CAO.A.040 Certifying staff

(a)     Certifying staff shall comply with the requirements of Article 5. They shall only exercise their privileges to release maintenance if the CAO has ensured:

(1)     that these certifying staff meet the requirements of point (b) of point 66.A.20 of Annex III (Part-66) except when paragraph 6 of Article 5 refers to a national regulation of a Member State, in which case, they shall meet the requirements of such a regulation;

(2)     that these certifying staff have an adequate understanding of the relevant aircraft or aircraft component(s) to be maintained, or both, as well as of the organisation procedures required to perform such maintenance.

(b)     By derogation from point (a), in unforeseen circumstances where an aircraft is grounded at a location other than the main base where no appropriate certifying staff are available, the CAO contracted to provide maintenance support may issue a one-off certification authorisation, alternatively:

(1)     to one of their employees holding type qualifications for aircraft of similar technology, construction and systems;

(2)     to any person with no less than 3 years of maintenance experience and holding a valid ICAO aircraft maintenance licence rated for the aircraft type requiring certification, provided that there is no organisation approved in accordance with this Annex at that location and that the contracted CAO obtains and holds on file evidence of the experience and licence of that person.

The issuance of a one-off certification authorisation shall be reported by the CAO to the competent authority within 7 days of the issuance. The CAO issuing the one-off certification authorisation shall ensure that any such maintenance that could affect flight safety is rechecked.

(c)      By derogation from point (a), the CAO may use certifying staff qualified in accordance with the following requirements when providing maintenance support to operators involved in commercial operations, subject to appropriate procedures to be approved as part of the CAE:

(1)     for a repetitive preflight airworthiness directive (AD) which specifically states that the flight crew may carry out such an AD, the CAO may issue a limited certifying-staff authorisation to the pilot-in-command on the basis of the flight crew licence held, provided that the CAO ensures that sufficient practical training has been carried out by the pilot-in-command so he/she can accomplish the AD to the required standard;

(2)     in the case of aircraft operating away from a supported location, the CAO may issue a limited certifying-staff authorisation to the pilot-in-command, on the basis of the flight crew licence held, provided that the organisation ensures that sufficient practical training has been carried out so that such a commander can accomplish the task to the required standard.

(d)     The CAO shall record the details concerning certifying staff and maintain an up-to-date list of all certifying staff, together with details on their scope of approval, as part of the organisation’s exposition.