AOPA:FAA wants airline-style regs for small repair stations

This could be worse than the tax increase.

FAA wants airline-style regs for small repair stations

The FAA is once again pushing a bad proposal that could put small repair
stations out of business and increase maintenance costs for aircraft owners.

The proposal would require all repair stations, regardless of size or
complexity, to expand their current quality control systems to meet
international standards. By the FAA's own estimate, the new quality systems
would burden about half of the small repair stations to the tune of $34,500
each.

"AOPA believes that many small shops will not be able to absorb the cost of
complying with this mandate, particularly if they are a one- or two-person
shop," AOPA wrote in its formal comments to the proposal.

Further, AOPA said that many of these repair stations may, after
surrendering their certificates, continue to operate as individual mechanics
or under inspection authorizations. They would not be exposed to the degree
of surveillance currently directed toward FAA-certified repair stations,
which would only reduce the agency's safety surveillance of the industry.

The proposal also calls for a "type rating" system that doesn't make sense
for general aviation. The preamble to the proposal says that a repair
station rated for Boeing 737s could not unilaterally add a Boeing 757 rating
to its capability list. The FAA would require type ratings for different
models of GA aircraft. In other words, a repair station that is authorized
to work on Cessna 172s could not work on 182s, 206s, 210s, etc., unless
these models were added to the shop's capability list, which would
presumably require FAA approval.

"AOPA members have already told us that they are experiencing lengthy delays
in obtaining certification services from the FAA...this will only aggravate
this problem," AOPA continued.

AOPA has remained steadfast in its opposition to the changes ever since the
FAA first proposed them in 1999. Members can comment on the proposal until
April 16.