PMA (Parts Manufacturer Approval)

A Parts Manufacturer Approval is the FAA's authorization for a company that is not the original type certificate holder to make and sell an approved part for a type-certificated product. It is deliberately a two-in-one approval: the PMA covers both the design of the article and the applicant's authority to produce it, which is why a valid PMA part carries an approval that stands on its own rather than depending on the aircraft manufacturer. The governing rules live in 14 CFR Part 21 Subpart K, principally 14 CFR 21.303, and the FAA's guidance is set out in AC 21.303-4 and FAA Order 8110.42D.

The design half of a PMA rests on showing that the part meets the airworthiness requirements, and an applicant may do so by one of two basic routes. The first is identicality: demonstrating that the article is the same in all respects — dimensions, materials, tolerances, and processes — as a part already covered by a type certificate, typically under a licensing agreement with the design holder or, in narrower circumstances, without one. The second is test and computation: producing test reports and analysis showing that the design meets the applicable airworthiness standards, in effect proving the part is equal to or better than the original it replaces. The test-and-computation path is the one most people associate with PMA because it is how independent suppliers develop a part when they do not have the OEM's proprietary drawings.

The production half means the PMA holder must have an approved quality system capable of ensuring that each part conforms to its approved design, so that every unit coming off the line is the same as the one the FAA evaluated. A part produced under PMA is documented on an FAA Form 8130-3 airworthiness approval tag or the manufacturer's equivalent authorized release, giving the installer traceable evidence that the article is eligible for installation.

For an aircraft operator, the practical significance of PMA is cost and availability. PMA parts are alternatives to OEM parts for the same application, and they are frequently less expensive or more readily stocked, which matters for a fleet burning through brake pads, filters, seals, hoses, and similar high-turnover items. The regulatory expectation is that an approved PMA part is airworthy-equivalent to the OEM part it replaces; the maintenance record simply needs to reflect the correct part number and approval basis. Some type certificate holders publish restrictions or note where their maintenance data assumes OEM parts, so a maintenance organization still confirms eligibility for the specific make and model before fitting a PMA part.

PMA is distinct from a Technical Standard Order authorization. A TSOA approves an article against a minimum performance standard for a class of equipment — an altimeter, a seat, a life vest — and confers no approval to install it on any particular aircraft; installation eligibility comes from a separate basis. A PMA, by contrast, is approved for a specific application: it is a replacement or modification part for identified type-certificated products, and that eligibility list is part of the approval. It is also distinct from a Supplemental Type Certificate, which approves a design change to an aircraft rather than a stand-alone part, though STC and PMA are sometimes used together. The EASA analogue is handled under Part-21, where European Part Approval and the associated design and production organization framework play the equivalent role; an FAA PMA is not automatically valid on an EASA-registered aircraft.

Flight schools that own their aircraft, or fly them on leaseback, feel PMA most directly through the parts budget. Training fleets accumulate hours and cycles quickly, and the consumable and rotable parts they replace on inspection are exactly the categories where PMA suppliers compete with the OEM. Choosing an approved PMA brake disc or filter over the factory part, where the maintenance organization confirms it is eligible for the model, is a routine way for a school to hold down maintenance cost per flight hour without stepping outside the approved-parts system.

The discipline PMA demands is traceability. Every installed part needs a record of its part number, its approval basis, and its release documentation, so that an auditor or a subsequent mechanic can confirm the aircraft is assembled from approved articles. Schools that mix OEM and PMA sources across a fleet have to keep that history clean — an unapproved or undocumented part is an airworthiness finding regardless of how well it performs, and the burden of proof sits with the operator's records.

Aviatize's Maintenance Control and Maintenance Execution modules track the parts fitted to each aircraft against the work order that installed them, capturing part number, approval basis, and the release documentation that accompanied the article. That gives a school a defensible record of whether an installed part is an OEM or PMA article and where its airworthiness approval comes from — the evidence an auditor asks for.

Because the same parts data feeds inventory and inspection planning, a maintenance organization can standardize on approved PMA alternatives where they are eligible, reorder against the correct part numbers, and keep the traceability chain intact across a multi-aircraft fleet. The record travels with the tail, so a leaseback owner or a buyer sees exactly which approved parts are installed.