Endorsements on Maintenance Releases

[AirlinePirate]

Ive been trying to find in the rules anything that makes it clear whether or not it is illegal to fly an aircraft with an open endorsement in Part 2 of a maintenance release.

The closest I can find is CAO 20.18, which says "In the case of a charter or regular public transport aircraft, all instruments and equipment fitted to the aircraft must be serviceable before take-off", and " A private or aerial work aircraft must not be operated: .. unless: all instruments and equipment required to be fitted to the aircraft .. are serviceable before take-off"

So, if its a charter or RPT flight, everything fitted to the aircraft must be serviceable. But a private or aerial work flight needs only to have the required equipment serviceable.

Consider a flying school-operated 172 or Warrior. It is required to have a radio, but if one radio is broken, the MR endorsed, and the other radio works, then it seems to me there is nothing wrong with flying this aircraft, as long as it remains private or aerial work.



Also, can anyone show me where it is written down that the MR must be signed for a daily inspection before flying? I mean, we all know you have to. But where does it say so?

[kalavo]

It depends what System of Maintenance you're operating under. Some aircraft do not require a daily inspection. :E

Your 172 or Warrior is more than likely operating under Schedule 5, which clearly states..

"1.1 An inspection (in this Part called a daily inspection ) must be carried out on the aircraft before the aircraft's first flight on each day on which the aircraft is flown."

...system's of maintenance (as opposed to Sched 5) are generally used by larger aircraft and give a lot more flexibility. So instead of a daily inspection, there might be a 24 hourly inspection, which means the aircraft can be Daily'd at 7pm, fly through the night at a number of stops and put it to bed at 7am, without the need to do a Daily before the first flight after midnight. It will also detail what items are being carried out in the inspection (remember this is actually maintenance you're performing!!) it's not simply enough to say it looks like everything's attached and in one piece, there are a number of items that have to be checked, and you are certifying that you've checked all of them.

There are all sorts of exemptions scattered through the CARs and CAOs that allow you to fly with some items unserviceable. For example there's a blanket exemption for "passenger convenience item". So if the inflight entertainment system is broken in 13A you can still go (but if there's an IFE in the cockpit so the pilots can check it's working... it's not a passenger convenience item and grounds the aircraft).

[blackhand]

If aircraft has MEL, MEL items are able to be left pursuant to MEL conditions.
Without MEL, no carrying of unseviceabilities permitted

[Creampuff]

.... no carrying of unserviceabilities unless:
(1) the aircraft is engaged in private or aerial work operations, and
(2) the unserviceable item:
(a) is not required under 20.18, and
(b) has been placarded U/S

(OR the unserviceability is a PUS, usually described in an MEL) :ok:

[djpil]

It is required to have a radio ..only in some operations so I agree, AirlinePilot, for private and aerial work but CAO 20.18 is only operational requirements. There is another set of stuff required for airworthiness certification for which you need to read the POH/AFM or even the Type Certificate Data Sheet to check what is mandatory.

eg from my copy of Report VB-880, POH for the Warrior:
propeller is required but not a spinner
nose wheel is required but the cigar lighter is not
stall warning is required but carb ice detector is not

and in one of the regs it states that maintenance and inspections must be certified
and in another it states that pilots can do a daily inspection
so the pilot who does the DI must sign to certify that

[601]

.... no carrying of unserviceabilities unless:
....

Or is a passenger convenience item.

[AirlinePirate]

kalavo, thanks for the reference on the daily inspection.

blackhand, Creampuff, djpil and 601, thanks, but do you have references for your statements? Im not looking for opinions, here, but references.

[navajoe]

This is a grey area and you won't find any reference to it in the regs. I've just had this very matter out with three CASA FOI's at a recent meeting and they were all in agreement with the following.........The aircraft is only U/S if the item on the M/R is required for that particular flight. If an item is required for IFR you can still fly VFR ...If your nav lites don't work , you can still fly daytime....etc. It is up to the pilot to ascertain what is required. Hope this helps :rolleyes:

[scavenger]

Im not looking for opinions, here, but references.

Why don't you look in the division of the CAR with the heading "Certification of completion of maintenance" - CAR 42ZE(1)(b)?

Try reading the MR as well - want the form number for that?

[scavenger]

This is a grey area and you won't find any reference to it in the regs.

Yes you will.

CAR 47(1) lists the occasions where an MR will cease to be in force.

CAR 50 states that defects must be endorsed but unless they are major defects, the MR continues to be in force.

CAO 20.4 Oxygen
CAO 20.11 Emergency equipment
CAO 20.16.3 Seatbelts
CAO 20.18 Flight instruments, lights etc
CAR 252A ELTs

There are many others, as noted above...

This CASA ruling explains the RPT and CHTR requirement of the CAO...

http://www.casa.gov.au/wcmswr/_assets/main/rules/rulings/2004/ar0104.pdf

[kalavo]

Disagree that there's grey areas. AirlinePirate, the following sections are worth a read...

CAR207
CAO 20.18
Aviation Ruling 1/2004
CAO 20.4
CAO 20.11
CAO 20.16.3
CAO 20.18
AIP GEN 1.5
CAR 47
CAR 2
MEL and AFM if appropriate

Also worth speaking to a clued up engineer... the good ones tend to be really good with this sort of stuff, more so than most pilots I've met. They're also aware of the gotchyas in the system. e.g. if NAV2 is broken, removed from the aircraft and we still meet the GEN1.5 radio navaid requirements, we may still be grounded - there needs to be an engineering order applied for the removed navaid (which would generally require the panel to be blanked so cooling of the other electronic devices in the instrument panel are not affected).