Key Benefits:
Minister of the Interior, Minister of Defence and Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Budget Officer,
Having regard to Commission Regulation (EC) No 2042/2003 of 20 November 2003 on the maintenance of airworthiness of aircraft and aircraft products, parts and equipment and relating to the accreditation of the bodies and personnel involved in these tasks, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 707/2006 of 8 May 2006, Commission Regulation (EC) No. 376/2007 of 30 March 2007 and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1056/2008
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No. 216/2008 of the European Parliament and the Council of 20 February 2008 amended on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Aviation Safety Agency, and repealing Council Directive 91/670/EEC, Council Regulation (EC) No. 1592/2002 and Directive 2004/36/EC, including Article 1-2;
In light of Commission Regulation No. 748/2012 of 3 August 2012 establishing rules for the certification of airworthiness and environmental of aircraft and associated products, parts and equipment as well as for the certification of design and production bodies;
Vu le Decree No. 2013-366 of 29 April 2013 establishing the Directorate of State Aviation Safety, including Article 3-1;
Vu le Decree No. 2013-367 of 29 April 2013 the rules for the use, airworthiness and registration of military aircraft and state-owned aircraft used by customs, public security and civil security services, including article 12-3;
In view of the decree of 7 August 1970 establishing a joint nomenclature and organization of the codification and standardization of equipment;
Having regard to the decision of 3 May 2013 establishing the responsibilities of the State Aviation Safety Authority, the Technical Authority and the Employment Authorities for the Use, Airworthiness and Registration of Military Aircraft and State-owned Aircraft and Used by Customs, Public Security and Civil Security Services;
Having regard to the order of 3 May 2013 setting out the conditions for the issuance, maintenance, modification, suspension or withdrawal of type certificates, airworthiness certificates and authorizations for flights of military aircraft and state-owned aircraft used by customs, public security and civil security services;
Having regard to the decision of 3 May 2013 establishing the rules of registration of military aircraft and state-owned aircraft used by customs, public security and civil security services,
Stop:
This Order sets out the rules for the maintenance of airworthiness of aircraft referred to inarticle 1 of Decree No. 2013-367 of 29 April 2013 referred to above.
The provisions of this Order also apply to production agencies that provide the new aircraft components used in maintenance operations.
Excluded from the scope of this Order:
- the aircraft mentioned 3° and 4° of Article 1 of Decree No. 2013-367 of 29 April 2013 referred to above and registered in the civil registration register;
- aircraft registered in the registration register of the technical authority;
― the ports and equipment defined by the technical authority, after the advice of the aeronautical security authority of the State and the relevant employment authorities. The technical authority, in conjunction with the employment authorities, specifies the conditions for their maintenance and use.
For the purposes of this Order, the following means:
"recognition" means an act by which the technical authority or the aeronautical security authority of the State establishes non-compliance with one or more production requirements or the maintenance of airworthiness.
1° This finding is classified as level 1:
(a) In production, when non-compliance could affect the safety of an aircraft;
(b) In the maintenance of airworthiness, where the non-compliance is significant, lowering the level of safety of an aircraft, seriously impairing the safety of flights and persons or invalidating the results of an organization procedure, such as the issuance of a recommissioning certificate or an airworthiness examination. In particular, it may constitute Level 1 findings: the non-application of mandatory applicable data, the defection of a responsible officer, the lack of acceptance document;
2° This finding is classified as level 2 when the non-compliance is not sufficient to constitute a Level 1 finding. In particular, there are level 2 findings: insufficient monitoring of a subcontractor, an incomplete instructor qualification file;
"acceptance document": a certificate of compliance, a certificate of commissioning, a certificate of return to service or a declaration of compliance.
1° The conformity certificate is issued by the production agency to ensure compliance with the approved aircraft type definition;
2° The commissioning certificate is issued by the production agency to ensure compliance with the approved design of an engine, propeller, parts and equipment.
3° The certificate of delivery is issued:
(a) By the production agency to ensure, during the maintenance of a new aircraft, the proper conduct of maintenance operations;
(b) By the maintenance agency to ensure that the ordered work has been carried out in accordance with the applicable maintenance data available. The recommissioning certificate describes, in particular, the tasks ordered, carried out or carried forward;
4° The declaration of conformity is issued by the supplier to ensure compliance with the standard part or material, with the specifications defined by the holder of a type certificate, an additional type certificate or a specific equipment certificate;
"applicable maintenance data": maintenance data, including those associated with modifications and repairs, applicable to products, parts and equipment in the execution of maintenance;
― "Airworthiness Environment": the environment of an in-service aircraft comprised of all organizations and individuals involved in the maintenance of airworthiness, including airworthiness management, maintenance and training and aviation maintenance personnel;
“Production agency” means any body responsible for the manufacture of products, parts and equipment;
"Standard piece": Standard piece whose characteristics are specified by the holder of a type certificate, an additional type certificate or a specific equipment certificate.
