Amendment to CAO 100.24 – Approval of Maintenance Permissions for Large RPA - (CD 2524MS)
Guidance material – Proposed new Section 7.3.4, AC 101-01
In support of the amendment to Civil Aviation Order (CAO) 100.24, AC 101-01, Section 7 will be amended to include guidance on the principal change.
The Fact Bank below for new Section 7 of AC 101-01 contains additional guidance for the proposed amendment to CAO 100.24. Appendix A of the summary of proposed change also refers.
Proposed addition to Section 7 of Advisory Circular 101-01 - Remotely piloted aircraft systems - licensing and operations
7.3.4 Authorised Maintenance Personnel
7.3.4.1 Personnel performing maintenance on a large RPA require a maintenance authority to certify that maintenance. Applications for maintenance authorities are made via CASA Form 350 and with reference to CAO 100.24 which sets out maintenance competency requirements for approval of the application.
7.3.4.2 For unique or novel operations of large RPA, CASA recommends organisations contact CASA during the operational application process to determine the scope of the proposed operation and therefore proportionate maintenance/personnel requirements, noting that Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) is the formal risk assessment process used for RPA operations.
7.3.4.3 A CASR Part 66 aircraft maintenance engineer licence is the default requirement in Australia for the certification of aircraft maintenance and underpins the issue of maintenance permissions under CAO 100.24. However, for large RPA there is scalability available to recognise alternative competencies outside of the conventional Part 66 AME licence pathway. For a maintenance authority, all applicants must demonstrate appropriate competencies for that specific aircraft.
For large RPA, CASA can accept a Part 66 licence or alternative means of establishing competencies such as RPA manufacturer training courses, formal maintenance training, foreign or military RPA maintenance permissions, coupled with appropriate large RPA maintenance experience in the context of the intended large RPA operations as assessed under SORA.
It is also expected that the applicant's competency remains current and that this is demonstrated by the applicant.