Seems to me everyone is interepreting Part M according to their individual agendas.
But Part M is based on the long established French system, which I have happily used for ten years on my UK based French registered ATL.
I started out with a maintenance contract in the controlled environment. But the cost of annuals became too high for a retirement pension, and since I am an unlicensed engineer and licensed flt engineer, I started to do my own annuals. Then I took a subscription to GSAC/EASA for ADs, and APEX for SBs, and did those as well. Now I do most of the work on the aircraft, only using certain approved workshops for items that I do not have the competance to carry out. Eg: Mag O/Hs, NDT checks, major O/Hs on the engine, detailed inspection/repairs of wooden structures. My CRS has been accepted by the GSAC surveyors when renewing the three year C of A , and I have no reason to doubt that will be the case for issue of the first ARC. After all the ARC is mainly a check of the state of the paperwork, with little actual investigation of the physical condition of the aircraft. That is one of the reasons why I do my own maintenance, then I know it has been done properly, and exactly as laid down in my approved maintenance programme.
Yes for sure most pilots would rather not get their hands dirty, but EASA allows them to save sheds of money if they do some of the maintenance on their own aircraft .
Please don't allow certain engineers to tell you what you MUST do under Part M. EASA have set it up for 'creative interpretation' of the regulations, and that allows much more scope than some would like you to know.