The continued airworthiness of aircraft under flight authorization shall be ensured in accordance with the requirements of maintaining airworthiness or, where applicable, the provisions specified by the technical authority in the flight authorization.
An organization authorized under the conditions of this order shall be under the responsibility of a responsible officer designated by the employment authority or by the agency. The same person may be appointed as the manager of several accredited bodies.
The responsible officer ensures that the activities can be funded and are carried out in accordance with the rules applicable to the maintenance of airworthiness. For each organization, it appoints one or more designated licensees, responsible for the management and supervision of the organization's activities.
The names and functions of the responsible officer and its holders are transmitted to the competent authority.
When a designated licensee manages and supervises activities related to the maintenance of airworthiness and maintenance of an aircraft, it must ensure the functional separation between these activities.
Only organizations authorized under the conditions set out in Article 8 of this Order may intervene in the airworthiness environment.
The State Aviation Safety Authority and the Technical Authority, in their respective areas of competence, define the requirements for the issuance, modification, suspension and withdrawal of approval and associated prerogatives.
The State Aviation Safety Authority also defines the requirements for the issuance, amendment and maintenance of the validity of state aircraft maintenance licences and associated privileges.
Accreditation of organizations
The State Aviation Safety Authority or the Technical Authority, in their respective areas of competence, shall issue an approval to the bodies involved in the airworthiness environment, as soon as they apply and meet the conditions set by this Order.
When organizations are involved in a public market or framework agreement, the approval is issued in accordance with the provisions of the market or framework agreement.
The technical authority or State aeronautical security authority may recognize the associated approvals and prerogatives, issued by the French, European or foreign civil aviation authorities, or by foreign military authorities.
The application shall be made in accordance with the procedure established by the competent authority and shall specify the scope of operations covered by the approval or modification of the licence.
The approved body may subcontract all or part of its activity. The State aeronautical security authority or technical authority may issue an approval at the request of a subcontractor, if it meets the conditions of eligibility defined by the contract that binds the approved body to the State. In particular, may be eligible for approval by the subcontractor who produces or maintains aircraft, engines, including auxiliary power groups, and propellers.
Until such approval is obtained, the competent authority may, under the conditions set out in the contractual documents, authorize a State-related agency by contract to issue documents equivalent to the acceptance documents, on the scope of the operations covered by the application for approval.
A contract between the approved agency and the subcontractor specifies the conditions of subcontracting.
In this context, the approved body defines:
(a) The scope of subcontracted activities;
(b) The procedures established by the subcontractor to meet the requirements of maintaining airworthiness;
(c) The terms and conditions of supervision exercised by the registered body.
If the subcontractor is approved, the subcontractor may exercise the prerogatives of maintaining the airworthiness recognized by the subcontractor on the scope of the subcontracted activities, including, where applicable, the establishment of acceptance documents.
State aircraft maintenance licence
At the proposal of the employment authority, the State Aviation Safety Authority shall issue a maintenance licence for state aircraft of the appropriate category to personnel who:
(a) Successfully completes training to acquire the basic knowledge levels, related to the type of aircraft or maintenance tasks, sanctioned by examinations conducted by accredited training centres; and
(b) Justifies a practical experience on the aircraft in operation.
At the proposal of the body concerned, the State aeronautical security authority may also issue a state aircraft maintenance licence to the staff of State-related bodies by contract on the basis of conditions of recognition that take into account the acquisitions and competencies.
The State Aviation Safety Authority may recognize the associated licences and privileges issued by the civil aviation authorities.
The state aircraft maintenance licence is valid for five years from its last issuance or amendment, provided that the recipient meets the requirements required during the validity period.
Upon application by the employment authority, the State aeronautical security authority withdraws or suspends the licence following the procedures provided for in the statutory provisions applicable to each category of personnel.
For military personnel, the licence differs from the patent or diploma held and constitutes a professional qualification within the meaning of theArticle L. 4137-1 of the Defence Code.
At the request of the body concerned, the State aeronautical security authority may also withdraw or suspend the license of personnel of State-related bodies by contract.
Maintenance of airworthiness
Employment authorities designate the airworthiness management organizations for the aircraft they operate.
For aircraft under their responsibility, airworthiness management organizations:
1° Define aircraft maintenance programs;
2° Implement airworthiness instructions;
3° Initiate maintenance orders. As such, they establish maintenance orders based on applicable maintenance data and serve them on maintenance organizations;
4° Ensure the proper execution of the ordered benefits and their registration;
5° Develop a specification manual that describes all procedures related to the management of airworthiness applied by the airworthiness management organization and, where appropriate, list the contracts or protocols between that organization and:
― subcontracting organizations of airworthiness management tasks;
– Maintenance organizations.
