Part 147, the U.S. regulations governing the curriculum and operations of FAA-certified aviation maintenance technician schools, would undergo several major changes under a recent notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). These amendments would “modernize and reorganize the required curriculum subjects in the appendices of the current regulations,” the FAA said. “They would also remove the course content items currently located in the appendices and require that they be placed in each school’s operations specifications so they could more easily be amended when necessary.”
According to the FAA, existing curriculum is “outdated, does not meet current industry needs and can be changed only through NPRM and comment rulemaking.” In addition, the proposed amendments would clarify existing requirements, remove gender-specific references and eliminate duplication found in some sections of the current rules.
While the agency has amended Part 147 several times since 1962, when they were re-codified from the CARs to the FARs, no curriculum changes have been made since 1992. Comments on the proposal are due by December 31.