USE YOUR POWER

Helicopters are as unique as the people who own them, fly them and work on them. Mistakes in design, production, operation or maintenance can create immediate consequences. Owners, operators and maintainers must be vigilant to prevent accidents or even incidents. The Helicopter Association International (HAI) has started a campaign to encourage pilots to just land the damn bird if anything creates uncertainty in safe operations. Pilots can refuse to fly an aircraft or can land the aircraft whenever there is doubt about continued safe flight and landing.

Maintenance personnel can do one better; they have the obligation to stop an aircraft from being flown. If there are questions about how maintenance should be done or if the work is questionably completed, a technician has the power not to proceed. The requirement to perform work in such a manner as to return the article to at least its original (or properly altered) condition is placed upon “each person performing” maintenance, preventive maintenance or alterations. Indeed, maintenance record requirements state that an approval for return to service may only be issued “[i]f the work performed … has been done satisfactorily.” While the signature constitutes the approval for return to service only for the work performed, the work needs to be spot on to avoid questions or complications during operations. Before making a maintenance entry and/or issuing an approval for return to service, take the time to ensure the housing, facilities, equipment, data, material and fellow workers were right for the job.

If questioned by other technicians, management or operations, these legal obligations can provide the power to ensure proper work has been completed. Without the approval for return to service, a pilot cannot return the helicopter to the air. The bumblebee and the helicopter aren’t supposed to fly in the first place. Let’s make sure when the rotorcraft takes off that it can sustain the rigors of unique and often life-saving operations. Maintenance personnel need to join the campaign to keep the aircraft on the ground if any airworthiness issue is present. Let the pilot only determine the proper mental, physical and weather conditions to fly, not whether the helicopter meets its approved design and is in a condition for safe operation. The power is in the hands of maintenance personnel. As the saying goes, “Without mechanics, pilots would be nothing but pedestrians with cool sunglasses.”

Sarah MacLeod is executive director of the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA), an organization she helped found more than 25 years ago. She is a managing member at the law firm of Obadal, Filler, MacLeod & Klein P.L.C. and is engaged in the legal representation of foreign and domestic air carriers, aircraft maintenance and alteration facilities, distributors, pilots and other individuals and companies in federal court and before federal administrative bodies. She also serves as assistant chair for Air Carrier and General Aviation Maintenance of the FAA’s Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee, a post she has held since 1996. A globally recognized expert in aviation regulatory compliance, Ms. MacLeod is a sought-after speaker and has appeared a numerous aviation and MRO events. She is admitted to the bar in Virginia.

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D.O.M. magazine is the premier magazine for aviation maintenance management professionals. Its management-focused editorial provides information maintenance managers need and want including business best practices, professional development, regulatory, quality management, legal issues and more. The digital version of D.O.M. magazine is available for free on all devices (iOS, Android, and Amazon Kindle).

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