FAA Guidance Aids Alterations Approval Process

By Matt Thurber

August 27, 2008
Maintenance and Modifications

The FAA has updated guidance provided to field inspectors on how to determine the recommended form of approval for aircraft alterations. Maintenance and modification companies and avionics installers often encounter problems when seeking agreement with the FAA on what qualifies for field approval by FAA inspectors and what needs to go through the more time-consuming supplemental type certification or DER data approval process.

The change to FAA Order 8900.1 includes a “major alterations job aid,” complete with a helpful list of typical major alterations and the recommended form of approval. “Be sure to use it only for major alterations,” said the Modification and Replacement Parts Association.

“Minor alterations are not meant to be covered in the chart, so efforts to use it for minor alterations will likely lead to overly onerous data approval requirements. To view the job aid, see figure 4-68 in Volume Four, Chapter Nine, Section One in FAA Order 8900.1.

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