SLSA Skyview Updates

[DonFromTX]

Some time ago there was this post by Dynon, one SLSA maker says this is false, the owner can download anything he wants. Clarification?
Reply #53 - Today at 12:01am

Dynon Support Offline
Forum Administrator
Dynon Employee
Dynon Technical Support

Posts: 11347


As a reminder, S-LSA aircraft cannot update software without authorization from the OEM, and instructions on how to set up any changes that need to be made, so in general, our install manual is not particularity relevant to someone with an S-LSA.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wiki: http://wiki.dynonavionics.com
Blog: http://blog.dynonavionics.com
Docs: http://docs.dynonavionics.com
News: http://newsletter.dynonavionics.com
Phone: 425-402-0433 (7am-5pm Pacific weekdays)

 

[Dynon]

The LSA has a maintainance manual. An excerpt from the relevant ASTM standard that the FAA has accepted has these couple of definitions:

3.1.9 maintenance manual(s)—manual provided by an LSA manufacturer or supplier that specifies all maintenance, repairs, and alterations authorized by the manufacturer.

3.1.10 major repair, alteration, or maintenance— any repair, alteration, or maintenance for which instructions to complete the task excluded from the maintenance manual(s) supplied to the consumer are considered major.


So if procedures to update software aren't in your aircraft manurfacture's maintainance manual, it's a major alteration. For major alterations, the following applies:

9 | MAJOR REPAIRS AND ALTERATIONS
9.1 All major repairs or alterations made to aircraft subsequent to its initial design and production acceptance testing to applicable ASTM standards and sale to a consumer must be evaluated relative to the requirements of the applicable ASTM design and production acceptance specification(s).

9.2 The manufacturer or other entity that performs the evaluation of an alteration or repair shall provide a written affidavit that the aircraft being altered will still meet the requirements of the applicable ASTM design and performance specification subsequent to the alteration.

9.3 The manufacturer or other entity that performs the evaluation shall provide written instructions and diagrams on how, who, and the level of certification needed to perform the alteration or repair.

9.3.1 The instructions must include ground and flight testing that complies with the original ASTM production acceptance testing standard, as appropriate, to verify the alteration was performed correctly and the aircraft is in a condition for safe operation.

9.3.2 The instructions and diagrams provided to the S-LSA owner or mechanic shall be documented on an LSA Major Repair and Alterations (MRA) form as defined in Annex A1.

9.4 The manufacturer or other entity that performs the evaluation shall provide information to the owner of the aircraft for the documentation of the alteration in the aircraft's records.

(other entity, in this context, is someone that that has been authorized by the manufacturer to have the capability to determine whether an alteration will yield an aircraft that still meets the requirements of the ASTM design / performance criteria)