26.370 Maintenance programme

MEANS TO ADDRESS THE ADVERSE EFFECTS OF REPAIRS AND CHANGES Unless there is a process as specified in CS 26.370(i) and in order to comply in a timely manner with point 26.370(a)(ii) of Part26, it is necessary to accomplish specific actions beforehand, to identify changes affecting the FCS, request the DT data, and review the design approval holder documentation, in accordance with CS 26.370 (c) and (d). DTIs that should be available and incorporated into the maintenance programme before 26 February 2024 are those DTIs that have been developed by the TC or RTC holders in compliance with points 26.302 and 26.307, and by the STC holders in compliance with point 26.333 of Part26. The timescales for those requirements should mean that the DT data is submitted to EASA for approval by 26 February 2023, and following approval, the design approval holder has to make the DTIs available to all known operators and, on request, to the involved organisation responsible for the management of continuing airworthiness, allowing the incorporation of the data in the maintenance programme prior to 26 February 2024. The organisation responsible for the management of continuing airworthiness and for the establishment of the maintenance programme will need to identify and contact the design approval holder for the applicable change and request DT data for the change. If the design approval holder for a change installed on an aeroplane no longer exists or does not make the DTI available for some reason that is out of the control of the organisation responsible for the management of continuing airworthiness, the DTI may be obtained and incorporated according to the schedules outlined in CS 26.370(h). In these cases, the plan used in accordance with CS 26.370(g) should show the course of action for that change, including the agreements by which the DTIs will be obtained. For changes approved after 1 September 2003, if the organisation responsible for the management of continuing airworthiness decides not to obtain the DTI that is available from the design approval holder of the change and elects to contract a third party, the timescale of CS 26.370(e) for the incorporation of the approved DTI into the maintenance programme remains unchanged. For the DTIs of changes where the TC holder is not the approval holder and the approval was issued prior to 1 September 2003, the organisation responsible for the management of continuing airworthiness will have to make a request for that data to the approval holder, who would then have to comply with point 26.334 of Part26 and make the DTIs available, or the organisation responsible for the management of continuing airworthiness may arrange with a third party to perform the DTE and provide approved DTIs. The DT data should be obtained, and the DTIs incorporated into the maintenance programme according to the schedules outlined in CS 26.370(h), and this should be part of the plan used in accordance with CS 26.370(g). When a request for DT data is made to the design approval holder that has to comply with point 26.334 of Part26, it should be in written form, the date of the request should be recorded, and a record kept of the subsequent communications with the DAH, the agreements reached and the actions taken. An example of such records would be a copy of the contract to provide the DT data. For each change identified in the review of records as per CS 26.370(c), when the DTI for a change is not already incorporated into the maintenance programme, the organisation responsible for the management of continuing airworthiness should ensure that it will be obtained. This means that the design approval holders of all changes for which the organisation responsible for the management of continuing airworthiness has identified a potential need for DTIs should be approached in a timely manner. For repairs, acceptable procedures for conducting aeroplane surveys, and schedules for obtaining, incorporating and implementing DTIs may be found in the applicable REGs made available by the TC holder as required by point 26.309 of Part26 and described in Appendix 3 to AMC 2020A.

[Issue: 26/3]

[Issue: 26/5]