GM M.A.305 Aircraft continuing airworthiness record system
CAA ORS9 Decision No. 38
(a) The aircraft continuing airworthiness records are the means to assess the airworthiness status of a product and its components. An aircraft continuing airworthiness record system includes the processes to keep and manage those records and should be proportionate to the subject aircraft. Aircraft continuing airworthiness records should provide the owner/CAO/CAMO of an aircraft with the information needed:
(1) to demonstrate that the aircraft is in compliance with the applicable airworthiness requirements; and
(2) to schedule all future maintenance as required by the aircraft maintenance programme based, if any, on the last accomplishment of the specific maintenance as recorded in the aircraft continuing airworthiness records.
(b) ‘Applicable airworthiness limitation parameter’ and ‘applicable parameter’ refer to ‘flight hours’ and/or ‘flight cycles’ and/or ‘landings’ and/or ‘calendar time’, and/or any other applicable utilisation measurement unit, as appropriate.
(c) A ‘life-limited part’ is a part for which the maintenance schedule of the aircraft maintenance programme requires the permanent removal from service when, or before, the specified mandatory life limitation in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) No 748/2012 if any of the applicable parameters is reached.
(d) The ‘current status’ when referring to components of life-limited parts should indicate, for each affected part, the life limitation, the total life accumulated in any applicable parameter (as appropriate) and the remaining life in any applicable parameter before the life limitation is reached.
(e) The term ‘time-controlled components’ embraces any component for which the maintenance schedule of the aircraft maintenance programme requires periodically the removal for maintenance to be performed in an appropriate approved organisation for maintenance in components (workshop) to return the component to a specified standard, the replacement of sub-components of the assembly by new ones, or the inspection or test of component’s performance, after a service period controlled at component level in accordance with the specified airworthiness limitation defined in accordance with UK Regulation (EU) No 784/2012, in any of the applicable parameters.
(f) The ‘current status’ when referring to time controlled components refers to the current status of compliance with the required periodic maintenance task(s) from the maintenance schedule of the aircraft maintenance programme specific to the time-controlled components. It should include the life accumulated by the affected components in the applicable parameter, as appropriate, since the last accomplishment of scheduled maintenance specified in the maintenance schedule of the aircraft maintenance programme. Any action that alters the periodicity of the maintenance task(s) or changes the parameter of this periodicity should be recorded.
(g) ‘Detailed maintenance records’ in this part refers to those records required to be kept by the person or organisation responsible for the aircraft continuing airworthiness in accordance with M.A.201 in order that they may be able to fulfil their obligations under Part M.
These are only a part of the detailed maintenance records required to be kept by a maintenance organisation under point M.A.614, CAO.A.090(a) or 145.A.55(a). Maintenance organisations are required to retain all detailed records to demonstrate that they worked in compliance with their respective requirements and quality procedures.
Not all records need to be transferred from the maintenance organisation to the person or organisation responsible for the aircraft continuing airworthiness in accordance with M.A.201 unless they specifically contain information relevant to aircraft configuration and future maintenance. Thus, incoming certificates of conformity, batch number references and individual task card sign-offs verified by and/or generated by the maintenance organisation are not required to be retained by the person or organisation responsible in accordance with M.A.201. However, dimensional information contained in the task card sign-off or work pack may be requested by the owner/CAO/CAMO in order to verify and demonstrate the effectiveness of the aircraft maintenance programme.
Information relevant to future maintenance may be contained in specific documents related to:
— modifications;
— airworthiness directives;
— repaired and non-repaired damage;
— components referred in M.A.305(d); and
— measurements relating to defects.
(h) An airworthiness limitation is a boundary beyond which an aircraft or a component thereof must not be operated, unless the instruction(s) associated with this airworthiness limitation is (are) complied with.
(i) ‘Other maintenance required for continuing airworthiness’ refers to unscheduled or out- of phase maintenance due to abnormal or particular conditions or events with an impact on the continuing airworthiness of the aircraft at the time of its return to service. It is not intended to request every single condition described in the maintenance data, e.g. Aircraft Maintenance Manual Chapter 5, but just those that cannot be captured by other means; for example, when they are not included in the records for repairs. Some abnormal or particular conditions or events that could be kept under this requirement could be lightning strikes, hard landings, longterm storage, propeller or rotor over-speed, over-torque, impact on a main rotor blade, etc.
(j) The term ‘in-service history record’ embraces records from which the current status of life- limited parts can be determined. The ‘in-service history record’ template could be adjusted to the relevant characteristics of the life-limited part, e.g. an engine disk being different from a fire extinguisher squib or landing gear sliding tube.
Such records document each time a life-limited part is placed in service or removed from service. They should clearly:
(1) identify the part by its part number and serial number,
(2) show the date of installation and removal (i.e. date on/date off),
(3) show the details of the installation and removal (i.e. type, serial number, weight variant, thrust rating, as appropriate, of the aircraft, engine, engine module, or propeller) at installation and removal of the part when this is necessary to appropriately control the life limitation.
(4) Show the total in-service life accumulated in any applicable parameter, as appropriate, corresponding to the dates of installation and removal of the part.
Any other events that would affect the life limitation, such as an embodied modification (in accordance with airworthiness directives, service bulletins or any product improvements) that affects the life limitation or changes the limitation parameter, should also be included in the in-service history record. Not all modifications would necessarily be pertinent to the life limitation of the component. Additionally, if a parameter is not relevant to the life of the part, then that parameter does not need to be recorded.
(k) The term ‘permanently withdrawn from service’ refers to moving the aircraft or component to a location that is not used for storage and/or future return to service.
(l) The term ‘current status’ refers to the data which accurately establishes the level of compliance of an aircraft, engine, propeller or component thereof, with a requirement. Each status should:
(1) identify the aircraft, the engine, the propeller or the component it applies to;
(2) be dated; and
(3) include the relevant total in-service life accumulated in the applicable parameter on the date of the status.