A repair station’s rating allows it to make “continue-in-service” determinations on internal or attached articles, according to an FAA response to the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA). The response is to ARSA’s July 9 letter to the FAA’s Aircraft Maintenance Division regarding the removal and reinstallation of components variously referred to as salvaged parts, cannibalized parts, serviceable parts and part recovery.
The letter was written after an ARSA member received a letter of investigation questioning the repair station’s use of a recovered parts procedure. In it, ARSA asserted the right of certified entities to review, visually inspect, check or test subarticles to determine if they are “serviceable as removed” from a top assembly. Once this assessment is made, ARSA contended, the part can be used in any assembly under maintenance or placed into stock.
Sarah MacLeod, ARSA’s executive director, told AIN, “What precipitated the request was a disparity among the FAA regions on how to apply a basic concept. This response should resolve any lingering doubt about a repair station’s ability to inspect and deem good internal components of articles they’re rated to maintain. It reaffirms longstanding practices that have saved repair stations and customers money for years.”
