ARSA CORNER
ANTI-REPAIR STATION BILL WOULD ALSO HURT GENERAL AVIATION
BY CHRISTIAN A. KLEIN, ARSA EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, AERONAUTICAL REPAIR STATION ASSOCIATION A bill recently rushed through
the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee is designed to disrupt the relationship between air carriers and their contract maintenance providers and encourage airlines to do more maintenance “in house.” But general aviation would also be impacted, so it behooves all corners of the industry to know what the bill would do and how to help stop it from becoming law. The Safe Aircraft Maintenance
Standards Act (H.R. 5119) was introduced in the House by T&I Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) on Nov. 15, 2019 and approved by the T&I Committee just fi ve days later with no hearings or opportunity for industry input. The bill is a new front in a political struggle that’s been going on for decades between the contract maintenance community and unions representing airline mechanics. As airlines have contracted more over the past several decades, labor organizations have raised false safety and security arguments in attempt to
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DOMmagazine.com | mar 2020
convince the government to step in and reverse the trend. The new bill would impose
burdensome new reporting requirements on air carriers and the maintenance providers they use and create new certifi cation and oversight requirements for FAA certifi cated repair stations outside the United States. It would also prohibit the certifi cation, recertifi cation and use by U.S. operators of repair stations in countries designated as Category 2 (CAT 2) by the FAA’s International Aviation Safety Assessment program. (Current CAT 2 countries are Costa Rica, Malaysia, Thailand, Ghana, Bangladesh, Curacao and Venezuela, but the list is subject to change at any time). If all the FAA activities and rulemakings required by the bill aren’t completed within a year of enactment, the agency would be barred from certifi cating any new foreign repair stations. Although on its face the legislation targets commercial aviation, whether or not it’s the intent of the bill’s
authors, general aviation will also be aff ected. First and foremost, it will impact U.S. GA operations outside the country. Under international law and FAA rules, U.S. registered aircraft (whether operated commercially or in GA) must be maintained by FAA- approved “persons” (a repair station, a mechanic or an air carrier working on its own aircraft). Prohibiting the certifi cation of repair stations in CAT 2 countries will mean that GA aircraft fl ying to those countries won’t be able to get maintenance performed at the destination. The choice will be either not to fl y there or to take maintenance personal along with you when you do. Beyond on the immediate CAT 2
country ban, it’s extremely likely that the bill would lead to a moratorium on new FAA foreign repair station certifi cations everywhere outside the United States. That will artifi cially restrict the availability of FAA- approved aviation maintenance everywhere in the world and make it more diffi cult and expensive to keep your aircraft airworthy.
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