Maintenance planning data
Maintenance-planning source-document review
A maintenance-planning source-document review confirms that the documents an operator's program is built from are present, at the right issue, and reflected in the program. It is used before a purchase, an operator transition, or a program rebuild. It checks the maintenance review board report, the airworthiness limitations and certification maintenance requirements, modification and vendor documents, and their issue status against the program. You receive a source-document register, the items that are stale or missing, and the effect of each gap on the planning baseline.
When this review is needed
- A program is being rebuilt or transitioned and the source baseline has to be established first.
- A buyer wants the documents behind the program confirmed at their current issue before committing.
- Airworthiness limitations or certification maintenance requirements have revised and the effect is unclear.
- A vendor document the program depends on has been superseded and the program may not reflect it.
The problem
A maintenance program is only as sound as the documents it was built from, and those documents revise on their own schedules. The maintenance review board report issues new revisions, airworthiness limitations change, and vendor documents are superseded, often without the program catching up. A planning baseline can look complete while resting on a source-document set that has moved on, so the tasks derived from it are quietly out of date.
What gets reviewed
- The maintenance review board report and its current revision
- Airworthiness limitations and certification maintenance requirements at their current issue
- Modification and supplemental approval documents that drive tasks
- Vendor and component maintenance documents the program depends on
- The issue status of each source against what the program reflects
- Source requirements present in the latest issue but absent from the program
Scope this review
Tell us the asset, the event, and the evidence in scope, and we will outline a focused first engagement.
Send a representative, redacted record set and we will scope the review.
What gets validated
- Each source document is present and identified at a specific issue
- The issue held matches the current applicable revision for the configuration
- Airworthiness limitations and certification maintenance requirements are reflected in the program
- Superseded vendor documents have been replaced by their current issue
- Requirements added by a newer issue appear in the program tasks
Evidence normally required
- The maintenance review board report and its revision record
- Airworthiness limitations and certification maintenance requirement documents
- Modification, supplemental type, and supplemental approval documents
- Vendor and component maintenance manuals and service documents
- The program task list for cross-reference to the sources
Common discrepancies
- A maintenance review board report held at an issue earlier than the current revision
- An airworthiness limitation change that never reached the program
- A vendor document superseded but still cited as the program basis
- A certification maintenance requirement missing from the program tasks
- A modification document whose derived tasks were never added
What is at stake
A program built on stale sources can carry the wrong limitation interval or miss a task a newer issue introduced, and the limitations items are the ones least forgiving of drift. On a transition, an unverified source set makes the receiving program hard to anchor, and tracing the current issue of each document after the move is slower than confirming it before.
Move from findings to resolution
Move from findings to a documented resolution path.
How the work runs
Assemble the source set
Collect the maintenance review board report, airworthiness limitations, certification maintenance requirements, and the vendor documents the program depends on.
Fix each issue level
Identify the issue held for every source and compare it to the current applicable revision for the configuration.
Test reflection in the program
Confirm limitations and newer source requirements appear in the program tasks and that superseded vendor documents have been replaced.
Report the stale and missing
List sources behind their current issue or absent, name the requirements each affects, and state the effect on the planning baseline.
What the buyer receives
- A source-document register listing each document and its issue status
- A list of stale or missing sources and the requirements they affect
- A recommendation on each gap and its effect on the planning baseline
Who uses the output
- Maintenance planning rebuilding or anchoring the program
- Continuing-airworthiness teams confirming the limitations baseline
- Acquisition and transition teams establishing the source set
How the work fits into the transaction or program
The review supports a program rebuild, an operator transition, or a pre-purchase by establishing the source baseline a program rests on. It feeds the program records review and the task-to-source mapping that follows.
Jurisdiction-specific considerations
Source documents reflect the authority that approved them, and limitations may be expressed differently across systems. Where the aircraft changes authorities, the review identifies which sources the receiving authority will reference and where the issue basis differs.
Regulatory limits
The review confirms that the source documents are present, current, and reflected in the program. It does not issue or revise a source document, approve a program, or make an airworthiness determination.
What this review does not cover
- Revision or issuance of any source document
- Approval of the maintenance program
- Any airworthiness determination on the aircraft
Specific to this review
- Source documents revise on independent schedules, so a program can be internally consistent yet built on an issue that has since been superseded.
- Airworthiness limitations and certification maintenance requirements are the least forgiving of drift, because a missed interval there is a mandatory item.
- Vendor documents are a frequent blind spot; the program cites them by reference and rarely flags when the referenced issue has changed.
Sources
European Union / EASA. Continuing airworthiness, maintenance records, CAMO responsibilities, and the airworthiness review process in the EASA system.
International Civil Aviation Organization. International standards for the airworthiness of aircraft and the framework states use for type and continuing airworthiness.
U.S. Government (eCFR). Records an owner or operator must keep, including total time in service, current status of life-limited parts, and AD compliance.
Frequently asked questions
How does this differ from a maintenance-program records review?
This review establishes the source documents the program is built from and confirms their issue status. The program records review then checks that the program itself is approved and traces each task to those sources.
Relevant glossary terms
Related pages
Where this fits
Talk to an engineer who has done this work
We will walk through your current state, the records or evidence involved, and a scoped first engagement.
Walk through your situation with an engineer who has done this work.