Airworthiness Review /ARC required on UK Registered Aircraft in CZ

[Ray_A]

I am posting this on behalf of a friend in the Czech Republic who requires an Airworthiness Review and ARC for his UK Registered Seneca.

The scenario is this:-

Last year (prior to 31 Dec 2020) he had no problem obtaining a new ARC via his regular maintenance company in Prague who were, at that time, automatically approved to issue the ARC on his plane on behalf of the UK CAA.

However, this year the CAA have refused to recognise the same company purely on the basis that their latest sub part G approval certificate contains a revision date of Jan 2021 (to reflect only a change of office address). The CAA have picked up on the fact that the said approval now contains a revision date of later than their magic date of 31 Dec 2020 and, according to rules will therefore no longer recognise the approval.
In any case the approval has now lapsed because the CZ organisation have apparently not yet transitioned to part-CAMO or part-CAO which, if they wanted to do it, should have happened (or at least been applied for) before 24 Sept 2021.

So, I am asking if anyone reading this can direct me to a Responsive UK CAMO (IE One who will answer eMails and call back when they say they will) who can open dialogue with my friend and eventually take on the work ?

regards & thanks

Ray

[Fl1ingfrog]

Ray, you need to be clearer; a CAMO and a maintenance organization are not the same thing and are separate. A CAMO oversees the airworthiness of the aircraft but does not take part in the actual spanner work. They instead ensure that all maintenance has been undertaken and that the paperwork is issued. The will oversee that all of the aircraft's scheduled maintenance and records are complete, correct and up to date. On being satisfied they will issue the Airworthiness Review Certificate. It should be possible for the current CAMO to transfer their records, if necessary, to the new CAMO on appointment.

If all maintenance is up to date then it is only the CAMO you require in the first instance. A large number of small maintenance organizations have formed a CAMO - operating in parallel - simply to undertake the 'reviews' of the aircraft they maintain. They might not be too keen to only take on the review paperwork unless they have also undertaken the actual maintenance. Try Multiflight at Leeds, I believe that they have a dedicated CAMO department.

[Jan Olieslagers]

Ray_A : Check your private messages.

[Ray_A]

Thanks Fl1ingfrog and Jan,
I should have been clearer, this non commercial small plane does not require a CAMO for the Management so he performs this aspect himself (as I did when I owned it, retired, competent with Excel etc and plenty of quality time to make a good job of it). However, it obviously required a CAMO or someone with ARC privileges to issue a New ARC every year (being in an uncontrolled environment).

Apparently the Annual this year was performed successfully by his Subpart F (maintenance) organisation and is valid but their subsequent attempt to provide the associated ARC under their Subpart G approval has failed because their approval certificate has been modified with a revision date later than 31 Dec 2020 so the UK CAA will no longer recognise them, end of.

Because of this I was trying to find him a UK organisation who can perform an Airworthiness Review and issue an ARC for an aircraft that they don't maintain or manage.

To compound it all, from what I have recently read I believe that as of 24 Sept 2021 all of the EU country automatic post brexit UK approvals will have become null&void in the eyes of the CAA unless the organisation has applied for a new one (and I don't think there are many EU firms that will be subsequently bothered about becoming UK CAA recognised).

Anyway, since originally posting I have put him in touch with E-Plane at Sandtoft who have already done a similar exercise and are presently taking a look at it for him.

regds
Ray

[Fl1ingfrog]

Only a CAMO or one of the other 'approved organizations' to do the review has access to the online application process and virtually signs to say that the review has been undertaken, is complete and correct. Any such organization that puts its trust in an individual to conduct the review on its behalf, as you infer you did it, must be mad or foolish and put its approval at risk.

E-Plane are an experienced and very qualified organization and so I am sure they will undertake the process thoroughly and correctly.

[Ray_A]

for the last 5 years of me operating this plane I chose not to use a CAMO contract which means I looked after the Management of my maintenance and would issue a works order to the maintenance company prior to each Annual and 6M.
Following Annual Work the Review and ARC issuance was left to them to either do in-house or subcontract as they saw fit.

Over those years 2 separate unrelated maintenance companies in my region trusted me with the Management of my maintenance.

Prior to that, before I retired, I used to pay for a CAMO contract.

[Fl1ingfrog]

OK, thanks Ray. The semantics here is the problem.

For anyone thinking of buying an aeroplane or are new to it all; no one is required to contract a CAMO to manage their light aeroplane whether it is used commercially or privately. If the aircraft/s are used commercially then you are required to nominate your CAMO or other as appropriate. A commercial operator may change their nominated CAMO as often as they wish as with the nominated engineers. Most small operators such as flying clubs and others who rent out their aeroplane/s can manage with the day to day oversight without a CAMO. A chosen engineer will normally advise you of the more obscure tasks such as the magneto and propeller maintenance cycles etc. It is a simple task to book in 50 hr., annual and unscheduled maintenance tasks/inspections as they arise. This hardly amounts to 'management'.

[NutLoose]

The Camo still has to inspect the paperwork and the aircraft itself to clear it. He also needs access to maintainance manuals, AD's SB's etc..

[Klimax]

A little of topic. If I acquired a G-reg SEP aircraft and wanted to operate it none commercially/privately in EASA land (and on EASA pilot license), what would be the most economical way to do this (transfer to EASA reg.? Which one? D-reg), and secondly would I even be allowed to fly the G-reg aircraft on my EASA license (also after 2022!). Thank you Gents.

[Big Pistons Forever]

Wouldn't just be easier to transfer to an N reg ?

[Klimax]

Wouldn't just be easier to transfer to an N reg ?

Well, are you suggesting to base and fly a N-reg aircraft around Europe? Ok, I do hold an FAA license, but how would this be economically the best way?