Appeal Results In Consent Order, Restoration Of Repair Station Certificate In Sight

AAR Corporation announced Sunday the company and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have entered into a Consent Order that terminates the FAA's Emergency Order of Suspension.

The FAA issued its Order on February 10, 2009, and AAR immediately filed a petition for review before the National Transportation Safety Board on February 12, 2009.

Under the terms of this Consent Order, the parties agreed to "resolve all matters relating to the Order and Petition, and to devote their respective resources to an expeditious and orderly restoration of AAR Landing Gear Services' authority to operate its repair station certificate." The parties envision reinstatement of AAR Landing Gear Services' repair station certificate with full operations "no later than February 20, 2009."

"We're very pleased to have worked this matter out quickly and cooperatively, with minimum inconvenience to our customers and employees," said David P. Storch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AAR CORP. "We greatly appreciate the FAA's expeditious review of our corrective actions and their willingness to devote priority resources to revalidate our continued safe and compliant operations."

Representatives of AAR and the FAA met this week at the FAA's Southern Region office in Atlanta, Georgia and reached agreement on the consent order. As part of the order, the FAA's Emergency Order of Suspension was terminated and AAR Landing Gear Services agreed to a variety of revisions to its maintenance procedures and manuals, enhanced training, and revised "shop travelers" documenting maintenance performed.

As ANN reported last week, the Emergency Order was issued following inspections which revealed that AAR did not follow aircraft manufacturer maintenance manual procedures for conducting liquid penetrant exams, shot peening and cadmium plating before returning to service a variety of landing gear parts for air carrier aircraft. The FAA maintained AAR employed defective processes and followed defective inspection protocols.

AAR is a leading provider of products and services to the worldwide aerospace and defense industry. With facilities and sales locations around the world, AAR uses its close-to-the-customer business model to serve aviation and defense customers through four operating segments: Aviation Supply Chain; Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul; Structures and Systems; and Aircraft Sales and Leasing.

FMI: www.aarcorp.com, www.faa.gov