Comparison
Repair Station Manual vs Quality Control Manual
The Short Answer
One Describes the Station, One Describes the Control System
The repair station manual (RSM) is required by 14 CFR 145.207 and its contents are listed in 145.209. The quality control manual (QCM) is required by 145.211(c), as part of the quality control system 145.211(a) and (b) require the station to establish, maintain, and follow. Both must be acceptable to the FAA, both must be kept current, and both carry their own revision and notification procedures.
The RSM answers who runs the station, with what facilities and records, and how the manual itself is controlled. The QCM answers how an article is inspected, how the data and test equipment behind that inspection are kept in order, and what happens when something goes wrong. The regulations treat them as two sets of requirements, which the FAA's guidance lets you combine.
Repair Station Manual
What 145.207 and 145.209 Require
- The rule
- 14 CFR 145.207 requires the repair station to prepare and follow a repair station manual acceptable to the FAA, keep it current, make it accessible to the personnel subpart D requires, and give the responsible Flight Standards office the current manual in an acceptable format.
- What it must hold (145.209)
- An organizational chart with each management position, its area of responsibility, and its duties and authority. Procedures for the personnel rosters. A description of the operations, housing, facilities, equipment, and materials. Procedures for revising the capability list and for the self-evaluation behind it. Procedures for revising the training program. Procedures for work at another location, for work under 145.205, and for contract maintenance information. A description of the records and the recordkeeping system. Procedures for revising the manual and notifying the FAA. A description of the system that identifies and controls its sections.
- What it is for
- It describes the organization: who is in charge of what, where and how the station works, and how its own documents are controlled.
Quality Control Manual
What 145.211 Requires
- The rule
- 14 CFR 145.211 requires a quality control system acceptable to the FAA that ensures the airworthiness of the articles the station or its contractors work on. Repair station personnel must follow it. The station must prepare and keep current a quality control manual in a format acceptable to the FAA.
- What it must hold (145.211(c))
- Procedures for inspecting incoming raw materials, preliminary inspection of every article, inspection for hidden damage on articles involved in an accident, and the proficiency of inspection personnel. Procedures for establishing and maintaining current technical data. Procedures for qualifying and surveilling noncertificated persons, final inspection and return to service, calibration of measuring and test equipment (with intervals), and corrective action on deficiencies. References to the manufacturer's inspection standards where applicable, a sample of the inspection and maintenance forms or a reference to a forms manual, and procedures for revising the manual and notifying the FAA.
- What it is for
- It describes the inspection and control system: how the station decides an article is airworthy, and how it proves the data and equipment behind that decision.
Combining Them
One Manual System Is Allowed
FAA AC 145-9A, “Guide for Developing and Evaluating Repair Station and Quality Control Manuals,” says the certificate holder may combine portions required by 145.209 with portions required by 145.211 into one section or chapter of the manual system. The content must include the procedures the regulations require, and the format is up to the station, so long as employees can easily understand it. The AC gives a single manual system as one example and says other combinations may suit a station depending on its ratings, size, and complexity, provided they are acceptable to the FAA principal inspector.
Separate documents are equally valid. The practical test is not how many binders there are but whether every required element can be found, followed, and revised under a procedure the manual describes. The QCM can also point to a separate forms manual instead of carrying sample forms, as 145.211(c)(3) allows.
Revisions
How Changes Reach the FAA
Each manual needs a procedure for revising itself and for notifying the responsible Flight Standards office, including how often that notice is given: 145.209(j) for the RSM and 145.211(c)(4) for the QCM. Section 145.207(e) requires the station to notify the office of each RSM revision under that procedure, 145.207(d) requires it to provide the current RSM in an acceptable format, and 145.211(d) requires notification of QCM revisions. The RSM must also describe the system that identifies and controls its sections (145.209(k)).
AC 145-9A adds that the regulations do not require FAA review and acceptance of a revision before it is put to use, provided the station follows the revision procedures in its manual, and that those procedures should control who receives revisions and whether staff need training on what changed. It permits the manuals to be maintained on a computer network or other electronic means. For the FAA's separate guidance on electronic manual systems, see FAA electronic manuals.
Current Data
Where 145.109(d) Fits
This is the part that reaches back to the people who write and revise manufacturer publications. Section 145.109(d) says a certificated repair station “must maintain, in a format acceptable to the FAA, the documents and data required for the performance of maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alterations under its repair station certificate and operations specifications in accordance with part 43.” It then lists what “must be current and accessible when the relevant work is being done”:
- Airworthiness directives
- Instructions for continued airworthiness
- Maintenance manuals
- Overhaul manuals
- Standard practice manuals
- Service bulletins
- Other applicable data acceptable to or approved by the FAA
The QCM picks the same thread up: 145.211(c)(1)(v) requires a description of the system and procedures for “establishing and maintaining current technical data for maintaining articles.” Two other rules set the stakes. Section 145.201(c) bars a repair station from approving an article for return to service unless the work was done to applicable approved technical data or data acceptable to the FAA, and 43.13(a) tells anyone doing maintenance to use the methods in the current manufacturer's maintenance manual or ICA, or other methods acceptable to the Administrator.
