Manuals; Do I Really Need Them?

[Safety Officer]

Read the new blog on "

Manuals; Do I Really Need Them?"

[Jim Meade]

Roger,

 

Please have someone edit and correct the blog. As a minimum, run it through a spell and grammar checker. There are many run-together words, some misspellings and some bad grammar that either detract from the value or actually make it difficult to understand. It's as if it were copied from another site and inserted here without someone checking the formatting. Even if that is the case, there are still spelling and grammar issues.

 

 

[Doug Hereford]

Access to relevent (current) maintenance and inspection procedures is required by law when performing maintenance. Ref. FAR 65.81 for A&P's and 65.107 for SLSA repairmen. These part 65 rules themselves don't require the USE of maunfacturers information specifically, just the understanding of the information. FAR part 43 requires the USE of accepted methods techniques, and practices when performing maintenance. It (part 43) goes on to give three possible sources for such data. Ref FAR 43.13.

FAR 91.327, and operating limitations require SLSA maintenance to be performed in accordance with aircraft manufacturer's maintenance and inspection procedures (accepted methods, techniques and practices). This rule then limits the source for the accepted data to manufacture data (SLSA).

 

As owners should be aware, they are primarily responsible for the airworthiness of their machine. Ref. FAR 91.403(a). If I owned an SLSA aircraft, I would maintain access to the current aircraft manufacturer's maintenance and inspection procedures, and coordinate closely with my maintenance provider to ensure that they USE these data when performing maintenance on my plane.

[WmInce]

Hey Jim,

 

Why don't you do us all a big favor and volunteer to do that?

 

Roger,

 

Please have someone edit and correct the blog. As a minimum, run it through a spell and grammar checker. There are many run-together words, some misspellings and some bad grammar that either detract from the value or actually make it difficult to understand. It's as if it were copied from another site and inserted here without someone checking the formatting. Even if that is the case, there are still spelling and grammar issues.

 

 

[Roger Lee]

I can't begin to tell you how many A&P's do not have a single Rotax or FD manual. You find more RLSM-A's that have these than A&P's. They are absolutely positively indispensable and necessary to work on the FD and Rotax. I just finished 9 days of Rotax school. For the new comers and the A&P's they are amazed at the info that they thought they new, but didn't just because they opened the manual. It is an FAA requirement and if someone finds out they will get violated. As an owner you should be extremely concerned if your mechanic does not have the manuals or SB's on file. Legally if a mechanic doesn't have these then he can't sign off on an annual condition inspection or a 100 hr. It is stated in the regs as such.

 

You can print or view them on 3 different sites for the Rotax. This seems to be the biggest neglected area.

 

http://www.rotax-owner.com/forum/index/5-rotax-ownercom-forum

 

http://www.rotaxflyingclub.com/

 

http://www.flyrotax.com/home.aspx

[S3flyer]

An easy method for having all manuals easily available is to save them to your iPad (or other tablet) and store in your favorite PDF reader (iBooks, Goodreader, Kindle, etc).

[Roger Lee]

Hi Dave,

 

You are absolutely right that having an electronic device available with the manuals will meet the FAA reg of acceptability. Some of us actually used our IPADS in the Rotax class.

[Tom Baker]

I can't begin to tell you how many A&P's do not have a single Rotax or FD manual. You find more RLSM-A's that have these than A&P's. They are absolutely positively indispensable and necessary to work on the FD and Rotax. I just finished 9 days of Rotax school. For the new comers and the A&P's they are amazed at the info that they thought they new, but didn't just because they opened the manual. It is an FAA requirement and if someone finds out they will get violated. As an owner you should be extremely concerned if your mechanic does not have the manuals or SB's on file. Legally if a mechanic doesn't have these then he can't sign off on an annual condition inspection or a 100 hr. It is stated in the regs as such.

 

You can print or view them on 3 different sites for the Rotax. This seems to be the biggest neglected area.

 

http://www.rotax-owner.com/forum/index/5-rotax-ownercom-forum

 

http://www.rotaxflyingclub.com/

 

http://www.flyrotax.com/home.aspx

 

Roger, I think you just have to have access to these. With all of these available online all you have to have is an internet connection. Having been an IA for a while I rememer the days when you had to have a current copy of the regs, AD's, and a few others that I don't remember now to keep your IA current. The FAA does not require that now because anybidy can pull the information off the internet. I do have all the manuals for the CT saved on my computer, but the SB's I go online to look up each time.

[Jim Meade]

Hey Jim,

 

Why don't you do us all a big favor and volunteer to do that?

 

 

 

I don't think I have the ability to edit another poster's message, plus, from the looks of it, the original was taken from some other site and reformatted incorrectly. It would be pretty simple for Roger to simply edit it and repost it himself.

 

 

The deal on manuals and such is that spellings, grammar and so forth are a little more important than they are for casual messages. We've all been frustrated by English instructions that were poorly translated or written by a non-English speaker. Technical manuals should be held to a reasonably high standard.

 

 

 

[Roger Lee]

Hi Tom,

 

The mechanic only needs to have either hard copies or access to an electronic device for the manuals on the job site. The electronic device meets the FAA requirements. It could be a computer, IPAD, IPOD or anything that has the manuals or access to them.