US regulation of aircraft maintenance and repair facilities one step closer to reality
Monday, November 23, 2009 at 12:28PM The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making which would allow its inspectors to scrutinize thousands of FAA-certified aircraft repair facilities in the United States and abroad as part of its mandate to prevent terrorist attacks against the US. New security measures restricting access to the facilities and the aircraft being serviced would be implemented to eliminate the threat of airliner sabotage during maintenance and repair, if the proposal goes into effect. Under the terms of the proposal, the TSA would have the authority to suspend or revoke the certification of non-compliant repair stations. Repair stations that service aircraft weighing less than 12,500 pounds would not be subject to the same security standards as those handling larger aircraft. Similarly, repair facilities that are located on or adjacent to an airport would be subject to more stringent physical security measures than those that are not.
The new regulations, if approved, would require every repair station to create a standard security program (SSP) that would describe, among other things, how that facility controls access to aircraft and components, how it identifies authorized personnel—a step that would require checking and verifying every employee's background information—and who is the designated security coordinator. Both foreign and domestic FAA-certified repair stations would have to allow TSA and DHS officials to enter, inspect, audit, and test property, facilities, and records relevant to repair stations.
The proposed regulations have been a long time coming. The TSA was set up in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, when Congress ordered the agency to come up with a security plan to cover aircraft repair facilities. Though not a single incident involving a US airliner has been tied to security lapses at repair facilities since 9/11, the lack of clear security standards is seen as troubling by lawmakers. Without tough regulations in place, the possibility is always there that someone will exploit the weakness for nefarious purposes. With airlines now outsourcing most of their repair work for economic reasons, regulating this international industry has become more and more difficult. Not only must mechanics and other repair station employees be cleared, but subcontractors and parts suppliers have to be considered as well. Checking the backgrounds of every worker with a role in the maintenance and repair process is a near-impossible task.
Non-airline repair facilities, especially foreign ones, are seen as particularly vulnerable to infiltration by criminals or terrorists because of their less stringent security requirements and the inability of the TSA to inspect them. At present, the TSA acts in an advisory capacity on security but lacks the power to inspect and enforce security procedures. The new regulations, which could be finalized later this year, would change that.
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