FROM THE PUBLISHER
New A&P Training Requirements?
The FAA has fi nally released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to update FAA Part 147 to
modernize the curriculum requirements for A&P schools. I say fi nally because an industry advisory committee was assembled back in 2007 and the Aviation Rulemaking and Advisory Committee (ARAC) submitted its recommendations back in 2009. Needless to say, this has been in the works for some time. But regardless of the timeline, there is an obvious and
overdue need to update the regulations to move from a dope and fabric, wood and radial engine centric course of study to a modern course curriculum incorporating state of the art technology such as glass panels, electronics, composites and more. One of the reasons that the curriculum has not been updated in so long is due to the fact that the course curriculum has been part of the regulation as an appendix. Regulations are notoriously diffi cult to change. So the industry, in agreement with the FAA, is attempting to resolve this by actually removing the curriculum from the regulation and instead putting the curriculum in each school’s “Operating Specifi cations.” By doing so, the school can simply request a change from the local FAA authority – avoiding the rulemaking process altogether. The regulation will still have “Curriculum Subject” headings that will require coverage of certain subject areas – but the curriculum will be able to be developed for each of those subject headings by each school and placed in its ops spec. Although the rule proposes to reduce overall industry cost
by shifting some of the course of study to “classroom” time with less time spent on “practical,” or hand’s on study – it may force some of the schools into spending more money to update their teaching equipment and work with the FAA authority to get their course curriculum approved. As with anything that requires a local FAA inspector to approve an ops spec, this may fall into the category of “be careful what you ask for,” as the schools will likely run into inconsistent rulings from FSDO to FSDO. If you are a repairman or have been working in the
industry and are interested in obtaining you’re A&P certifi cate, you can be comforted in knowing that the school you are
about to attend should be thoroughly modern and the courses that they are teaching will likely be benefi cial to your career. If you are an A&P that has been working in the industry,
the FAA would like the benefi t of your experience. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is open for comment until December 31, 2015. The FAA would like the industry to comment on the proposed rule changes. You can go to the following website to review and comment on the rule
http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketD etail;D=FAA-2015-3901. If you want to mail your comments, you can send them to Docket Operations, M-30; U.S. Depart- ment of Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Room W12-140, West Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC 20590-0001. Let us know what you think. Was the FAA and ARAC group thorough in their coverage of the subjects that need to be covered? Are there enough helicopter subjects taken to account? We would love to know your thoughts.
At a Location Near You
Helicopter Maintenance magazine will be busy travelling to a couple of trade shows in the month of November and we hope to see you there. The shows are: HAC2015, the 20th Annual Helicopter Association of Canada Convention and Trade show, which will take place November 13-15 in Vancouver, BC. Visit us at Booth 203. The show is the largest annual gathering of the Canadian Helicopter Industry. We will also be at the largest business aviation tradeshow in the world, NBAA2015 – Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition, November 17 to 19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas NV. We will be in the North Hall at booth N834.
These trade shows allow us the opportunity to distribute our magazines and talk face-to-face with our readers and advertisers. Please stop by and visit us if you are attending either of these shows.
Thanks for reading. Publisher, Helicopter Maintenance magazine
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HelicopterMaintenanceMagazine.com October | November 2015
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