Today Kelstar Aviation achieved EASA Part SPO-MCF approved status for the operation and management of Maintenance Check Flights. A huge amount of work has gone on behind the scenes in recent weeks and months to develop an approved MCF Manual, MCF Training Programme and all required checklists and protocols.
Kelstar Aviation MD Steve Kelly said “We are delighted to add this approval to our service offering; it enables us to operate Level A and Level B maintenance check flights for airlines, leasing companies or CAMOs with such requirements. We are proud to be one of the only ferry flight operators in Europe now with a compliant approach to demonstration flights”.
The regulations changed in 2019 requiring all operators to adhere to MCF standards for flights carried out to provide reassurance of the aircraft’s performance or to establish the correct functioning of a system or equipment. In order to conduct MCFs, an operator of Complex Motor-powered aircraft is required to comply with the requirements of Annex VIII of EASA Ops – Specialised Operations [Part SPO].
With this new Part SPO-MCF approval, Kelstar Aviation can also act in lieu of an existing operator who has not yet attained an MCF approval themselves. This might be required after heavy maintenance, for system checks that can’t be done on the ground or indeed (given the situation over the past 12 months) after an aircraft comes out of storage. MCFs have even been used to keep aircraft from going into storage.
