nancially to do it this way and they feel that safety is not being compromised because they maintain a good relationship with their third-party repair station and they feel that this helps insure a quality job. The repair stations that operate under FAR Part 145 vary a great deal in their size and complexity. There are some that operate with only a few mechanics and others that are quite large. Generally the largest repair facilities have proven to be as safe as in-house systems. It is the smaller one's that appear to have problems. The worst combination appears to be those carriers operating fifteen to twenty aircraft of varying ages in combination with a repair stations operating under FAR Part 145 who employ between one hundred and two hundred people. The largest amount of incidents and unsatisfactory maintenance operations are from this particular combination. Larger repair facilities such as TIMCO seem to have a more than adequate safety and training programs in place. The most serious shortcomings appear to be among those carriers operating 15-20 airplanes who are relying on Part 145 facilities employing between 100-200 people. One of the main problems with insuring the quality of maintenance is the fact that the inspections are carried out by the people working at the repair station. This means that the facilities themselves are providing their own oversight, with less than ten percent of the inspections being done by the airline personnel themselves. As a result, the smaller facilities are faced with the fact that they are in a sense policing themselves and they do not always have the resources, no matter how good their intentions, to manage a good safety and inspection program. The smaller facilities usually have only about fifty percent of their mechanics with Airframe and Powerplant Licenses. The Airframe and Powerplant Licenses are one way to insure a good standard of knowledge among licensed mechanics. The license does not...
