NATA: Updates Are maintenance Tasks

The National Air Transportation Association (NATA), responding to recent member requests, issued a statement that clarifies FAA regulations that apply to updates of navigational databases used on modern avionics. The FAA changed the Part 43 Appendix A regulations in 1996, according to NATA, and classified database updates as preventive maintenance instead of maintenance. This change allowed pilots operating under Part 91 regulations to perform database updates, but as NATA noted, “for aircraft maintained under Part 135, the tasks must be completed by a technician.” And even though installing a database update seems like a simple task, because it is classified as a maintenance task the person performing the update must make a proper entry in the maintenance records, NATA noted.