Plane mechanic in Arizona indicted over inspection

Will the pilot be cited for flying an airplane that did not have a valid inspection?

I think the majority of us assume that when the IA signs off the annual or 100-hr that they are indeed authorized to do so. I have never asked to see my AP-IA's certificate and verified that they were indeed current.
 
smigaldi said:
Will the pilot be cited for flying an airplane that did not have a valid inspection?
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:dunno:
I think the majority of us assume that when the IA signs off the annual or 100-hr that they are indeed authorized to do so. I have never asked to see my AP-IA's certificate and verified that they were indeed current.
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Me neither, maybe I'll start.
 
smigaldi said:
Will the pilot be cited for flying an airplane that did not have a valid inspection?

I think the majority of us assume that when the IA signs off the annual or 100-hr that they are indeed authorized to do so. I have never asked to see my AP-IA's certificate and verified that they were indeed current.
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I wouldn't assume that the mechanic who signs off an annual has any kind of certificate. The article is a little vague. First off, he needs an A&P, but he doesn't need an IA, to do a 100hr inspection. On the other hand, if he has an A&P, and if he works at a FAA certified repair station, it is possible that he can even sign off an annual under the repair station. There are more mechanics working in repair stations under the umbrella of the repair station who don't have a mechanic's certificate, than you want to know about. I guess that I wonder if he even had an A&P?
 
Maxmosbey said:
I wouldn't assume that the mechanic who signs off an annual has any kind of certificate. The article is a little vague. First off, he needs an A&P, but he doesn't need an IA, to do a 100hr inspection. On the other hand, if he has an A&P, and if he works at a FAA certified repair station, it is possible that he can even sign off an annual under the repair station. There are more mechanics working in repair stations under the umbrella of the repair station who don't have a mechanic's certificate, than you want to know about. I guess that I wonder if he even had an A&P?
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While various maintenance tasks can be done by individuals not certificated by the FAA but working under supervision of an A&P or at a repair facility, inspections required by Parts 91 or 125 require the individual conducting the inspection to be properly certificated (at least an A&P for 100 hour or an A&P with IA for annual).
 
Witmo said:
While various maintenance tasks can be done by individuals not certificated by the FAA but working under supervision of an A&P or at a repair facility, inspections required by Parts 91 or 125 require the individual conducting the inspection to be properly certificated (at least an A&P for 100 hour or an A&P with IA for annual).
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I guess that is why I was saying that I wondered if he was signing 100hr inspections off without an A&P.
 
Your A&P-IA must have his/her certificate available to show where ever they do business as a IA.

§ 65.95 Inspection authorization: Privileges and limitations.
(a) The holder of an inspection authorization may—

(1) Inspect and approve for return to service any aircraft or related part or appliance (except any aircraft maintained in accordance with a continuous airworthiness program under part 121 of this chapter) after a major repair or major alteration to it in accordance with part 43 [New] of this chapter, if the work was done in accordance with technical data approved by the Administrator; and

(2) Perform an annual, or perform or supervise a progressive inspection according to §§43.13 and 43.15 of this chapter.

(b) When he exercises the privileges of an inspection authorization the holder shall keep it available for inspection by the aircraft owner, the mechanic submitting the aircraft, repair, or alteration for approval (if any), and shall present it upon the request of the Administrator or an authorized representative of the National Transportation Safety Board, or of any Federal, State, or local law enforcement officer.
 
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It's a shame that our system is so convoluted that cases such as this must go before a grand jury before anything can be done.

Significant oversights and mistakes by A&P's could have cost me my life on 4 separate occasions in my short flying career (8 years). In two of the cases a formal report was filed with the FAA and guess what happened? Absolutely nothing.

Let me bust an altitude and I'll get written up. But, let a mechanic fail to tighten up an adel clamp on my mixture cable that results in an engine out and a deadstick to an airfield 5 miles away and there is no sanction whatsoever.

I truly don't get it.
 
timwinters said:
It's a shame that our system is so convoluted that cases such as this must go before a grand jury before anything can be done.

Significant oversights and mistakes by A&P's could have cost me my life on 4 separate occasions in my short flying career (8 years). In two of the cases a formal report was filed with the FAA and guess what happened? Absolutely nothing.

