AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2024 - 88

RUDDER & WRENCH
Savvy Maintenance coverage
sponsored by AIRCRAFT SPRUCE
repair or alteration or component overhaul
or replacement? Or what if an
aspiring aircraft mechanic wants to work
as an apprentice at an aircraft maintenance
facility to gain the 30 months of practical
experience required to qualify to take the
knowledge and practical tests to become
an A&P? FAR 43.3 addresses that, too.
Specifically, paragraph (d) says:
A person working under the superSAVVY
MA INTENANCE / OPINION
Supervised
maintenance
Why are FAA lawyers trying to kill ownerassisted
annuals and apprenticing?
BY MIKE BUSCH
WHO IS AL L OWED to perform maintenance
on a certificated aircraft? The
FAA rule, which answers that question,
is FAR 43.3-Persons authorized to
perform maintenance, preventive maintenance,
rebuilding, and alterations.
This rule authorizes repair stations,
A&P mechanics, repairmen working
for a repair station, air carriers, Part
88
AOPA PILOT / December 2024
135 operators, and aircraft manufacturers
to perform maintenance. The rule
also allows pilot-rated aircraft owners to
perform preventive maintenance on an
aircraft that they own.
What if someone who is not an A&P-
say, a maintenance-involved aircraft
owner-wants to do something that goes
beyond preventive maintenance-say a
vision of a holder of a mechanic or
repairman certificate may perform the
maintenance, preventive maintenance,
and alterations that his supervisor is
authorized to perform, if the supervisor
personally observes the work being done
to the extent necessary to ensure that it is
being done properly and if the supervisor
is readily available, in person, for consultation.
However, this paragraph does not
authorize the performance of any inspection
required by Part 91 or Part 125 of this
chapter or any inspection performed after
a major repair or alteration.
This means that anyone may perform
maintenance on a certificated
aircraft-with the exception of required
inspections-so long as the work is supervised
by an A&P. For the work to be
considered supervised, two commonsense
conditions must be met:
The supervisor must personally
observe the work to the extent necessary
to ensure that it is being done properly;
and the supervisor must be readily available,
in person, for consultation.
The first of these conditions gives the
supervising mechanic broad latitude to
determine exactly how much supervision
is necessary to ensure the work is being
done properly. For relatively simple tasks,
" call me when you're done so I can inspect
your work " is appropriate. In other cases,
" call me when you get to [a critical phase
of the task] so I can watch and help if necessary "
is needed.
Of course, the supervisor has a powerful
incentive to provide the appropriate
amount of supervision to ensure the work
is done properly, since it is the supervisor
who will be signing the maintenance
record attesting that the work was performed
satisfactorily and approving the
aircraft for return to service. If the work
is done improperly and something bad
DANIEL HERTZBERG
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2024
