§44733 Oversight of Repair Stations Located Outside the United States

Summary

The FAA must set up a risk-based safety review system for all part 145 repair stations that looks at the type, scope, and difficulty of the work. The system must make sure foreign repair stations get proper inspections that match U.S. rules, use inspection results from foreign aviation authorities when there are official agreements, and those agreements must let the FAA do its own inspections when there are safety concerns. The FAA must tell the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Transportation Committee within 30 days after it starts formal talks with a foreign aviation authority about a new agreement. The FAA must publish a yearly report that explains how it tracks where part 121 carrier maintenance is done, shows a staffing plan for inspectors, describes inspector training, and assesses how well monitoring is done. The Secretaries of State and Transportation must ask ICAO member countries to set international alcohol and drug testing rules for safety-sensitive maintenance workers. Within 1 year after this law is enacted, the FAA must propose a rule requiring alcohol and drug testing for repair station workers who do safety-sensitive work on part 121 aircraft, consistent with the host country’s laws. The FAA must inspect foreign part 145 repair stations at least once a year without prior notice and may do more inspections, announced or unannounced, based on risk and consistent with international agreements and local law. Within 90 days after the date of enactment of the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016, the FAA must focus extra attention on foreign stations that do scheduled heavy maintenance on part 121 aircraft and must consider how often and how serious carrier corrective actions are after that work. The FAA may get needed data from carriers. Each fiscal year a part 121 carrier has heavy maintenance done abroad, the carrier must send, by the end of the next fiscal year, a report with: the location, a description of the work, the completion date, a list of any safety-related failures found within 30 days after return to service that needed fixes because of that work, and the certificate number of the person who approved the aircraft or engine for return to service. The FAA will analyze those reports (and related regulatory data) to find safety problems and require fixes. The reports get the same confidentiality protections as other voluntary safety information under federal law. The FAA may not approve new part 145 applications from people in countries rated Category 2 by its IASA program (renewals are allowed). The FAA can choose not to enter new maintenance implementation agreements with Category 2 countries, and part 121 carriers may not sign new heavy maintenance contracts with persons in those countries while the country stays Category 2. Within 18 months after enactment, covered repair stations must have supervisors and anyone who approves return to service certificated under part 65 or an equivalent, and those people must be available for consultation during heavy maintenance. Definitions: covered repair station = a foreign part 145 station doing heavy maintenance for part 121 carriers; heavy maintenance = C-check, D-check, or similar major airframe work (including on-wing engines); part 121 air carrier = an operator with a part 121 certificate; part 145 repair station = a facility with a part 145 certificate.