Maintenance and Manufacturing Staff Instructions (MSI) No. 56

1. Purpose

1.1 The purpose is to explain the lines of communication and remaining Maintenance and Manufacturing (M&M) Branch responsibilities with respect to the Canadian Business Aircraft Association (CBAA), their Private Operator Certificate (POC) organizations, and M&M's level of involvement in the new relationship.

2. Background

2.1 CBAA has been working with Transport Canada for 3 years, in conjunction with the Canadian Aviation Regulatory Advisory Committee (CARAC), to take on the responsibility for the oversight activities of Private Operator Passenger Transportation organizations. Notices of Proposed Amendments (NPAs) were passed in December 2001 to validate this upcoming change to the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CAR).

2.2 As the CAR changes are expected to come into effect in the coming year, an exemption has been signed to allow the implementation and transition of all Private Operator Passenger Transportation organizations to the CBAA Private Operator Certificate (POC) program. The exemption applies to organizations that wish to start with the new POC program prior to the CAR changes coming into effect. As a condition of the exemption, an organization must operate in accordance with the CBAA POC standards, the CBAA POC procedures manual, and the annex to the exemption.

2.3 The CBAA POC Procedures Manual is available on the CBAA website at www.cbaa.ca

2.4 The exemption and annex are recorded in Records Data Information Management System (RDIMS) as document numbers 260266 and 260279 respectively.

3. Responsibilities

3.1 All Private Operator Passenger Transportation organizations choosing to operate under the exemption will have to apply to the CBAA for a CBAA POC. CBAA will issue a POC to applicants once all applicable CAR requirements have been met and conduct on-going oversight of the operators they approve. CBAA will establish and collect fees, approve the operations manual, and monitor organization's through audit and inspection.

3.2 Commercial and Business Aviation (C&BA) will encourage the use of the exemption as it supports the direction of the proposed CAR. Those organizations who do not choose to partake in the program under the exemption will be monitored as per normal practices until the CAR changes take effect. When the CAR changes take effect, the oversight of all Private Operator Passenger Transportation organizations will be handled by the CBAA and the monitoring the CBAA POC standards and procedures will be coordinated through the C&BA Branch.

3.3 M&M will participate in oversight of CBAA as coordinated through C&BA. Approval of CBAA POC organization operation manuals will not be required, therefore, M&M will no longer review for recommendation the maintenance requirements section of the operations manual. However, other supporting tasks for approvals related to the aircraft themselves will continue to be conducted.
(e.g. - maintenance schedules, flight authorities, and where requested minimum equipment lists). These tasks may require information from the operations manual and, if this is the case, the operator will need to provide a copy of the relevant sections for the task at hand.

4. Effective date

4.1 This instruction comes into effect immediately.

5. HQ Contact

5.1 The responsible officer indicated below may be contacted for information regarding this MSI:

Roby Gorski, AARPE
Aircraft Maintenance & Manufacturing
E-mail: gorskir@tc.gc.ca
Phone: (613) 952-4383
Facsimile: (613) 952-3298

D.B. Sherritt
Director,
Maintenance and Manufacturing