I detect that I have set a new personal record (woohoo!) for the amount of acronyms in a blog article title at four. If you’re reading this, you probably already have a good handle on what they mean, but more on that later. Before we get started I wanted to make a suggestion to those of you who are responsible for maintaining those pesky Approved Supplier Lists required by nearly all quality standards. Many of you give automatic approval to firms who are accredited, for example, to the ASA-100, ...

The latest overused term circulating among the media is “New Normal”. Everyone, in every field is looking for signs of what may emerge as post-pandemic patterns of behaviors, and particularly whether these behaviors are temporary or permanent – a new normal. This makes sense since long term adjustments in business models may have to be made, and so it is with airlines and their passengers (airline shorthand – pax) returning to flying. If you’ve done any amount of flying since the pandemic, it’s ...

We need to have a frank talk about a continuing pattern of injustice and seemingly anti-competitive behavior in the aftermarket. I’ll start. Due to the current covid crisis, and perhaps to the delight of OEMs (herein manufacturers who are Production Approval Holders, PAH, or have Production Organisation Approvals, POA) who in recent years have made major forays into the aftermarket, there are many small independent MROs staggering on the brink of business failure. Aside from covid, are there any...

There is no doubt that the movement of OEMs into the aftermarket in the last 15 years has caused tectonic change in the MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) and Distribution ecosystem. Such evolution is not uncommon, but unfortunately there appears to be ample evidence that more than a few of the OEMs are unfairly leveraging their monopolistic positions to withhold reasonable access to their repair/overhaul manuals (Instructions for Continued Airworthiness) from independent MROs. Independent ...

I do a lot of work with Repair Stations/AMOs (Approved Maintenance Organization). For MROs (Maintenance Repair and Overhaul) which do business internationally, the customer’s national CAA (Civil Aviation Authorities) often require that maintenance performed on aircraft based there be performed by MROs certified to their nation’s regulations. Thus, it is common to see MROs with multiple certifications for all the nations they do business with. Each nation typically charges fees, and requires a de...