Appendix II — Limited Pilot-owner maintenance

In addition to the requirements laid down in this Annex, the pilot-owner shall comply with the following basic principles before it carries out any maintenance task:

(a)     Competence and responsibility

(1)     The pilot-owner shall always be responsible for any maintenance he performs.

(2)     The pilot-owner shall hold satisfactory level of competence to perform the task. It is the responsibility of a pilot-owner to familiarise himself with the standard maintenance practices for his aircraft and with the AMP.

(b)     Tasks

The Pilot-owner may carry out simple visual inspections or operations to check the airframe, engines, systems and components for general condition, obvious damage and normal operation.

A maintenance task shall not be released by the pilot-owner if any of the following conditions occurs:

(1)     it is a critical maintenance task;

(2)     it requires the removal of major components o  r a major assembly;

(3)     it is carried out in compliance with an AD or an airworthiness limitation item (ALI) unless specifically allowed in the AD or the ALI;

(4)     it requires the use of special tools or calibrated tools (except for torque wrench and crimping tool);

(5)     it requires the use of test equipment or special testing (e.g. non-destructive testing (NDT), system tests or operational checks for avionics equipment); 

(6)     it is composed of any unscheduled special inspections (e.g. heavy-landing check); 

(7)     it affects systems essential for the instrumental flight rules (IFR) operations;

(8)     it is a complex maintenance task in accordance with Appendix III, or it is a component maintenance task in accordance with point (a) or (b) of point ML.A.502;

(9)     it is part of the 100-h/annual check (for those cases the maintenance task is combined with the airworthiness review performed by maintenance organisations or independent certifying staff).

The criteria referred to in points (1) to (9) cannot be overridden by less restrictive instructions issued in accordance with the AMP referred to in point ML.A.302.

Any task described in the aircraft flight manual (or other operational manuals), for example preparing the aircraft for flight (assembling the sailplane wings, or performing a preflight inspection, or assembling a basket, burner, fuel cylinders and an envelope combination for a balloon, etc.), is not considered a maintenance task and, therefore, does not require a CRS. Nevertheless, the person assembling those parts is responsible for ensuring that those parts are eligible for installation and in a serviceable condition.

(c)      Performance and records of the pilot-owner maintenance tasks

The maintenance data, as specified in point ML.A.401, must always be available during the conduct of pilot-owner maintenance and must be complied with. Details of the data referred to in the conduct of pilot-owner maintenance must be included in the CRS in accordance with point (d) of point ML.A.803.

The pilot-owner must inform the contracted CAMO or CAO (if such contract exists) about the completion of the pilot-owner maintenance tasks no later than 30 days after completion of these tasks in accordance with point (a) of point ML.A.305.