The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has confirmed that no airworthiness directives (AD) are currently needed regarding parts supplied by British firm AOG Technics.
In a special airworthiness information bulletin issued by the FAA on December 19, 2023, the agency said that “based on the parts investigated to date” the “airworthiness concern is not an unsafe condition that would warrant airworthiness directive”.
Airworthiness directives are issued by aviation safety regulators worldwide when the safety of an aircraft is compromised.
Legally enforceable rules are issued as an airworthiness directive to ensure all affected aircraft are restored to an acceptable level of safety.
Airworthiness directives can result in large numbers of planes being pulled from operations, thus having a devastating impact on airlines.
In its latest update, the FAA said that the investigation into AOG Technics is still ongoing, and the agency may change its assessment in the future.
AOG Technics is accused of selling aircraft parts to aviation firms, directly and indirectly, using falsified documents.
AeroTime has identified eight airlines that have publicly confirmed that they have been impacted by AOG practices, namely Delta Air Lines, WestJet, American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, TAP, Virgin Australia Airlines and Ryanair.
On December 6, 2023, the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced it has arrested an individual during a dawn raid at a property after launching a criminal investigation into AOG Technics for the supply of aircraft parts.
The engines of concern that AOG Technics is said to have supplied parts for are the CFM56, used in older-generation Airbus SE A320 and Boeing 737 planes, and CF6, used on cargo aircraft.
The FAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) were notified of falsified airworthiness release certificates associated with parts distributed by AOG Technics earlier in 2023.
The FAA advises “any operators should review its records to see if any parts on your engines or airplanes were handled, at any point, by AOG Technics”.
To date no critical parts have been found with forged (or tampered with) airworthiness release certificates.