Airworthiness Management Organizations are monitoring organizations that perform the maintenance of aircraft and aircraft components. This monitoring is carried out in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the specifications manuals prepared by the airworthiness management organizations and accepted by the aviation safety authority.
Airworthiness Management Organizations ensure compliance with the following obligations:
1° The aircraft is maintained in accordance with applicable maintenance data, including the approved aircraft maintenance program;
2° All aircraft components are properly installed and operating or clearly identified as unusable;
3° The aircraft has an acceptance document;
4° All documents establishing the airworthiness status of the aircraft are retained in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the specifications manuals of the airworthiness management bodies and accepted by the State Aviation Safety Authority.
Maintenance
Maintenance agencies perform maintenance tasks ordered by the airworthiness management organization. They are responsible for the following obligations:
1° Maintenance operations are carried out in accordance with the applicable maintenance data for maintenance, repair or modification;
2° The recommissioning of an aircraft, after an aircraft maintenance operation or after a full aircraft maintenance, is formalized by a recommissioning certificate signed by a qualified personnel. The latter is chosen, taking into account the scope of the activity concerned, within the personnel holding a state aircraft maintenance licence;
3° The recommissioning of an aircraft component after an off-aircraft maintenance operation is formalized by a certificate of recommissioning of that aircraft component signed by an authorized personnel;
4° In some cases defined by the State Aviation Safety Authority, the recommissioning of an aircraft component is formalized by the aircraft's recommissioning certificate;
5° A specification manual of the organization describes, among other things, the maintenance procedures that fall within the scope of approval, defines the procedure for verifying the delivery of the ordered benefits and lists, where appropriate, the contracts or protocols between the maintenance agency and its subcontractors.
Applicable maintenance data
Airworthiness Management Organizations and Maintenance Organizations use up-to-date maintenance data.
They include:
1° Data issued or approved in terms defined by the technical authority:
(a) Data associated with the type definition;
(b) Airworthiness directives and technical acts;
(c) Data related to modification, repair or evolution of type data;
2° The aircraft maintenance program validated by the employment authority and approved by the State Aviation Safety Authority;
3° Aircraft operating instructions, issued by the employment authority, which give rise to maintenance operations carried out in accordance with the applicable maintenance data mentioned in 1°, 2°, 4° and 5°;
4° Data issued by the holder of an additional type certificate or type certificate or a specific equipment certificate, if the holder has sufficient privileges:
(a) Instructions for the maintenance of airworthiness;
(b) Technical guidelines;
5° Maintenance instructions prepared by an approved maintenance agency in accordance with a procedure approved by the State Aviation Safety Authority;
The technical authority specifies the terms and conditions for approval of data issued by production or maintenance organizations:
(a) Who are not holder of additional type certificate or certificate of type or specific certificate of equipment;
(b) Who do not have sufficient privileges.
Maintenance data, used prior to the entry into force of this Order, are applicable as long as they are consistent with the data approved by the technical authority for type certification and applicable maintenance data available.
Acceptance documents
For certain products, parts and equipment, particularly of foreign origin, acceptance documents defined in section 2 may be replaced by equivalent documents. These documents and the terms and conditions of their approval are defined by the technical authority for new equipment and the state aviation safety authority for in-service equipment.
Training
Training and examinations for the issuance of state aircraft maintenance licences are conducted by training bodies subject to the following conditions:
1° The trainings provided cover the training content specified by the State Aviation Safety Authority according to the category of the State Aircraft Maintenance Licence to be issued;
2° The experience and qualifications of instructors and examiners responsible for theoretical training, trainers and controllers responsible for practical training meet criteria approved by the State Aviation Safety Authority;
3° A specification manual of the organization describes the procedures, organization, operation, means and training courses provided on the scope of the accreditation and, where appropriate, lists the contracts or protocols between the training organization and its subcontractors.
Monitoring of airworthiness
At the request of the State Aviation Safety Authority, the employment authorities shall provide the evidence that has been justified before the coming into force of this Order:
the establishment and approval of maintenance programs;
- the issuance of airworthiness certificates, airworthiness certificates, organization approvals, maintenance licences.
The State aeronautical security authority or technical authority, in their respective areas of competence, may only issue, maintain or extend an organization's approval, a certificate of airworthiness, if the body:
- for a Level 1 finding, has completed a satisfactory corrective action to restore compliance with the production requirement or the maintenance of airworthiness;
– for a Level 2 finding, committed to carrying out a corrective action in accordance with the requirements defined by the competent authority.
Records and archives
Authorities and agencies involved in the airworthiness environment shall conduct recordings, in accordance with the requirements defined by the aeronautical security authority or technical authority, in their respective areas of competence, in order to ensure traceability:
1° Work done;
2° Information exchanged between organizations involved in the airworthiness environment and aircraft crews;
3° Controls and surveillance.
