What Is Safety-Sensitive Maintenance or Preventive Maintenance?
ATA believes “individuals actually performing safety-sensitive functions for airlines should be subjected to the highest standards for performance, including appropriate drug and alcohol testing.” However, ATA questioned whether many subcontractors doing work for airlines are actually performing safety-sensitive functions. While ATA recognized the FAA regulations define the terms “maintenance” and “preventive maintenance” (see 14 CFR 1.1 and 14 CFR part 43), they requested additional guidance. Specifically, ATA requested the FAA provide guidance clearly describing “maintenance and preventive maintenance for flight-critical systems, and those components whose failure could have a direct adverse effect on the continued airworthiness of the aircraft.” In addition, ATA requested the guidance distinguish safety-sensitive maintenance from other types of “maintenance” that do not have the potential to directly impact airworthiness. In a related comment, one commenter holding multiple air