So “current” is a repair station obligation that depends on the manufacturer's publishing. A repair station cannot keep a manual current if it never learns a revision exists. The operator side of the same question is covered in operator maintenance manuals under 43.13(c).
Showing It
What the FAA's Guide Asks the Manual to Describe
Paragraph 5.9 of AC 145-9A says the manual must contain the procedures for ensuring current technical data is available for the scope of work the station performs. It lists FAA data such as airworthiness directives and type certificate data sheets, manufacturer data such as maintenance manuals and service bulletins, and engineering data. The elements it describes:
- A named owner
- AC 145-9A says the procedures should make someone in the facility responsible for keeping the technical data current.
- A way to learn about revisions
- The AC mentions periodic checks with the manufacturer and renewing any subscriptions to required technical data as necessary. It also expects the procedure to say how revised data is inserted into existing documents and how the right people are told.
- Document control at the point of use
- The AC lists identification of changes, relevant versions available where the work is done, identification and control of documents of external origin, and procedures to prevent the use of obsolete documents.
- A master library, where there is one
- Larger stations may distribute data from a master library to shop libraries. The AC says the procedure must ensure accurate and timely distribution and say who revises the shop copies and how.
- Software revisions, where tests depend on software
- Stations that test components with software need procedures for how updates are made and distributed, and for making sure only the current version is used.
For a component shop, the data in question is often the component maintenance manual for each part number on the capability list; see what a CMM is. How a manufacturer proves a copy is current is covered in list of effective pages and manual revisions, how revisions and service bulletins reach customers in OEM service bulletins and revision currency, and how a station gets legitimate copies in the first place in obtaining OEM manuals.
The FAA Guide
AC 145-9A
The current guide is AC 145-9A, dated 6 October 2017, from the FAA's Flight Standards Service. It cancels AC 145-9 Change 1 of 19 March 2009, and the FAA's advisory circular index lists it as Active. It says it describes an acceptable, but not the only, means of developing a manual and complying with the regulations. Its chapters cover manual contents and format, revision and control, the organizational chart, and each manual element, with a checklist in an appendix.
It is guidance, not a regulation, and a station with different circumstances may meet the rules another way. The binding text is in 14 CFR part 145. Check the current rule text and your own FAA office's expectations before you rely on this page for a specific manual.
Shakewell writes and revises repair station manuals and quality control manuals for Part 145 repair stations.
FAQ
Questions We Hear
Do I need both a repair station manual and a quality control manual?
Yes. 14 CFR 145.207 requires a repair station manual and 145.211(c) requires a quality control manual. They can be written as one manual system, but the content each section requires has to be there. AC 145-9A says the manuals may be formatted any way employees can easily understand, as long as the required procedures are included.
Can the RSM and QCM be one document?
AC 145-9A para 2.1.1 says the certificate holder may combine portions required by 145.209 with portions required by 145.211 into one section or chapter of the manual system, and its example is a single "Manual Revision" chapter that covers both revision procedures. Paragraph 2.2 shows a single manual system as one of several possible combinations. Other combinations that work in the facility need to be acceptable to the FAA principal inspector. The AC is one acceptable means, not the only one.
Does the FAA have to approve a manual revision before the repair station uses it?
AC 145-9A says the regulations do not require FAA review and acceptance of revisions before implementation, provided the repair station follows the revision procedures in its manual, and suggests the manual include a procedure to recall a revision the FAA finds unacceptable. The station still has to notify its responsible Flight Standards office of each revision under 145.207(e) and 145.211(d), on the schedule its manual states. Training program and contract maintenance revisions have their own submission language in 145.209(e) and (h)(1), so read the rule text for those.
Must a repair station use the latest manual revision?
14 CFR 145.109(d) says the listed documents and data must be "current and accessible when the relevant work is being done," and 43.13(a) points to the "current" manufacturer's maintenance manual or ICA. Neither defines current beyond that word. AC 145-9A treats it as a procedure question: the manual must describe how the station keeps its technical data current for its scope of work. What counts as current for a particular job is a question for your manual, the data owner, and your FAA office.
Is there an FAA template for a repair station manual?
AC 145-9A includes sample procedure formats, sample organizational charts, forms, and a checklist, but it says it does not provide a complete sample manual for all repair stations and that its examples are some of many possible ways to comply. The manual has to describe your own ratings, facilities, people, and procedures, because 145.207 requires the station to follow it.
Who is responsible for the repair station's data, the station or the manufacturer?
Under 145.109(d) and 145.211(c)(1)(v) the obligation to maintain current data is the repair station's. The manufacturer publishes the manual and its revisions, and the station is responsible for obtaining them and controlling them. For how the data reaches you, see our explainers on obtaining OEM manuals and on service bulletin and revision currency.
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Manufacturer Data That Stays Current
Send us the manufacturer publications your customers depend on and how revisions reach them. We will tell you what keeping them organized and current involves.