Not everyone is convinced the FAA’s recently issued final Part 145 rule, which governs maintenance of U.S.-registered aircraft, aligns with the intent of the original notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). The Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) last week said it is carefully comparing the comments the agency received against the final rule but believes the FAA “changed the rule considerably since theoriginal NPRM that ARSA submitted commentson in 2012.”

The final rule attempts to prevent repair stations from being managed by people connected to certificates that were revoked. It also eliminates the voluntary surrender of repair station certificates if an investigation is open, no longer allowing arepair station to surrender its certificate without the agency’s permission.

The rule’s revised language added the words “or new” to section 145.57 regarding transfer of a repair station’s assets and is an issue ASRA believes might well cause operational problems in the future because it does not clearly state when a new owner would apply for an amended or new certificate and could create unnecessary delays in conducting business.

The new rule takes effect November 10. ARSA plans to publish a full analysis of the new rule in the near future.