KCAA AMEL cheat sheet

KCAA aircraft maintenance engineer licences are issued under the Civil Aviation (Personnel Licensing) Regulations, which implement ICAO Annex 1 standards for maintenance certification staff.

The AMEL licence is type-rated: the holder may certify maintenance only on aircraft types endorsed on the licence, within the airframe, engine, avionics, or electrical categories held.

Category privileges follow licence groupings: Airframe (A), Engine (C), Avionics (E), and Electrical (EL), each carrying separate type endorsements and separate experience requirements.

Airworthiness certification of a maintenance task requires the certifying engineer to hold a valid licence with the relevant category and type endorsement, and to have actually performed or directly supervised the task.

Knowledge examination for AMEL consists of modular papers covering airframe systems, engine systems, avionics/electrical systems, and aviation legislation, with a pass mark set by KCAA and a defined validity period for results.

Experience requirements are expressed as months of practical maintenance under a licensed engineer, apportioned across the categories sought, and evidenced by a logbook countersigned by the supervising licence holder.

Type endorsement requires a type-specific course, on-type experience, and examination; endorsement is recorded on the licence and is not transferable between categories without the matching experience.

Licence validity depends on recent experience and on holding a current medical/competency declaration as prescribed; lapse triggers re-currency assessment rather than automatic renewal.

Maintenance release for aircraft on the Kenyan register must be made under an approved maintenance organisation's procedures or by an appropriately rated independent engineer, consistent with the continuing airworthiness requirements.

A Designated AMEL Examiner is appointed in writing by KCAA to conduct licence skill tests, oral assessments, and type endorsement checks on behalf of the Authority, and acts under the Authority's procedures.

Eligibility for examiner designation requires holding the licence and type ratings for which the examiner will test, plus a minimum period of post-licence maintenance experience prescribed by KCAA.

Examiners must not conduct a test on a candidate they have directly trained or supervised within the conflict-of-interest period, to preserve assessment independence.

The examiner verifies candidate identity, licence and logbook evidence, and the prescribed experience before administering any skill test; deficiencies are reported, not waived.

Skill test outcomes are recorded as pass or fail against published standards, with a written debrief, and the paperwork is submitted to KCAA Licensing within the prescribed timeframe.

Examiner designation is time-limited and subject to standardisation checks, refresher training, and monitoring by KCAA; failure to maintain currency leads to withdrawal of the designation.

Records of all tests conducted must be retained by the examiner and made available to KCAA on request, including candidate details, date, aircraft type, and outcome.

A candidate who fails a skill test may re-attempt only after completing the additional training specified by the examiner and after the minimum waiting period set by the Authority.

Examiners must declare any personal, financial, or employment relationship with a candidate or operator that could compromise impartiality, and recuse themselves where required.