Avionics News August 2015 - 71

POINT OF COMMUNICATION
Continued from page 4

I encourage you to take advantage of all the
educational opportunities the AEA offers. From FAAaccepted training at AEA headq uarters in Lee' s Summit,
M issouri, to the upcoming AEA R egional M eetings
this fall, there are many opportunities for continuing
education.
Beyond these formal training classes, there are many
other chances to further your education. P ersonally, my
biggest daily education is reading. R ead everything you
can. Subscribe to some or all of the aviation newsletters
and magaz ines you can find. W hile avionics will be your
primary focus, be sure to keep an eye on other aspects of
the aviation industry. Y ou may be able to identify a trend
that helps get you ahead and more prepared when your
customers call. Nothing tells your customers you are an

THE VIEW FROM WASHINGTON
Continued from page 13

control manual, you should be able to show the system you
use and then the procedures you use to satisfy the req uirements. For older repair stations, this is probably the most
written-up area of the manuals. Generally, the older manuals
tend to capture the system well but fail when capturing the
procedures. For the system description, think " what." For
the procedures, think " how."
W ith the training program, you committed to a minimum
employee q ualification program. D id you ever develop
the company procedures to define the procedures you will
follow for each commitment you made in the training program? H ow will you perform a " needs assessment? "
The training program is a philosophical shift. The philosophy changed in the repair station manuals from a commitment to satisfy the regulations with an accompanying
inspection procedures manual used two decades ago to the
more-modern q uality system approach we see today. Because
the FAA approved the training program, it actually retained
the older " commitment" philosophy. The reason? There are
many things within the repair station training program that are
human resources centric. Simply put, the FAA didn' t want to
micromanage human resources in the businesses. That is why
you see the regulations for the training program to be so short.
( The preamble for 1 4 CFR 1 45 .1 6 3 is full of ex planations
where the FAA doesn' t approve the procedures and curricula.
It only approved the overall system req uirements.)

ex pert more than when they call for information on the
latest avionics system or service and you are q uickly
able to provide great detail on the system along with a
price q uote.
P lease make a commitment to training, both formal
and informal. It will pay dividends in demonstrating
your commitment to our industry and maintaining your
ex pert status. Let' s make sure we provide our customers
far more value than any website could ever hope to
accomplish.
Never forget - we are the ex perts! q

DA VI D L O S O
Chairman, AEA board of directors
Jet Aviation St. Louis

A certificated repair station must have an employee
training program approved by the FAA that consists of
initial and recurrent training ( 1 4 CFR 1 45 .1 6 3 ( a) ) that
ensure each employee assigned to perform maintenance,
preventive maintenance or alterations, and inspection
functions, is capable of performing the assigned task ( 1 4
CFR § 1 45 .1 6 3 ( b) ) .
The missing piece of the regulations is the lack of a
procedures req uirement. In order to implement the system
in an auditable and consistent manner, the repair station
must have an ( in-house) training procedures document
that defines the procedures you will use for each of the
system req uirements of your training program. Y our
inspector should review your training procedures manual
to ensure you are satisfying your commitments in your
training program, but the inspector would not " approve
or accept it" - it would be a company procedures manual
( outside of the regulations) .
The bottom line is every successful business embraces
continuous improvement. Sometimes it' s obvious and
sometimes a bit less obvious. Nevertheless, when the
indicators present themselves, the good business listens,
evaluates and adj usts to the marketplace. D on' t let your
fist impression of the new inspector cloud your vision of
the opportunities. As the FAA suggests in AC 1 45 -5 , you
must understand if the information the inspector is relaying is a finding, concern or recommendation. The AC
suggests that a recommendation should be analyz ed to
determine " if" it should be adopted. q
AVIONICS NEWS

AUGUST

2015

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News August 2015