Menu Sign In Contact FAQ
Banner
Welcome to our forums

Maintenance records

What is best practice on record keeping for maintenance, what do other people do?

Having recently become a (part) owner, I am getting up the learning curve on ownership and have a conflict of interest over the record keeping with our CAMO.

My strong inclination is to keep the records safely in my office at home and for me to make sure that everything is kept correct. I believe this is what the previous owners did and I like to keep everything immaculate on that front

Our CAMO has – I understand – a legal requirement to keep the records, even specifying that they need to be “to hand” and risk an inspection by the CAA. While I have no doubt that they will keep things safe and sound, the records are not available to me, and what happens in the case of the proverbial fire, or bankruptcy of the company?

Will the CAA accept that the CAMO has copies only?

As a side note, it seems very odd to me that the CAA require the CAMO to be responsible for the records, and not the owner!

BTW, the plane is D-reg, but I assume it is all the same under EASA.

EGTR

If you want to keep under CAMO contract you might ask copies and have a copy of the technicall file at home.

For the CAMO responsibilities are quite extensive. They are responsible all work is performed on time, and that all paperwork is up to data all the time.

As a side note, it seems very odd to me that the CAA require the CAMO to be responsible for the records, and not the owner!

If might seems odd, but by using a CAMO you basically transfer all your responsbilities on maintance to them, that is the whole point. It is not mandatory to use a CAMO. Some companies will also do the technicall administration without being CAMO (e.g. they do the work, but the responsibility is on you).

In general, it is possible to do your own technicall administration, though you should be very strict at it, and be sure you are aware of all national and EASA regulations, as well have access to up to date maintance data, not only for the airframe but also for components for example, and be sure you keep everything in compliance with their manuals.

JP-Avionics
EHMZ

A CAMO has some requirements to keep records, but it isn’t for ever, yet you need to keep them for ever in case you ever want to sell the plane or have to submit to an aggressive inspection (e.g. a registry transfer).

So when choosing a CAMO I would tell them up front you want copies of everything. They are normally happy with that, especially if you just pop into their office and photograph the stuff after each job. There are smartphone apps which make it easy to shoot a load of pages, adjust them, and drop them all into one PDF.

And I also tell the maintenance company that I will inspect the aircraft after each job, so I want the inspection covers left off. That is slightly less popular, which is one of many reasons I now do maintenance myself with an engineer in a specially rented hangar.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

But that’s the best part of having a CAMO, really … that they care about all that stuff. I only keep a copy of every maintenance paper, invoice, work report in my Dropbox … and i send them my hours. Costs me € 600 per year, but for me that’s a good investment.

For the €600, do they check the type of grease used in your elevator trim?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Yes, they do all that. But since they don’t do the maintenance, only the paperwork, I do all that with the shops where the a/c is maintained in Germany!

Flyer59

Can you explain that again? Your CAMO is seperate from your maintenance shop?

M

EGTR

My plane G-YORC is registered in England but its homebase is Landshut (EDML) in Bavaria. RGV in Gloucester is the CAMO but i do the maintenance in Germany. I get a list of necessary work from them plus parts that have to be changed and when finsihed i send them the work report. When we do the annual I send them the work report aswell and they send me the new ARC. All very simple.

Your CAMO is seperate from your maintenance shop?

Yes there is no need to use a CAMO service, and if you choose to do so, which would be a good choice, as it would be far more expensive for all required documentation, you can choose which CAMO performs the work. The CAMO can be the same company as the maintenance shop, though their is no requirement that these would have to be the same.

For the €600, do they check the type of grease used in your elevator trim?

They would not do that, it’s not the task of a CAMO. The CAMO organizes the maintenance, the maintenance itself is carried out by the maintance company (Part 145 / Part M-F or Part 66. If you use a CAMO the CAMO will the maintenance company which maintance task should be performed, and according which maintenance data the work should be performed.

If you should choose to do yourself it is your responsbility to keep for example the cardex up to date, and make sure you meet all regulations etc. If this work is schedulded by the CAMO it is their responsebility.

In this case the CAMO should indicate to the maintenance company that the elevator trim should be lubricated according certain maintenance data. It is the responsibility of the maintenance company to carry out the job as directed by the CAMO. The maintenance company would sign off and the CAMO would check the work report to ensure all jobs are carried out (signed). Then they would update the cardex and start the cycle all over again.

JP-Avionics
EHMZ

How did we ever manage to maintain our aircraft before the advent of Part-M?

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany
30 Posts
Sign in to add your message

Back to Top