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Modification and Replacement Parts Association

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This article is about the aircraft parts trade association. For the radar plotting aid see Mini Automatic Radar Plotting Aid.

The Modification and Replacement Parts Association is the Washington, D.C.-based trade association that represents manufacturers of government-approved after market aircraft parts. These aircraft parts are often known as PMA parts, from the acronym for Parts Manufacturer Approval. The manufacture of PMA parts is regulated in the United States by the Federal Aviation Administration.[1]

Membership

PMA parts manufacturers

omote aircraft parts safety. MARPA also works with the government agencies to help promote reasonable standards of commercial fairness in the industry. MARPA is a frequent contributor to the rule making process in the United States.[2]

Safety initiatives

MARPA also develops programs and tools to assist its members in regulatory compliance and in meeting their safety goals. In 2004, the FAA and PMA community discussed establishing new standards for Continued Operational Safety (COS).[3] MARPA formed a committee of its members and drafted COS Guidance.[4][5] The MARPA COS guidance represents a voluntary system under which PMA manufacturers track their parts through their entire life cycle in order to be able to collect reliability data. The purpose of the data is to support parts reliability - that will allow manufacturers to proactively respond to potential safety issues early enough in the lfe cycle of the parts that the potential safety issue may not have even manifested itself.[6] The data allows PMA companies to provide the same level of response and support to its customers that their competitors provide.[7]

Actions for PMA companies

MARPA joined with the Air Transport Association in a letter to CFM International, asking them to rescind a series of advertisements that made unsupported claims.[8] Although CFM did not admit to MARPA's and ATA's claims, it did replace its factually-unsupported advertisements with ads that did not make the same allegations.

Fairness remained an issue as some of the larger manufacturers of aircraft products attempted to inhibit trade in PMAs by inaccurately claiming that PMA parts were not subject to the same Instructions for Continued Airworthiness as the parts that they replace.[9] MARPA continued to inform the industry and the government about these issues and in 2008, the FAA released a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin to remind the industry that PMA parts are FAA-approved in the United States, and therefore PMA parts are valid replacement parts that continue to enjoy the same Instructions for Continued Airworthiness as the parts that they replace.[10]

As an educator

MARPA has always had an education focus. MARPA has assisted its members in complying with the regulations and developing strategies to obtain PMAs.[11] It also educates the PMA community about the changing standards that apply to them through their website, a monthly newsletter, a blog, and an Annual Conference.

In addition to keeping the PMA industry informed about the changes that surround it, MARPA has also focused on educating PMA users (and potential users) about the benefits of using PMA parts.[12] MARPA's efforts to educate air carriers are credited with a significant decrease in the amount of time that an air carrier needs in order to review and approve a PMA part for use in their fleet. [13]

MARPA also supports member efforts to educate the public about PMA parts.[14]

Annual conference

MARPA holds an annual conference each year to share information about the rules that apply to PMA, changing legal standards that could influence PMA manufacturers, and market conditions and information that affect PMA. The Conference generally features significant participation by the FAA and other government entities, which makes it a forum for exchanging information.

International focus

MARPA is based in the United States and mostly made up of US-based companies because the United States was the first country to have a body of regulations that supported government-approved manufacturing of aftermarket aircraft parts. Other countries have begun to investigated options to support such industries.

The European Aviation Safety Agency has issued a decision verifying that PMA parts from the United States are accepted and used in European Community member countries.[15] This decision followed a long-standing policy of the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA). The tenets of European acceptance also exist in the bilateral agreements between the United States and a number of European nations.[16]

MARPA's air carrier and maintenance facility members include a number of non-US parties.

Notes

  1. ^ 14 C.F.R. 21.303
  2. ^ MARPA's Mission, Aviation Week: MRO Blog (January 24, 2007) (noting that MARPA had filed 156 Federal Register Comments in the prior three years).
  3. ^ Matt Thurber, PMA Industry Facing Maturity Challenge, Aviation Maintenance (March 1, 2005).
  4. ^ Positive COS and Effect for PMAs, Aviation Maintenance, Vicki McConnell, Technology Editor (March 6, 2008)
  5. ^ Matt Thurber, PMA Industry Facing Maturity Challenge, Aviation Maintenance (March 1, 2005) (noting the Committee leadership).
  6. ^ MARPA's Guidance Material for a PMA Continued Operational Safety (COS) System (Revision One - September 17, 2007).
  7. ^ Matt Thurber, PMA Industry Facing Maturity Challenge, Aviation Maintenance (March 1, 2005).
  8. ^ MARPA Refutes CFM International's Inflammatory Claims That Competitors Replacement Aircraft Products Are Inferior, AMT Online (July 2008).
  9. ^ See The MARPA Report: PMA Makes Great Strides for an Industry in Need, Aviation Maintenance (Jan 1, 2008).
  10. ^ Anti-PMA Rhetoric is Wrong; PMA Parts are Valid, Says FAA, AMT Online (August 2008).
  11. ^ Michelle Gardner, Parts Manufacturing Approval: Negotiating through the PMA process can be daunting but help is available, Aircraft Maintenance Technology (October 2004).
  12. ^ The MARPA Report: PMA Makes Great Strides for an Industry in Need, Aviation Maintenance (Jan 1, 2008).
  13. ^ Cari Shane Parven, Product Focus: The Dawning of a New Era for PMA Parts, Aviation Maintenance (April 1, 2007).
  14. ^ Wencor Wins MARPA Award, Wencor Press Release (October 26, 2005) (Wencor won the award for its efforts to educate the Asian marketplace about the value of PMA parts).
  15. ^ European Aviation Safety Agency Decision No. 2007/003/C (16 July 2007) ("On the Acceptance of Certification Findings made by the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States of America (FAA) for Parts Designed in the United States of America under the Part Manufacturer Approval (PMA) System of the FAA").
  16. ^ See, e.g., Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement - Implementation Procedures for Design Approval, Production Activities, Export Airworthiness Approval, Post Design Approval Activities, and Technical Assistance Between Authorities, sec. 3.0.4.1 (August 24, 2001) (Agreement between the United States and France) (revised June 2008).
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