Research on Procedures and Guidance for Process/Repair Specifications

摘要

A process specification is a detailed process requiring close control of certain parameters to produce a desired result. A process specification, as used in aircraft maintenance, may also be a subset of a repair procedure. Process specifications are used by manufacturers, airlines, and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-approved repair stations during the manufacturing process and in the performance of maintenance on U.S.-registered aircraft and products. However, there is little FAA guidance, particularly for repair stations, on how to develop process specifications for repairs and to obtain FAA approval for their use. This lack of guidance also affects the FAA inspectors responsible for coordinating approvals for these types of process specifications by adding them to repair stations Operations Specifications. This research revealed that there is some disagreement on how these process specification approvals should flow through the various FAA organizations and at what levels the specifications should be approved. However, this flow of information is not defined clearly in any FAA guidance and the personnel concerned have had to develop their own mechanisms to ensure new process specification approvals are routed and approved properly. The research team included recommendations on how process specification approvals should flow among FAA offices and directorates. It should be noted that many issues presented in this study are opinions from the personnel who participated in the research. Some of these may be contrary to official FAA policy, but are useful and should be considered in efforts to improve the development and approval of process specifications.