FUTURE MAINTENANCE OF POWERED AIRCRAFT
We are starting to get some good input on this thread.
For David: rest assured the powered boys are working on inputs to the debate on Part M etc. No doubt I will see you in Cologne on 4th/5th November and my Company will be submitting a comprehensive piece to the Transport Select Committee before 14th November as well as presenting some ideas at Cosford at the end of the month.
What everyone is forgetting, however, is that Part M will not apply to the so-called Annex II or non-EASA aircraft - everything from Tigers and Chipmunks to Austers (for the time being anyway), Bulldogs, Stampes and some Cubs etc etc etc. It is the CAA that will invent the new rules for the maintenance of these types and we have already heard Jim McKenna (CAA Chief Surveyor) suggest that the CAA will migrate BCARs towards EASA requirements. The key thing is that for Annex II aircraft we now have the opportunity to suggest a more tenable maintenance regime to the CAA which, if it has the motivation of Parliament behind it (in the shape of the Transport Select Committee), might be pursuaded to act with a lighter touch than the present assumption that everything on the register is an A380.
It is vital that as many people as possible contribute to these consultations - only 219 submissions were made to the CAA GA costs study. That is not enough if we are to demonstrate the strength of feeling there is on these issues. Care is needed to ensure that all submissions are individual - in the costs study consultation the CAA counted 59 inputs all saying exactly the same thing about air display charges as just one point. It is vital also that target dates are met - anything submitted after the target will be ignored.
So, to everyone who cares about the future of any facet of light aviation in our country - get writing, please.