Repair Station Safety

In a blog post last month, I wrote about repair station drug and alcohol testing. An argument for requiring foreign-based repair stations to implement drug and alcohol testing programs is safety. For decades, aircraft maintenance unions have been critical on the safety of sending aircraft to foreign-based repair stations because of "sub-standard" maintenance practices. 

I had an interesting discussion with a retired FAA inspector last week at MRO Americas. His opinion is that our air carriers NEED foreign repair stations in order for safety. He told me that if we were to bring the work that is currently being done in foreign repair stations back to the U.S., then safety would be negatively affected.

How can this be? Well, he says that we currently don't have enough A&Ps to meet current demands in the U.S. aircraft maintenance industry. You've probably witnessed it already — the airlines, repair stations, corporate flight departments and others are all fighting for a limited pool of A&Ps. Many maintenance shops are at capacity not because of limited hangar space. Instead they are limited by the amount of mechanics they can get to work there.

It's a great market for new mechanics coming out of A&P school. Most students are recruited for jobs right out of school — oftentimes before they even graduate.

The retired FAA inspector opines that if we were to be able to bring even a small amount of foreign-based maintenance back, our current situation of a limited talent pool would mean that our repair stations would be stretched to the breaking point. 

We need more certified A&P mechanics. The industry has known this for years. The problem is that nobody has come up with a viable solution that will solve our industry's need for more mechanics.

What are your thoughts?

Joe Escobar