AMC 145.A.35(a) Certifying staff and support staff

CAA ORS9 Decision No. 38

1. Holding a Part-66 licence with the relevant type/group rating, or a national qualification in the case of components, does not mean by itself that the holder is qualified to be authorised as certifying staff and/or support staff. The organisation is responsible for assessing the competency of the holder for the scope of the maintenance to be authorised.

2. The sentence ’the organisation shall ensure that certifying staff and support staff have an adequate understanding of the relevant aircraft and/or components to be maintained together with the associated organisation procedures‘ means that the person has received training and has been successfully assessed on:

— the type of aircraft or component;

— the differences on:

— the particular model/variant;

— the particular configuration.

The organisation should specifically ensure that the individual competencies have been established with regard to:

— relevant knowledge, skills and experience in the product type and configuration to be maintained, taking into account the differences between the generic aircraft type rating training that the person received and the specific configuration of the aircraft to be maintained.

— appropriate attitude towards safety and observance of procedures.

— knowledge of the associated organisation and operator procedures (i.e. handling and identification of components, MEL use, Technical Log use, independent checks, etc.).

3. Some special maintenance tasks may require additional specific training and experience, including but not limited to:

— in-depth troubleshooting;

— very specific adjustment or test procedures;

— rigging;

— engine run-up, starting and operating the engines, checking engine performance characteristics, normal and emergency engine operation, associated safety precautions and procedures;

— extensive structural/system inspection and repair;

— other specialised maintenance required by the maintenance programme. For engine run-up training, simulators and/or real aircraft should be used.

4. The assessment of the competency of the holder should be conducted in accordance with a procedure approved by the CAA (item 3.9 of the MOE, as described in AMC1 145.A.70(a)).

5. The organisation should hold copies of all the documents that attest to the competency and recent experience of the holder for as long as a person works for the organisation, and retained for at least 3 years after the person has left the organisation, or after an authorisation issued to that person has been withdrawn.

Additional information is provided in AMC 66.A.20(b)3.