IATA Aircraft Lease Guidance

Guidance Material and Best Practices for Aircraft Leases
Annex V: Structural Repair File Guidelines
Aircraft Type : All models
Applicability : EASA and FAA environment
1. Introduction
Aircraft documentation is inspected meticulously during the delivery or redelivery process of an aircraft on
lease. This also includes documentation associated with the repairs performed on the aircraft. Many different
kinds of repairs on the external fuselage will be performed on an aircraft during its life, which often leads to
difficulties during the delivery or redelivery process. These difficulties result from different standards or lack
thereof, and may be very costly, as removal and/or re-inspection of repairs will lead to delays. Most Lessors
will mandate that all repairs are consolidated into a single repair file. This document provides guidelines for
the airline to effectively create such a consolidated repair file. This document makes use of the assumptions
below.
2. Regulatory Basis
2.1 EASA
EASA regulations applicable to repairs can be found in Part 21A (Subpart M) and Part M (M.A 304, 305, 708,
710). In addition, the EASA has published Guidance Material (GM) and Acceptable Means of Compliance
(AMC), which provide additional insights into the regulatory requirements of the repair process.
Repairs performed under EASA regulations require approved data for both minor and major classifications
(as opposed to repairs performed under FAA regulations, refer to paragraph 2.2 for details). The
determination of minor or major classifications for repairs has to be performed by an organization holding an
EASA Design Organization Approval (DOA). Operators without an EASA DOA must rely on the EASA directly
or contract with an approved DOA organization to classify and approve the repair. There are many different
levels of EASA DOA authorizations, ranging from authorization to design and certify major repairs and
alterations (i.e. Type Certificate holders) to authorization for approval of minor changes or repairs only.
The EASA regulations allow for various ways to develop and approve repairs:
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Based on the manuals or ICA (e.g. SRMs, Maintenance Manuals, Engine Manuals, etc.) provided by the
TC holder or STC holder
By an approved DOA organization (for minor repairs only)
By the STC holder or the EASA for minor and major repairs
An overview of the approval process for repairs can be found in Figure 8 and Figure 9.
88 4 th Edition 2017