The Use of Suspected Unapproved Parts in U.S. Air Travel

Procedures for acceptance and repair capabilities

Applicants must explain the capability to successfully carry out the intended components of repair plan. Such should typically encompass skills, expertise, personnel, facility requirements, tools, storage requirements, and storage capacity, and material, and material handling among other requirements for conducting the planned repair specification. Moreover, the applicants do not have to prove their up-to-date capabilities, but what is needed to successfully conduct the repair plan. When this is done, the applicants should provide a detailed list of stepwise instructions, which will be used in the repair. This instruction should detail everything commencing from receiving and assessing the product to last step before it is taken for a test flight. The repair specification is not limited to documents included in the instructions, rather they must be accessible to individual conducting the repair according to the repair specification. He or she should submit the referenced documented together with their application for repair plan for valuation by the FAA. Further, the procedure needs to take into consideration all metrics testing as well as inspection carried out whenever there is a repair. Lastly, it should have the repair specifications procedures detailing how the article or product will be marked for it to be traced.

Unapproved parts in aviation and risks associated with them.

Unapproved parts in aviation came into being in the 1990s as FAAs efforts to sensitize the public in addition to its inspectors on matters pertaining the probable danger that accompanies aeronautical components, which do not adhere to the applicable design, production, as well as maintenance requirements. Three years down the line, the FAA came up with the Suspected Unapproved Parts initiative to streamline its endeavor to curb safety risks associated with the entry of SUPs into its aviation records alongside their installation on aircraft. SUPs range from counterfeits to old components that have been modified to appear new and obsolete parts. Amongst the risks associated with SUPs is that they contribute a huge safety problem to U.S. air travel because they act as weak points in the air travel safety chain. Moreover, their use has given criminals and unscrupulous managers a chance to endanger the lives of those onboard the planes. For instance, aircraft personnel may opt to buy a component that is advertised lowly by an accessory company despite the fact that he or she is aware that the part he or she is purchasing is of low quality. Further, criminals may infiltrate those who repair these aircraft since there is a lacuna in law that permit components that do not meet FAAs standards to be installed. To this end, the use of SUPs endangers the air transportation.

How FAA mitigates infiltration use of SUPs.

FAA mitigates infiltration of SUPs by recommending SUPs that are located in storage rooms to be immediately taken away to avert installation. Further, it ensures that SUPs are secured, recalled, or notifications are forwarded to end users or recipients. Moreover, it gives distributors and manufacturers of SUPs to inform the recipients that they are indeed SUPs. Further, FAA has the mandate to order the owner or operator to remove SUPs that have been set up on an airplane and they cannot be deactivated according to the approved MEL. Lastly, FAA mitigates infiltration of SUPs on aircraft by setting up hefty fines and jail terms for those who are found culpable of installing a SUP to act as warning against those who may intend to do a similar action in the future.

References

https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text idx?c=ecfr&SID=0d96608707e3b4d35f6f4905c4e6d464&rgn=div5&view=text&node=14:1.0.1.3.9&idno=14-

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/advisory_circulars/index.cfm/go/document.list?omni=ACs&q=20-62e&display=all&parentTopicID=0&documentNumber=