The concern related to the system of maintenance and data not being updated in a timely manner.
The reporter advised that because the [operator’s] system does not track and update approved data in a timely manner, licenced aircraft maintenance engineers (LAMEs) are not provided with the most updated aircraft documentation after component changes have been made to specific aircraft within the fleet, which are not made to the entire fleet. This means that LAMEs are not working with the most up to date information and could lead to difficulties testing and ultimately the incorrect part being fitted to an aircraft.
Reporter comment: This report is to raise awareness about a re-occurring systemic problem that allows aircraft to fly while the people who have to declare the aircraft airworthy (LAMEs), unknowingly have not been provided the correct approved data to make that decision. The system should never allow things to get to that point.
The lack of detail in the report makes it difficult to respond to any specific event that reporter believes has occurred, but it is likely to be related to the configuration information for partially completed modifications.
In general, for aircraft based modifications that originate from the airframe original equipment manufacturer (OEM), where the illustrated parts catalogue (IPC) / aircraft maintenance manual (AMM) is affected, the OEM will put both pre and post service bulletin (SB) configuration information into the suite of manuals. In cases where maintenance staff are provided with the pre and post modification information, they must first ascertain the modification status of the aircraft.
Normally after a modification is completed for the entire affected fleet, engineering will request that the pre modification configuration details be removed from the manuals. [Operator] has well documented approved procedures regarding instructions for continued airworthiness document control that are found within the [Operator] engineering procedures manual. The document control procedure defines policy related to the processing of engineering documents received from regulators, OEMs, vendors, customers or generated internally within [operator]. This procedure ensures the OEM suite of manuals are released into the system for use within a 90 day window, in accordance with CASR 42.150.
CASA has reviewed the REPCON and the matters raised are incorporated into CASA's regular surveillance of the operator’s maintenance practices. CASA’s surveillance indicates that the management of maintenance data is in accordance with the approved exposition.
It should be noted that there is a documented process to follow if an employee discovers or suspects the maintenance data is deficient.