By Adam Hunt
November 25 and 26, 2003 marked the most recent
meeting of the Canadian Aviation Regulations Advisory Committee (CARAC) Part V
Maintenance and Manufacturing Technical Committee.
The two-day meeting covered a number of topics of importance to COPA members.
The majority of the meeting was devoted to new CARs and CAR Standards to
regulate Distributors of Aeronautical Products.
Canada has a unique distribution system that serves owners of small aircraft
very well. Canada is the only country that allows approved distributors to
supply certified aircraft parts with the distributor’s own certification
documents.
This enables the Canadian distributors to maintain the required traceability of
certified parts while at the same time saving the cost of producing original
certification documents for individual parts from large batches and shipments.
The bottom line is that this unique Canadian system preserves safety and saves
Canadian aircraft owners money!
The new regulations, produced with input from COPA, will preserve the existing
Canadian distribution system and ensure that it continues to serve Canadians as
well as it has done in the past. The same meeting also passed seven new aircraft
that will be added to the TC-approved list for the Owner-maintenance Category.
It must be stressed that these aircraft have only passed the Technical Committee
hurdle. Owners of these types will not be able to move any of these aircraft
into the O-M Category until the list in CAR Standard 507 Appendix H is actually
published as amended. This is expected some time in early-mid 2004.
The new aircraft that will be added to the O-M Category will be five models of
the Boeing Stearman biplanes – Model 75, A75, E75, E75N1 and the PT-17; the
Cessna 150E (which is the 1965 model) and the Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee.
COPA Flight will carry an announcement when these types have actually been
written into the CAR Standard and owners can re-register their aircraft in the
O-M Category.
COPA is the only Association that represents non-commercial aircraft owners and
pilots on all nine Canadian Aviation Regulations Advisory Council Technical
Committees in the rulemaking process.