and allow airframe-rated repair stations to work on radio and instrument components with questionable qualifications. In addition, the proposal eliminates many of the currently utilized opportunities for mobile maintenance operations.”
Read the AEA’s “Part 145 Proposed Amendment: A Comparative Analysis of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Proposed Changes to Current Regulatory Language” online at http://www.aea.net/governmentaffairs/pdf/FAAProposed145Comparison.pdf.
Click to read Part 145 information from the FAA.
“This proposal is critical, and understanding the FAA's proposal and its intent is extremely important to the continued operation of your business,” explains an AEA spokesperson. “Each repair station member (including manufacturers) is encouraged to attend one of the three AEA Regional Meetings. If your attendance and participation in this discussion is simply not possible, then you are encouraged to review all three of the webinars online.”
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