Part-147 (EASA Maintenance Training Organisation)

Part-147 is the section of the European continuing-airworthiness regulatory framework that governs Maintenance Training Organisations (MTOs). It is contained in Annex IV to Commission Regulation (EU) No 1321/2014, the consolidated regulation on the continuing airworthiness of aircraft that also houses Part-M, Part-145, Part-66, Part-CAMO, Part-CAO, and Part-ML. A Part-147 approval authorizes an organization to conduct the training and examinations that lead to, and later extend, an EASA aircraft maintenance licence.

The work of a Part-147 MTO breaks into two strands. The first is basic training: structured courses covering the knowledge modules for a maintenance-licence category or subcategory — the familiar A, B1, B2, B3, and L categories — together with the associated examinations. A candidate who completes an approved basic course at a Part-147 organization earns significant credit against the practical experience an aircraft maintenance licence otherwise demands, and the MTO can also conduct the basic module examinations. The second strand is type training: the theoretical and practical instruction required to add a specific aircraft type rating to a licence. Only a Part-147 organization can formally deliver and certify EASA type training, although the practical element of type training may be carried out in the environment of a Part-145 maintenance organization operating under the control of the Part-147 MTO.

Part-147 exists to serve Part-66. Part-66 defines the knowledge and experience an individual technician must hold to be granted an Aircraft Maintenance Licence (AML) and to exercise certification privileges; Part-147 defines the organizational standards — facilities, instructors, examination integrity, and a management system — that make training toward that licence trustworthy. The relationship to Part-145 is complementary rather than overlapping: Part-145 approves the organization that actually performs and releases maintenance, and its certifying staff must hold Part-66 licences, so the pipeline runs from Part-147 training, to a Part-66 licence, to certification work inside a Part-145 organization.

A persistent source of confusion is that the FAA also has a "Part 147." The two are entirely separate regimes that happen to share a number. The FAA's 14 CFR Part 147 governs Aviation Maintenance Technician Schools (AMTS) in the United States, whose graduates test for the FAA Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) certificate; it is not the same as, and does not confer, an EASA licence. The EASA Part-147 approval feeds the EASA Part-66 AML, while the FAA Part 147 school feeds the FAA A&P mechanic certificate. A technician wishing to hold both would deal with both systems separately.

For an aviation maintenance training provider operating in Europe, a Part-147 approval is the foundation of the whole business. It sets who may instruct, how examinations must be administered and secured, what records must be kept, and how courses map to the Part-66 module structure. Losing or narrowing that approval directly limits which categories and aircraft types the organization can train, so demonstrating continued compliance to the competent authority is not a formality but a commercial necessity.

The record-keeping burden is substantial and long-lived. An MTO must be able to prove, per candidate, exactly which modules were completed, which examinations were passed and when, and — for type courses — that both the theoretical and practical elements were delivered to standard. Because these records underpin a candidate's eventual Aircraft Maintenance Licence and any later type endorsements, they must remain accurate and retrievable for years, and they must withstand audit. Schools that also run flying training under an ATO frequently find the maintenance-training side has its own distinct compliance rhythm that a generic student system does not capture.

Aviatize's Training Management module handles the Part-147 candidate journey the same way it handles pilot training: courses are structured against the Part-66 module and type-rating framework, and each candidate's completed modules, examination results, and type-course elements are tracked as auditable progress rather than loose paperwork. Because both the theoretical and practical parts of a type course have to be evidenced, the module keeps the two elements linked to the candidate and the type.

Aviatize's Compliance & Auditing and Digital Data & Records modules then keep instructor qualifications, examination records, and candidate files organized for the competent-authority oversight that a Part-147 approval depends on, so the MTO can present a complete and consistent training record on demand.