Converting an Existing CAMO into a CAMO plus MCC

Sofema Online (SOL) www.sofemaonline.com considers the process of developing an Aviation Maintenance Control Centre from an existing EASA compliant Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisation (CAMO) operation

Introduction - What’s in a MCC?

     »  All the elements of Maintenance Control are to be found within Part M of the regulations (however the reverse statement is not true)

To consider the contents of Part M, in particular, Part M Subpart C as an appropriate starting point.

Note: Whilst Part M describes all the elements required to support continuing airworthiness it doesn’t lay them out in any particular order as they all have “equal” importance in the overall safety chain” (that is understood and termed as continuing airworthiness.)

     »  An established mature organisation will in many cases already have a Part M CAMO function as well as an active SMS. The organisation may also have its own Part 145 maintenance Organisation.

Maintenance Control is born from within the existing CAMO

     »  If the organisation now wishes to introduce a maintenance control function it will do so by stripping certain elements out from the CAMO.

Step by Step Approach

The organisation needs to ask a number of scoping questions as a pre-requisite before moving to the development phase:

     »  Why do we want a maintenance control unit?
     »  What has happened within our organisation to make us consider an MCC as the way forward and how this will impact our existing functionality? (Organisational Growth being a typical driver for a change)
     »  What is the actual problem/Solution/Improvement that I’m trying to Impact?
     »  Have I differentiated between what I think I want and what I actually need?
     »  Has this been suggested by an external agency, and if so in what context (Is it relevant in terms of return on investment or added business value?

Yes We are Sure it is the Way Ahead

If we are sure that a maintenance control centre is what the organisation needs then the next consideration becomes:

     »  What will it look like?
     »  Where will it be located?
     »  What authority will it have and how will the rest of the organisation respond to it?
     »  Will it be co-located with Ops Control?
     »  Will it be subservient to the Ops Control Duty Manager?
     »  Will it have the AOG desk?
     »  Will it have maintenance planning?
     »  Will it have reliability?
     »  Will it have troubleshooting?
     »  Will it be able to communicate with all areas of the business including the aircraft?
     »  How much engineering/quality/corporate authority will it be granted?
     »  Will other areas resist the change?
     »  Who will conduct the management of change exercise?
     »  Will senior management be isolated from the maintenance control area to ensure that the subject matter experts’ decisions aren’t unduly influenced?

Summary

Without a doubt, a well-structured maintenance control centre brings with it benefits to the business, however as a cautionary note if we introduce a maintenance control centre function without going through the due diligence mentioned above we may find that we fall short in respect of a number of our objectives.

Next Steps

Sofema Aviation Services (www.sassofia.com) and Sofema Online (www.sofemaonline.com) offer EASA Regulatory Compliant and Vocational Training across a range of Aviation Areas – please see our Websites or email Team@sassofia.com

Sofema Aviation Services provides a 3-day course to implement your own MCC – please see the following https://sassofia.com/course/developing-an-aviation-maintenance-control-centre-3-days/