Rules governing maintenance of US-registered transport aircraft at foreign repair shops are to be tightened, the US Federal Aviation Administration says. The move will affect 525 foreign repair stations.
The action follows criticism of the FAA's oversight of repair shops following the May 1996 crash of a ValuJet McDonnell Douglas DC-9 in Florida and a 1995 incident in which a ValuJet DC-9 suffered an uncontained engine failure. In the latter case, after the airline had bought the Pratt & Whitney JT8D engine from a Turkish maintenance centre, undetected cracking caused a compressor disc to fail because, the USA says, the centre had not inspected it properly.
The notice of proposed rule making will include making foreign repair stations responsible for all work contracted out and establishing quality assurance programmes and inspection regimes for contractors. Technical manuals will have to include qualification and training procedures for work on new equipment and components. Each station will have to list the work it is allowed to perform, and identify all contractors. Training for all maintenance workers must meet FAA requirements.
Source: Flight International
