(a) A certificated repair station must establish and maintain a quality control system acceptable to the FAA that ensures the airworthiness of the articles on which the repair station or any of its contractors performs maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alterations.

(b) Repair station personnel must follow the quality control system when performing maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alterations under the repair station certificate and operations specifications.

(c) A certificated repair station must prepare and keep current a quality control manual in a format acceptable to the FAA that includes the following:

(1) A description of the system and procedures used for—

(i) Inspecting incoming raw materials to ensure acceptable quality;

(ii) Performing preliminary inspection of all articles that are maintained;

(iii) Inspecting all articles that have been involved in an accident for hidden damage before maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alteration is performed;

(iv) Establishing and maintaining proficiency of inspection personnel;

(v) Establishing and maintaining current technical data for maintaining articles;

(vi) Qualifying and surveilling noncertificated persons who perform maintenance, prevention maintenance, or alterations for the repair station;

(vii) Performing final inspection and return to service of maintained articles;

(viii) Calibrating measuring and test equipment used in maintaining articles, including the intervals at which the equipment will be calibrated; and

(ix) Taking corrective action on deficiencies;

(2) References, where applicable, to the manufacturer's inspection standards for a particular article, including reference to any data specified by that manufacturer;

(3) A sample of the inspection and maintenance forms and instructions for completing such forms or a reference to a separate forms manual; and

(4) Procedures for revising the quality control manual required under this section and notifying the responsible Flight Standards office of the revisions, including how often the responsible Flight Standards office will be notified of revisions.

(d) A certificated repair station must notify its responsible Flight Standards office of revisions to its quality control manual.

[Docket No. FAA-1999-5836, 66 FR 41117, Aug. 6, 2001, as amended by Docket FAA-2018-0119, Amdt. 145-32, 83 FR 9176, Mar. 5, 2018]