On Nov. 6, ARSA sent a letter to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) rebutting the agency’s position on type-certificate (TC) holders’ provision of Instructions for Continued Airworthiness (ICA) to repair stations. On May 30, 2008, EASA declined to take action on ARSA’s complaint against Airbus and Rolls-Royce for the TC holders’ refusal to supply its members with maintenance manuals based on the contention that the component maintenance manuals (CMM) our members requested were not part of the complete ICA package.

ARSA’s rebuttal pointed out that EASA’s own regulations show that CMMs are indeed part of the complete ICA package – the CMM our member sought from Airbus is specifically referenced in the aircraft level ICA. Therefore, under even the most restrictive interpretation of the regulations the CMM must still be made available, and that Rolls-Royce removed repair methods from its engine ICAs that are specifically required to be included based on the plain language of the regulations.

A copy of ARSA’s rebuttal letter may be found here (see November 6, 2008 entry).

A full history of ARSA’s ICA efforts may be found here.

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