Gov't maintenance FAR Question?

coastie-heli-mech · October 31, 2006

What part FAR do government aircraft fall under related to maintenance? I did some gov't contract work on UH60-A helicopters in the past and was surprised to find only two other guys besides myself had an A&P cert! Even my site supervisor didn't have an A&P license! I guess it wasn't needed. Are all govt contract A&P jobs like that? I'm thinking about working contract maintenance for the Dept of Homeland Security so what FAR would maintence follow? 134, 145, 91 etc. Also would they require an IA for pertinant repairs and maintenace? or is it a wave of the cross and a good game? Any info appreciated

67november · October 31, 2006

US military a/c do NOT follow FAA maintenance rules.

this is why it's nearly impossble to get a CA for them to fly in the civilian world.

the maintenance programs are developed by the preformence history and the recommendations of the manufacturer hence the reason you don't need an A&P for military a/c maintenance.

contract repair stations are usally staffed with A&P/IA's for the NDT and overhaul of the a/c.

Edited November 1, 2006 by 67november

Hawkdriver · November 1, 2006

You never heard me say this.

I have seen several contractors doing phases on UH60's that had ZERO aviation maintainance backgrounds.

I know it's not rocket science, but you can understand my concern.

For the record, I hate flying aircraft fresh out of phase. It takes about 25-30 hours to fix all the bugs from stripping it down.

67november · November 1, 2006

The US military considers it's equipment as disposible and only keeps the maintanence up to the point of the rated lifespan of the equipment.

so HD you are correct that it may take time to work out the bugs as these are from programs that are not controlled by the FAA.

welcome to the real world as it has been and always will be

Gomer Pylot · November 1, 2006

The FAA has no authority over any other government entity and all public use aircraft, no matter the level of government, are not regulated by any FAR. The pilots flying them don't need a license, nor do the mechanics who maintain them. The FARs simply do not apply to any public use aircraft. Some departments do voluntarily follow FARs, but are not required to. In theory, you can fly for any police department, state or county, or any branch of the military, without any license whatsoever. Each military branch has its own regulations concerning qualifications for its personnel and its aircraft maintenance. Civilian operations do whatever they like, most following the FARs more or less.

I don't know what the DHS does specifically, but whatever it does, it does because it wants to. The FAA does not regulate any DHS activity, and there is no requirement for any FAA certificate for anyone, pilot or mechanic, other than what the DHS itself requires.

coastie-heli-mech · November 1, 2006

Thanks guys/gals for the usefull information. Well I guess if I chose the contract it only helps me to have the previous experience in FAR regulation huh? Hopefully this gig will pan out into a sweet deal. And for the record the Govt contract company from the past was LSI doing reset on UH60-A. And it was surprising the lack of structure that company had at least at my location. I wouldn't want to fly in those helos. It ended up getting closed down after OSHA fined the company 190K for an near death injury where the mechs had advised the need of resperator training and fitting with no action taken by management.