Avionics News June 2016 - 12

In this monthly column, Ric Peri of the AEA's Washington, D.C., office, informs members of the latest regulatory updates.

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P E R I
A EA V I C E P R ES I D E N T O F G OV E R N M E N T & I N D U ST RY A F FA I RS

2016 AEA Convention
regulatory recap

ith the 2016 AEA International Convention &
Trade Show in the rearview mirror, it seems like
the ideal time to recap the weeklong activities.
While many businesses run on a fiscal year and others on the calendar year, the AEA's year seems to be bookended by the annual
convention, or at least the government and industry focus of the
association is. I personally look at the convention as a wrapup of
the previous 12 months.
For a few days each spring during convention week, the AEA
conducts regulatory briefings in addition to the 90 hours of
technical and business training. This year, we began the week
with the AEA Government and Industry Affairs Committee
meeting on Tuesday, April 26, and completed the week by
offering regulatory training as part of the eight-hour training day
on Saturday, April 30.
Government and Industry Affairs Committee
The AEA Government and Industry Affairs Committee
supports the association by previewing draft regulations,
guidance and policy released by the world authorities and
provides insight into the "real-world" effect of some of these
changes. In addition to the reactive review, the committee assists
proactively in developing many of the regulatory products
that the association offers its members. As an example, one of
the ongoing projects is to capture and document industry best
practices for repair station operations. The association does not
support the sale or use of repair station manual templates. The
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avionics news

june

2016

required manuals should represent your business and how you
run your business, not how someone else uses them to run their
business. However, the AEA does provide industry practices
for some of the more generic operations such as managing your
technical library or the calibrated tool program.

For a few days each spring during
convention week, the AEA conducts
regulatory briefings in addition to the 90
hours of technical and business training.
Three Regulatory Rise & Shine Sessions
This year's convention schedule allowed for a well-structured
Regulatory Rise & Shine session each morning. The topics
ranged from the maintenance of experimental, amateur-built aircraft, the U.S./EU/Canada Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement,
and the Federal Aviation Administration's ADS-B policy to
the Part 23 rewrite with an excellent presentation on the FAA's
national policy compliance philosophy.
In answering a question posed by the AEA in August 2015
regarding whether a certificated repair station may perform
maintenance, described in Part 43 and required by §§ 91.411 and
91.413, on aircraft not subject to Part 43 such as experimental,
amateur-built aircraft, the FAA concluded that there are not pro-

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News June 2016