EASA Opinion on Technical Records (Opinion 13/2016)

EASA Opinion on Technical Records (Opinion 13/2016)

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has recently issued Opinion 13/2016 on technical records.  EASA say:

This Opinion addresses a safety issue linked with a wrong airworthiness assessment of the aircraft status due to incomplete technical records and is additionally related to a safety recommendation (SR) from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) (ref.: UNKG-2007-091), which recommends that the maintenance and overhaul records must be part of the logbook and retained until the aircraft/engine/propeller/component has been destroyed or permanently removed from service.

The UK AAIB recommendation was one of 7 made after an accident to Reims Cessna F152, G-BHCP in January 2006 following an engine failure. easa logo

The EASA Opinion, which results from RMT.0276 (MDM.076), has gone to the European Commission as part of the rule making process for the 32 EASA Member States.  It proposes:

  • a reorganisation of the related requirements in Regulation (EU) No 1321/2014 (Part-M M.A.305 in particular);
  • the provision of clearer requirements on components;
  • the establishment of a consistent record-keeping period;
  • the introduction of various forms of record-keeping (e.g. digital) and commonly used information technology (IT) systems; and
  • amendments to AMC/GM to Part CAT, Part NCC, Part NCO and Part SPO of the Air OPS Regulation.

This Opinion follows the NPA 2014-04 consultation, which resulted in 350 comments. The timeline of this rule-making activity is as follows:

EASA Opinion 13/2006 technical records

Ironically, considering the UK AAIB recommendation followed an accident to a light aircraft, EASA do also note:

…the general aviation (GA) community opposed the amendments initially proposed by the related NPA 2014-04. As a result, this Opinion does not propose any amendments to the forthcoming Part-ML.

Part-ML is a ‘light Part-M’ proportionate to the much lower complexity and risks of the lighter end of the GA sector.  It was proposed in Opinion 05/2016 following the task force for the review of Part-M for General Aviation (PHASE II).

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