Let me bust an altitude and I'll get written up. But, let a mechanic fail to tighten up an adel clamp on my mixture cable that results in an engine out and a deadstick to an airfield 5 miles away and there is no sanction whatsoever.

I truly don't get it.
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There's a lot of truth behind the old joke "What do pilots mechanics and controllers have in common? When they make mistakes, pilots die." Remember, it's the owner/operators and PICs duty to assure the plane is airworthy, not the mechanics, but unless the O/O/PIC is a rated mechanic, he cannot keep it airworthy.... That's my favorite part. None of this precludes you from suing the mechanic which is the way the FAA wants this low end enforcement handled. They really don't have the staff to monitor GA heavily, they spend most of their man hour budget on PT 121 stuff.
 
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Tom-D said:
Your A&P-IA must have his/her certificate available to show where ever they do business as a IA.

§ 65.95 Inspection authorization: Privileges and limitations.
(a) The holder of an inspection authorization may—

(1) Inspect and approve for return to service any aircraft or related part or appliance (except any aircraft maintained in accordance with a continuous airworthiness program under part 121 of this chapter) after a major repair or major alteration to it in accordance with part 43 [New] of this chapter, if the work was done in accordance with technical data approved by the Administrator; and

(2) Perform an annual, or perform or supervise a progressive inspection according to §§43.13 and 43.15 of this chapter.

(b) When he exercises the privileges of an inspection authorization the holder shall keep it available for inspection by the aircraft owner, the mechanic submitting the aircraft, repair, or alteration for approval (if any), and shall present it upon the request of the Administrator or an authorized representative of the National Transportation Safety Board, or of any Federal, State, or local law enforcement officer.
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I know quite well what the regulations say, but I have never been asked to show anyone my A&P or my IA certificate. I keep both in an envelope in my tool box. When I was working for a certified repair station, the FAA would come through every six months. They never even talked to me, let alone check my credentials. Maybe they were going through my file in the office, but they never came out and actually checked them. As a pilot, I've never been ramp checked, and, except when I do my flight review, I have never had anyone ask to see my pilot's certificate or my medical. Lately I've been working on aircraft located at podunk fields where I'm lucky to see anyone, let alone the FAA. I'm just saying that someone without a valid A&P or IA could be out there working for years, and never get caught.
 
Henning said:
There's a lot of truth behind the old joke "What do pilots mechanics and controllers have in common? When they make mistakes, pilots die." Remember, it's the owner/operators and PICs duty to assure the plane is airworthy, not the mechanics, but unless the O/O/PIC is a rated mechanic, he cannot keep it airworthy.... That's my favorite part. None of this precludes you from suing the mechanic which is the way the FAA wants this low end enforcement handled. They really don't have the staff to monitor GA heavily, they spend most of their man hour budget on PT 121 stuff.
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You can sue the mechanic, but most mechanics that I know don't have anything anyway. If some guy is out there doing work on airplanes, and signing them off without a certificate, he probably isn't too worried about getting sued. It isn't just mechanics, I wonder how many people can't pass their medical, so they just keep flying without one. A lot I'll bet. Same thing with flight reviews. I've seen planes come in that are a year out of annual, and the owner is just flying around without a care in the world. People can cut and paste the regs as much as they want, but that is just ink. If someone doesn't care, they can go a long time without getting caught.
 
Maxmosbey said:
You can sue the mechanic, but most mechanics that I know don't have anything anyway. If some guy is out there doing work on airplanes, and signing them off without a certificate, he probably isn't too worried about getting sued. It isn't just mechanics, I wonder how many people can't pass their medical, so they just keep flying without one. A lot I'll bet. Same thing with flight reviews. I've seen planes come in that are a year out of annual, and the owner is just flying around without a care in the world. People can cut and paste the regs as much as they want, but that is just ink. If someone doesn't care, they can go a long time without getting caught.
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I agree with most of what you say, but I believe the numbers are less than you think.

I am now working on a C-150 that was flown here by the owner and its last annual was 2007.

almost all of my customers work on their own aircraft, and ask me to inspect their work and sign as supervisor.
 
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