They include acceptance documents or equivalent recognized documents.
Recordings shall be kept in accordance with provisions defined by the competent authorities. Organizations specify in their specification manual the terms and conditions of archiving.
Maintenance of airworthiness
Airworthiness Management Organizations that perform services in the airworthiness environment on the date of entry into force of this Order have until 31 December 2014 or no later than the contracts that bind them to the State and notified before the coming into force of this Order to comply with all provisions relating to the maintenance of airworthiness.
Maintenance
Maintenance agencies that perform services in the airworthiness environment on the date of entry into force of this Order have until 31 December 2016 or at the latest at the end of the contracts that bind them to the State and notified before the coming into force of this Order to comply with all provisions relating to the maintenance of airworthiness.
Until such approval is granted, maintenance organizations may issue recognized documents equivalent to the recommissioning certificates, provided that staff who issue these authorizations meet the requirements set out in section 34.
The lists of staff authorized by a maintenance agency to sign recommissioning certificates, or equivalent documents, mentioning their area of responsibility, are held at the disposal of the State Aviation Safety Authority.
Production
The production agencies that perform benefits in the airworthiness environment on the date of entry into force of this Order shall have until 31 December 2016 or at the latest at the end of the contracts that bind them to the State and notified before the coming into force of this Order to comply with all provisions relating to the maintenance of airworthiness.
In order to establish the conformity of its organization with the requirements defined by the technical authority, it will be taken into account the ability of the organization to carry out activities for the production of aircraft elements for which it had, prior to the coming into force of this Order, updated design data and suitable industrial means.
Until such approval is obtained, production bodies may issue acceptance documents or documents recognized as equivalent by the technical authority.
Acceptance of aircraft elements,
standard parts and materials
Any maintenance agency may issue or put into service until exhaustion of the State's stocks, constituted at the latest at the end of the contracts notified prior to the entry into force of this Order, an element of aircraft supplied without a document of acceptance, subject to an equivalent document attesting to its airworthiness, recognized by the State Aviation Safety Authority. This document may be prepared according to a procedure of the maintenance agency, accepted by the State Aviation Safety Authority.
Any maintenance organization may issue or put into service, without acceptance document and until the State stocks are exhausted, a standard piece or a material supplied by December 31, 2016, subject to the identification of such equipment:
- by a nomenclature number of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Codification System implemented in accordance with the above-mentioned Order of August 7, 1970; or
- according to a procedure of the maintenance agency, accepted by the state aviation safety authority.
State aircraft maintenance licences
Until 31 December 2020, any person proposed for a state aircraft maintenance licence by an employment authority may be issued a state aircraft maintenance licence by the State Aviation Safety Authority, taking into account, in accordance with the terms defined by the employment authorities, the initial and continuing training and the professional experience gained.
Until such time as a licence is obtained or until the approval of the employer body, the maintenance personnel who are qualified by an employment authority, in accordance with the training curriculum and professional qualification principles in force prior to the issuance of this order, are deemed to hold a maintenance licence.
Training agencies
Training organizations that perform services in the airworthiness environment on the effective date of this Order have until 31 December 2014 to comply with all provisions relating to the maintenance of airworthiness.
Monitoring of airworthiness
Airworthiness Management Organizations have until December 31, 2016 to bring into compliance the maintenance programs approved by the employment authorities at the effective date of this Order with the recommended aircraft maintenance plans approved by the technical authority and to submit them to the approval of the State Aviation Safety Authority.
The corrective actions, accepted by the employment authorities for the findings established prior to the entry into force of this Order, are recognized by the State Aviation Safety Authority.
Records and archives
Records and records made in accordance with the procedures defined by these bodies prior to their approval shall be admitted by the State Aviation Safety Authority.
Public contracts and framework agreements, with agencies to carry out airworthiness services, define the obligations to which holders of such contracts are required to comply with the rules set out in this Order.
In the event that adjustments to these rules are necessary, a notice of the aeronautical security authority of the State and the technical authority is, as necessary, sought by the procuring power.
An interdepartmental instruction from the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Defence and the Minister responsible for the budget specifies the requirements for maintaining airworthiness.
The General Delegate for Arming, the Chief of Staff of the Army of Land, the Chief of Staff of the Navy, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the Director General of the National Gendarmerie, the Director General of Civil Security and Crisis Management, the Director General of Customs and Indirect Rights and the Director of State Aviation Security are responsible, each with regard to the publication of the Official Journal of the French Republic,
Done on 3 May 2013.
Minister of Defence,
Jean-Yves Le Drian
The Minister of the Interior,
Manuel Valls
Minister Delegate
to the Minister of Economy and Finance,
Budget Officer
Bernard Cazeneuve
