The Assessors and the Assessment

One of the characteristic of the EASA licensing system under Part 66 is the majority of the tasks are to be done by the approved training school, part 147 school. The application for the grant of the licenses can be made by the students of the school and the following documents are required:-

1. Evidence of theoretical knowledge
2.  Practical skills Task and assessment
3.   Assessment of maintenance experience by assessors

Please take note the documents are produced by the school.  The evidence of theoretical knowledge can be obtained by taking and passing the 12 or 13 modules designed for basic knowledge examinations. The course itself shall take about 2400 hours or 2 years. The practical skills are obtained by the various practical jobs done during the course.

If you are familiar with the earlier Section L BCAR license, the assessment of the practical competencies were assessed by the CAA surveyors. However that practice has stopped. The task is now being outsourced to the training school.

As such, the school, like my school, has to prepare for the assessment. Some of the questions being raised are: ...
a. Assessment kits - what are the areas to be assessed and how.
b. Assessment plan - when to assess it.

The whole process remind me of the DCA oral exam under BCAR section L where the authority was responsible for the assessors and the assessment.

Driving for the Objectives - Get Part66 License

I am driving two complementary objectives, to get the 147 approval and to get the students to get the EASA part 66 license. In the last meeting on 22 Feb, I briefed the staff on what it takes to get the license.

The notice was very clear and specific about the requirements..

- The age requirements - the applicant must be above 21 years.

- English requirement - credit on O level english

- pass all the 13 modules.

- Evidence of practical experiences

- Evidence of aircraft experience

To support this, the aviation school must have 4 groups of staff. They are..

- the knowledge instructors.

- The knowledge examiners

- the validators

- the assessors.

The requirements for the above positions are given by the authorities.

The students are behind in their exams. Our best bet is to get the exam at our own facilities. That will give us the greater flexibility.

Getting EASA 147

This is the message from the manager of the training school to all his staff to focus on getting the EASA 147 approval.

In anticipation of the forth coming Department of Civil Aviation audit, I would like the month of November to be the month of quality. This does not mean that we ignore the other activities, but we will put extra emphasis to prepare for the audit for the 147 compliance.

The guiding principles:

These are the way we will drive the quality.

a. The drive toward quality will be a join effort of all the departments and sections. Only through the collaborative means, we will achieve our objectives.

b. Quality is the responsibility of everyone, it is not limited to the quality department or the management, as such all levels will be involved.

Action Plans

These are the activities that we will do.

a. A weekly meeting between training and QA to plan, review and report on quality issues. Suggest every Monday.

b. Identify the major process as described in the Training Organisation Exposition and the Airworthiness Notices 1101 and 1201.

c. Agree on the process owner. And plan for the actions.

d. Review the process and check compliance.

I will be attending the meeting at least once a month.

TRACKING

I would like to monitor these by..

a. By minutes of meeting

b. By weekly report.

CONCERNED PROCESSES.

The immediate concern process is the program scheduling. It MUST NOT be viewed as an activities to schedule the courses, but it is to be viewed as the actions taken to ensure that the students are ready to sit for the exams. The differences between the two is vast.

There are more to be taken to get the EASA147 approval. Let us concentrate our effort to achieve the objective.