Airbus uses ALS documents for maintenance, and these are broken down into Parts covering topics such as Safe Life Airworthiness Limitation Items or Certification Maintenance Requirements.
Airbus MPD is a comprehensive tool that complements the ALS (Airworthiness Limitation Section) system, it includes information from various ALS groups, however the MPD doesn’t encompass all the ALS information so a clear understanding of how MPD and ALS interact is crucial.
Key Considerations Alongside the Airworthiness Limitation Section (ALS) is other documents and considerations including for example Service Bulletins: Inform operators about non-mandatory changes, Airworthiness Directives: Mandatory instructions from aviation authorities to address safety issues or other factors then such as Reliability, modifications, national requirements, etc.
The ALS itself is formed into sections and as an example of the structure we can consider the following two sections:
ALS Part 1 (Safe Life Airworthiness Limitation Items – SL-ALI) – This section highlights components that have life limitations.
Safe Life Airworthiness Limitation Items (SL-ALI) are components with a defined lifespan after which they must be replaced to ensure continued aircraft safety and airworthiness.
The applicability of the document is crucial, and we need to ensure the aircraft’s details match the specifications mentioned in the ALS.
A significant point is the starting time for counting the life of a component.
ALS Part 3 (Certification Maintenance Requirements – CMR):
A CMR (Certification Maintenance Requirement) is a mandatory aircraft maintenance task defined by aviation authorities to ensure continued airworthiness and safety compliance.
CMRs are categorized as either One Star (*) or Two Star (**):
One Star CMRs are mandatory tasks that cannot be changed or deleted without the approval of the Primary Certification Authority (e.g., EASA).
Two Star CMRs allow for adjustments based on approved escalation practices or reliability programs.
CMRs emphasize the importance of data-driven decision-making in maintenance.
Airbus uses a combination of MPD and ALS documents to guide the maintenance and ensure the airworthiness of its aircraft; it is the foundation to then build the aircraft maintenance plan from bringing in all the additional sources.
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