Compliance is a wide spectrum in aviation since compliance is everything. The only other industries that are as compliance-driven are banking, medicine, and food production. Whether it is compliance for certification, operations, or maintenance compliance is mandatory in many cases.
While conducting pre-purchase inspections or appraisals, I have come across many different issues that are simple however, make an aircraft un-airworthy or unflyable due to a technicality. On an Eclipse jet, I reviewed the logbooks and documentation for a client that was partnering with a friend. The Management company had done a very good job maintaining the aircraft however, they had missed the registration when the aircraft had been sold to an LLC. The aircraft had been flying with the old registration and technically made the aircraft not legal to fly while they had been operating the aircraft under the new ownership structure for a year. Although this is easily fixed, had they been ramp checked, they would have been fined or grounded.
When it comes to aircraft maintenance, the type of operation is important — Part 91 or Part 135. The most common is Part 91, Personal and/or Business use, and allows for more flexibility with what and when maintenance is accomplished. Part 135 is very strict because the aircraft is being used “For Hire/Commercial” operations and carrying passengers. Although Part 91 allows more flexibility many owners take this as a license to defer or do the bare minimum to be legal which they pay for eventually in maintenance bills or loss in value of the aircraft.
Going back to the registration topic, the FAA changed the rules on aircraft owners concerning the renewal of registration. Previously, once you had a registration it was good until you sold the aircraft, changed ownership, or changed “N” numbers. Not anymore. Every three years the registration needs to be renewed. This has caught many owners, especially those that have their aircraft registered under an entity, by surprise when they are informed that their registration has expired.
