New Changes to Part 145

The FAA is making several clarifying changes to Part 145. The changes could impact the relationship between repair stations and customers, so distributors who are using repair stations should be aware of the changes. The changes are scheduled to be published in the Federal Register, tomorrow.

The current data requirement regulation at 14 C.F.R. § 145.109(d) requires the repair station to maintain a distinct list of resources. In the upcoming revision, that list of resources will be removed from the regulation. Instead, the new language of the regulation will simply require the repair station to maintain the documents and data required, without listing the items:

A certificated repair station must maintain, in a format acceptable to FAA, the documents and data required for the performance of maintenance, preventive maintenance, and alterations under its repair station certificate and operations specifications in accordance with part 43 of this chapter. These documents and data must be accessible when the relevant work is being done.

The purpose of this change was to recognize that the current version of a text may not be the version that is used in the maintenance operation. For example, if an operator has chosen to adopt an earlier version of a manual provision as part of the operator’s approved maintenance plan, then the version in the approved maintenance plan is the controlling version. The real purpose of the change was to remove the requirement that the specified documents be ‘‘current’’ and accessible when the relevant work is being done – the associated list appears to merely have been a casualty of the change.

This change creates more discretion for the repair station and its customer to collaborate and to choose which maintenance instructions are most relevant to the work performed, and to simply ensure that the identified relevant text is present at the time of the work being performed. Under the old regulations, it was necessary to keep irrelevant texts at the time of the work (e.g. the repair station had to keep the OEM manual even if the air carrier customer had a different process in their maintenance manual).

As a corollary to this, the new changes remove the word “current” from the 145.211(c)(1)(v) requirement to have quality control provisions related to technical data:

(v) Establishing and maintaining current technical data for maintaining articles

The change also removes some of the clear language that shows that repair stations have compliance obligations with respect to instructions for continued airworthiness, which may be relevant to the 14 C.F.R. 21.50(b) obligation for design approval holders to provide those instructions for continued airworthiness (to those required to comply with them). If this has the unintended consequences of making it more difficult for repair stations to obtain manuals, then that could make it more difficult for distributors to obtain overhaul services on components.

Another change makes two amendments to section 145.201. The first change amends the language that controls a repair station’s use of an uncertificated source for subcontracting. Under the old rule, “the certificated repair station must ensure that the noncertificated person follows a quality control system equivalent to the system followed by the certificated repair station.” The new rule confirms that the repair station must be rated for work on the article in question (hopefully this doe snot inhibit repair stations from contracting out specialized services like coatings, welding, plating, etc.):

The certificated repair station may approve the work for return to service following the maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alterations performed on the article by the other person if—
(i) The certificated repair station is rated to perform maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alterations on the article; and
(ii) The requirements in § 145.217 have been met.

Note that the (ii) portion of the new text directs compliance to section 145.217, which sets the standards for contract maintenance. This tightens up the interaction between these two regulations.

The other change adds the underlined language:

A certificated repair station may not approve for return to service the work performed on

This may seem like a very insignificant change, but it highlights that the repair station approves the work it performs for return to service. It does not necessarily approve the entire article. In the past, we’ve advised distributors of the value of an tag with an overhaul scope, because it indicates that the entire unit has been inspected and tested, while a tag that says “repaired” may have omitted important work that was potentially necessary but was outside of the scope of the repair. This regulatory change helps to clarify that the repair station is only approving the work it accomplished, and nothing more.

As a corollary, the contract maintenance language of 145.217 is also amended to read as follows:

§ 145.217 Contract maintenance.
(a) A certificated repair station may approve the work for return to service following the maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alterations performed on an article by an outside source under contract or other arrangement, in accordance with § 145.201(a)(2), provided all the following conditions are met:
(1) The Administrator approves the maintenance function to be contracted.
(2) The repair station maintains and makes available to its responsible Flight Standards office, in a format acceptable to the Administrator, the following information:
(i) The maintenance functions contracted to the outside source; and
(ii) The name of each outside source to whom the repair station contracts maintenance functions and the type of certificate and rating, if any, held by the outside source.
(b) A certificated repair station may contract a maintenance function pertaining to an article to a noncertificated person provided—
(1) The noncertificated person follows a quality control system equivalent to the system followed by the certificated repair station;
(2) The certificated repair station remains directly in charge of the work performed by the noncertificated person; and
(3) The certificated repair station verifies, by test or inspection, or both, that the work has been performed satisfactorily by the noncertificated person and that the article is airworthy before approving the work for return to service
(c) A certificated repair station may not provide only approval for return to service of a complete type-certificated product following contract maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alterations.

These changes are based on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that was published on January 31, 2024.