Maintenance Training Organisations - Part-147
Part-147 (Annex IV to Regulation (EU) 1321/2014) approves maintenance training organisations that deliver the basic and type training, and the examinations, that underpin Part-66 licences. The exam tests what a Part-147 may and may not do, how courses and examinations are controlled, personnel and facility requirements, records, and how training links to experience and type endorsement.
What the approval covers
- Basic training courses for categories A, B1, B2 and B3, mapped to the Part-66 Appendix I module syllabuses; type training courses (theory plus practical) for type ratings; and the associated examinations.
- The Part-147 issues course-completion and examination certificates, not licences or type endorsements; those are issued by the competent authority.
- Practical training and on-the-job training may take place at a Part-145 or equivalent under a written arrangement, but the Part-147 remains responsible for course standard, assessment and records.
Control requirements
- A maintenance training exposition (147.A.70) describing courses, procedures, facilities, staff and quality arrangements, approved by the competent authority and amended through the approved procedure.
- Theoretical instructors need appropriate technical knowledge and teaching experience; practical instructors need relevant licence and maintenance experience. Assessment must be controlled and impartial.
- Suitable classrooms, training aids, examination rooms and a technical library, with access to aircraft or components for practical training.
- Basic knowledge examinations are multiple-choice against the Part-66 syllabus, with a 75% pass mark, secure question banks, invigilation and an appeals process. Trainee records must be kept and made available to the authority.
Worked example
A Part-147 delivers a B1.1 basic course and an A320 type course whose practical element is done at a Part-145. The graduate asks whether he now holds a B1.1 licence with an A320 endorsement. He does not: the certificates prove training and examination only. The competent authority issues the licence once the experience requirement is met, two years instead of three because of the Part-147 basic course, and endorses the type once type training and OJT are documented. He also needs a Part-145 authorisation before certifying.
Traps
- Believing a Part-147 can issue Part-66 licences or type endorsements.
- Treating type-training completion as certification authority.
- Accepting OJT performed outside an approved programme or without documented supervision.
- Ignoring examination security, pass standards and invigilation.
- Forgetting that the training exposition and its changes need authority approval.