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39 Maintenance | Focus Future maintenance certification While the publication of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 107, on standards and operations for small UASs, was a notable achievement in terms of establishing rules for unmanned aircraft, it has major limitations. It only applies to UAVs weighing less than 55 lb and it establishes no airworthiness requirements, which is why maintenance has largely been driven by market conditions, manufacturer recommendations and data- based optimisations. However, Part 107 states that if the operator chooses not to use the manufacturer’s recommended guidelines or personnel, they should consider the expertise of maintenance personnel familiar with the specific UAS and its components. Also, the use of certified maintenance providers is encouraged, and that can include repair stations, holders of mechanic and repairman certificates, and people working under the supervision of these certificate-holders. That largely refers to maintenance technicians and repair stations who have been certified under Part 145 of Title 14, which governs foreign and domestic air agencies that perform maintenance and alterations on US-registered manned aviation systems (and is also adhered to within the regulations of other aviation regulators such as the EASA and CAA). That could mean the operator using their own repair station, or that of a third-party maintenance provider. The likely consequences of this will be to further foster the growth of private-sector maintenance providers and to encourage existing regulations for manned aircraft maintenance to be carried over to these organisations. While many UAS manufacturers and operators might object to regulation along these lines – seeing their aircraft as needing special consideration – ongoing development of progressively larger UAVs will increasingly spur maintenance requirements that mirror those in manned aviation. For example, urban air mobility and unmanned air cargo vehicles will carry enough passengers, expense and overall risk that they are likely to be forbidden from flying without some form of certification, including regulation requirements for maintenance. And even though micro-to-small UASs will probably remain a widely operated class of vehicles into the future, it is unlikely that governments or the public will accept a different set of rules to apply for UASs, instead of those that have been developed and proven to work for manned aviation over the past 100 years. That will increase pressure for mandated, periodic inspections and calibrations, not only for vehicles but ground control, launch and recovery systems, ground-based radar, remote power systems and all the other ancillary items, as is common practice for manned aviation equipment. Further work remains on tackling potential discrepancies and contradictions between type certifications for future UASs. For example, experimental UAVs and OPVs can apply for special airworthiness certification. This requires the aircraft manufacturer to submit a maintenance plan, the frequency and contents of which depend on a combination of the risk classes they fall into (such as maximum speed, altitude and take-off weight). Alternatively, for urban or inter- Unmanned Systems Technology | April/May 2019 Periodic inspections of UASs are likely to become mandatory, including ancillary equipment such as GCSs, launch and recovery systems, and the areas where they are checked and serviced (Courtesy of Latitude Engineering) Training in handling avionics and embedded software is likely to become more important for UAV mechanics over time, alongside their airframe and power plant skill sets (Photo: Christian Clausen, courtesy of US Air Force)