Steve Bentley MD of SAS with 45 years commercial aviation experience takes a look at the realities of achieving EASA Third Country Approval.
If you are proposing to Gain EASA Third Country Regulatory Approval in any of the following business areas –
EASA Part 145
EASA Part M
EASA Part 147
EASA Part 21 Subpart G
Sofema Aviation Services (SAS) www.sassofia.com are here to provide direct support to help you to gain your approval please email office@sassofia.com
Is There a Benefit to EASA Third Country Approval?
Without doubt holding an EASA Third Country Approval can set an organisation apart by showing not only that a high level of capability has been developed but that the company has demonstrated the capacity to deliver.
The key to success when developing an organisation capable of receiving an EASA approval according to SAS is the need to :
1/ Manage Competence across the Business
2/ Focus on the Process & Procedures Required to Deliver Regulatory Compliance
3/ Ensure an Effective Independent Quality Assurance (QA) Process
4/ Understand across the Business the Roles and Responsibilities required to deliver the Product or Service (This is Directly related to Quality Control (QC)
Time for a Reality Check – What does it mean to receive an EASA Third Country ApprovalÂ
It means that the Organisation has demonstrated it has the capacity as well as capability to support all the elements which together deliver regulatory approval.
So you as an organisation must:
a) Understand the Regulatory Obligation placed on you as an Organisation
b) Have the Finance in place to support the Approval
c) Have Sufficient Training & Competent Staff to support the Approval
d) Have a “Managed” Documentary Process – Including Training
e) Have an independent oversight process (QA)
f) Have an Internal & External Reporting System to identify and address shortfalls and issues arising.
A Cautionary Note – Do not fall into the trap of letting the need for a Maintenance Organisation Exposition (MOE) / Continuous Airworthiness Management Organisation (CAME) / Maintenance Training Organisation Exposition (MTOE) or Production Organisation Exposition (POE) drive the business – rather they must document the business process whilst of course demonstrating regulatory compliance.
Who are Sofema Aviation Services?
Launched as a consulting business in March 2008 Sofema Aviation Services (SAS) welcomes March 2018 as the celebrate of our 10 Anniversary delivering regulatory training and consultancy & support for Aircraft Maintenance Organisations (AMO’s) Operators & Continuous Airworthiness Management Organisations (CAMO’s) as well as Airport Operators and other service providers.
SAS specialises in Safety Regulation application and oversight systems, SMS and ICAO SARPS compliance. Regulatory Compliance and Gap Analysis, Quality Auditing. Aviation Regulatory Compliant and Vocational training. Our experience has been gathered over many years in aviation airworthiness, maintenance and operational business areas utilising staff from all areas of expertise.
What Approval does Sofema Hold?
We are holder of EU Training Centre Certificate TC20 issued by Bulgarian Civil Aviation Administration.
We are also shareholders in a New Romanian EASA Part 145 Organisation EASA Approval Reference: RO.145.049 which we helped to create
We are under the Direct Oversight and Guidance of European Aviation Institute (EAI) an EASA Part 147 approved Maintenance Training Organization (MTO) with Certificate of Approval No RO.147.0003.
What is the Role of SAS in Respect of Third Country EASA Approvals?
An Initial Gap Analysis is obligatory and typically takes 2 full days. This work is chargeable however the output document belongs to you.
Following the Gap Analysis we agree with you the necessary steps to meet your objectives which providing the required support to understand the challenges which exist in each element of the process
Our full role which we endeavour to deliver in the most cost effective way is to support you to
i) Understand the current “Gaps” in your organisation which will affect your ability to successfully pass an audit.
ii) Work with you to develop a Business Plan and Timeline to achieve full certification within an acceptable (To you) Timeframe
iii) Provide Support Solutions in Four Primary Areas
- Â EASA Compliant Regulatory Training to establish or raise competence within a given business area
- Â Consultancy to support the high-level oversight of the implementation including the submission of an application to EASA (EASA Form 2)
- Â Support for the creation of EASA Compliant Documentation
- Â Independent Auditing and Verification of the Compliance Status
Sharing Awareness and Challenges
From time to time we are contacted by organisations who wish to have EASA approval and believe it is a “package service” which can be purchased – means an offer to deliver the required approval.
Unfortunately, such an approach is not workable for several reasons, the most significant being that it is your organisation which seeks approval not Sofema.
Please review items a) to f) above which serve to illustrate the challenge – each of these elements are in fact active elements within the organisation (your organisation) and therefore they have to be to be managed by your organisation.
We “SAS” invest considerable efforts to help the organisations we are working with to fully appreciate what it means to hold such an approval. We do this by helping you to help yourself in the most “cost effective” manner possible.
Essentially the greater the resource you are able to commit to the project the less can be our involvement and the lower will be our fees. Please understand that project success is more important to us than Consultancy Revenue.
Tags:
EASA Part 145, EASA Part 147, EASA Part 21 Subpart G, EASA Part M, EASA Third Country Approval
