S.L. 499.9 Art. 9Certificate of maintenance review and technical log.

(1) An aircraft registered in Malta in respect of which a certificate of airworthiness in any category except the special category is in force shall not fly unless -

(a) the aircraft, including in particular its engines, together with its equipment and radio station is maintained in accordance with a maintenance schedule or maintenance programme approved by the Director

General in relation to that aircraft;

(b) there is in force a certificate, in this Order referred to as a "certificate of maintenance review", issued in respect of the aircraft in accordance with the provisions of this article and such certificate shall certify the dates on which the maintenance review was carried out and the date thereafter when the next review is due: Provided that such a certificate is not required where an aircraft is being operated to the requirements of JAR OPS 1 or JAR OPS 3.

(2) The approved maintenance schedule or maintenance programme referred to in subarticle (1) shall specify the occasions on which a review must be carried out for the purpose of issuing a certificate of maintenance review.

(3) A certificate of maintenance review may be issued for the purpose of this article only by:

(a) the holder of an aircraft maintenance engineer’s licence -

(i) granted under this Order being a licence which entitles him to issue that certificate, or

(ii) granted under the law of a country other than Malta and rendered valid under this Order in accordance with the privileges endorsed on the licence, or

(iii) granted under the law of any such country as may be prescribed in accordance with the privileges endorsed on the licence and subject to any conditions which may be prescribed; or

(b) the holder of an appropriate and valid Part-66 Aircraft Maintenance Licence suitably authorised under an approved Part-145 Approved Maintenance Organisation Certifying Staff Procedure;

(c) a person whom the Director General has authorised to issue a certificate of maintenance review in a particular case, and in accordance with that authority; or

(d) a person approved by the Director General as being competent to issue such certificates, and in accordance with that approval:

Provided that in approving a maintenance schedule or maintenance programme, the Director General may direct that certificates of maintenance review relating to that schedule or maintenance programme, or to any part thereof specified in his direction, may be issued only by the holder of such a licence as is so specified.

(4) A person referred to in subarticle (3) shall not issue a certificate of maintenance review unless he has first verified that -

(a) maintenance has been carried out on the aircraft with the maintenance schedule or maintenance programme approved for that aircraft; and

(b) inspections and modifications required by the Director General as provided in article 8 have been completed as certified in the relevant certificate of release to service issued in accordance with article 10; and

(c) defects entered in the technical log of the aircraft in accordance with subarticles (7) to (10) have been rectified or the rectification thereof has been deferred in accordance with procedures approved by Director General; and

(d) certificates of release to service have been issued in accordance with article 10, and for this purpose the operator of the aircraft shall make available to that person such information as is necessary.

(5) A certificate of maintenance review shall be issued in duplicate. One copy of the most recently issued certificate shall be carried in the aircraft when article 57 so requires, and the other shall be kept by the operator elsewhere than in the aircraft.

(6) Subject to the provisions of article 59, each certificate of maintenance review shall be preserved by the operator of the aircraft for a period of two years after it has been issued.

(7) A technical log shall be kept in respect of an aircraft registered in Malta being an aircraft in respect of which a certificate of airworthiness in either the transport or in the aerial work category is in force.

(8) At the end of every flight by an aircraft to which the provisions of this Article apply the commander of the aircraft shall enter -

(a) the times when the aircraft took off and landed; and

(b) particulars of any defect which is known to him and which affects the airworthiness or safe operation of the aircraft, or if no such defect is known to him, an entry to that effect; and

(c) such other particulars in respect of the airworthiness or operation of the aircraft as the Director General may require, in a technical log, or, in the case of an aircraft of which the maximum take-off mass does not exceed 2730kg, in such other record as the Director General shall approve and he shall sign and date such entries: Provided that in the case of a number of consecutive flights each of which begins and ends -

(a) within the same period of twenty-four hours; and

(b) at the same aerodrome, except where each such flight is for the purpose of dropping or projecting any material for agriculture, public health or similar purposes; and

(c) with the same person as commander of the aircraft, the commander of an aircraft may, except where he becomes aware of a defect during an earlier flight, make the entries as aforesaid in a technical log at the end of the last of such consecutive flights.

(9) Upon the rectification of any defect which has been entered in a technical log in accordance with subarticle (8) a person issuing a certificate of release to service required by article 10 in respect of that defect shall enter the certificate in the technical log in such a position as to be readily indefinable with the defect to which it relates.

(10) The technical log referred to in this article shall be carried in the aircraft when article 57 so requires and copies of the entries referred to in this article shall be kept on the ground: Provided that, in the case of an aeroplane of which the maximum take-off mass does not exceed 2,730kg., or a helicopter, if it is not reasonably practicable for the copy of the technical log to be kept on the ground it may be carried in the aeroplane or helicopter, as the case may be, in a box approved by the Director General for that purpose.

(11) Subject to the provisions of article 59, a technical log or such other approved record required by this Article shall be presumed by the operator of the aircraft to which it relates until a date two years after the aircraft has been destroyed or has been permanently withdrawn from use, or for such shorter period as the Director General may permit in a particular case.