Avionics News January 2018 - 17

and analysis of what we stated in the 2008 legal
memorandum. Manufacturers frequently make
changes to their recommended inspection programs
and maintenance manuals. Often, these changes
result in improved inspection or maintenance techniques and practices.
Our point in the 2008 memorandum was that, once
an owner or operator selects an inspection program
under the option provided by § 91.409(£)(3) (and that
program becomes mandatory for subsequent inspections), the manufacturer cannot thereafter unilaterally
impose new requirements on the owner or operator
by making changes to the program. We stated:
If the word "current" in § 91.409(£)(3) and
other similarly worded provisions did mean an
ongoing obligation, when manufacturers make
changes to their instructions and programs
(which often accompany newly-produced models of products, but which also cover the previously-produced models), the new requirements
could impose financial and other burdens on
owners and operators of older aircraft that
they did not bargain for. An interpretation of
the regulation that would allow manufacturers
unilaterally to issue changes to their recommended maintenance and inspection programs
that would have future effect on owners of their
products would not be legally correct. This
would run afoul of the APA.
So long as later changes made by a manufacturer
to its recommended inspection program were applicable to the aircraft model at issue and were acceptable
to the FAA, an owner or operator could voluntarily
adopt those changes.
FAA response to your questions
You state that your company, a repair station
certificated under Part 145, has a written agreement
with a customer in which the customer explicitly
requests "the use of a prior-but current version" of
the manufacturer's maintenance manual when performing maintenance on articles. You have verified
that the manufacturer's maintenance manual has not
been invalidated by an FAA rule and that, at the time
of servicing the articles, no airworthiness directives
involved the use of information that is not contained
in the version of the maintenance manual used. Based
on these facts, you do not believe your company's use
of the prior version of the maintenance manual is a
violation of § 43.13(a).
Based on our explanation above, your customer's
request that you use "a prior-but current-version" of

a maintenance manual is contradictory. However,
as explained in our 2010 legal memorandum, your
company would not violate § 43.13(a) if it uses a
prior version of the maintenance manual, so long
as that manual was still acceptable to the FAA. The
FAA explained in the 2010 memorandum:
Similarly, in the context of performing maintenance for a customer, if the repair station used
a "prior" version of a manufacturer's maintenance manual that was applicable to the model
of aircraft that was being maintained, and the
FAA could not show how the prior version that
was used was unacceptable, the repair station
would not be in violation of § 43.13(a) or §
145.201 for following it.
You also ask if your company is still required to
have available the latest version of the manufacturer's maintenance manual at the time that relevant
work is being performed. The answer is yes. In the
2010 memorandum, we provided the following reasoning behind this requirement:
The obligation imposed by § 145.109(d) is
different. That section requires that a repair
station must maintain certain specified documents and data, and that the listed documents
and data must be current and accessible when
the relevant work is being performed. The items
listed that must be so maintained include, e.g.,
ICA, maintenance manuals, overhaul manuals,
and service bulletins. As discussed in a similar
context in the Dec. 5 memorandum with regard
to an air carrier's duty to keep a current FAAapproved airplane flight manual under 14 CFR
§ 121.141(a), this is essentially a paperwork
requirement to keep the specified documents up
to date. In the Part 145 context, a repair station
would have to keep current (up-to-date) versions of the listed documents and data.
Accordingly, § 145.109(d) requires that your
company maintain the latest (i.e. up-to-date) version
of the manufacturer's maintenance manual even
though the applicable maintenance performance rule
(§ 43.13(a)) permits the use of a prior version when
performing maintenance, so long as the portion being
used is still acceptable to the FAA. The FAA' s Flight
Standards Service is aware of instances in which
manufacturers refuse to provide up-to-date manual
revisions to some repair stations, rendering it impossible for them to be in compliance with the requirement to have the "current" document accessible
when the relevant work is being done. q

avionics news

january

2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News January 2018