Alternative Method of Compliance (AMOC) to an Airworthiness Directive (AD)

The AMOC will be approved after approval of the related Minor or Major Design Change or STC approval.

Please refer to Technical Implementation Procedures for Airworthiness and Environmental Certification (the “TIP procedure” - §4.4 with TIP Rev.6) authorized by Article 5 and Annex 1 of the Agreement between the Government of the United States of America (U.S.) and the European Union (EU) on Cooperation in the Regulation of Civil Aviation Safety.

Once the technical investigation is completed and the AMOC request thereby approved, EASA will immediately issue the approval, in electronic format and by email, to the applicant.
The original document will follow by (regular) post, sent together with EASA's invoice for the actual number of hours spent on the technical investigation, and addressed to the 'Financial Contact' person designated by the applicant on Form 42.

No. AMOC applications to PADs are not accepted. PADs that are published to EASA's website remain open for consultation and comments prior to publication as an (eventual) AD. 
Every AMOC application request should relate to one AD only.

The supersedure of an AD always and automatically invalidates any AMOC related to that AD. 
Even though the technical solution as specified in an AMOC may still be acceptable for compliance with the new AD, this acceptability must be confirmed. To achieve this, the AMOC approval holder (if that organisation wishes to remain the responsible approval holder) would need to apply for an AMOC to EASA, using FO.CAP.00042.
There is no (other) process in existence to 'transfer' an AMOC approval from one AD to another.

The AMOC is still valid, as a revision of an AD cannot introduce more stringent requirements.

An Alternative Method of Compliance (AMOC) is an EASA approved deviation to an AD. 
It is a different way, other than the one specified in an AD, to address an unsafe condition on products, parts and appliances. An AMOC must provide a level of safety equivalent to the level of safety to be restored by  compliance with the original AD.
AMOCs may be issued in respect of, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:

• Alternative modifications,
• Alternative inspection procedures,
• Alternative maintenance intervals and/or procedures,
• Specific operating procedures or limitations, etc.

Requests for extension of compliance time without other alternative compliance methods or compensative factors are in general not eligible for an AMOC application. The operator may wish to contact the responsible national authority and apply for a temporary exemption in accordance with Article 71 of the Basic Regulation. A justification document from the type certificate holder may be suitable to support such a time limited exemption on a case by case basis.

Provisions for an 'Alternative Method of Compliance with an AD' are desirable from an aircraft operator's and a TC Holder's point of view when acceptable methods are developed for AD compliance if a limited number of aircraft are eligible to these acceptable methods (and no change to the AD is planned) or while awaiting a planned revision or supersedure of an AD.

EASA can accept AMOC applications for any AD that has been issued or adopted by EASA, i.e:

• ADs that EASA has issued and published online in its AD Tool
• ADs that EASA has approved  and published in its AD Tool (i.e. an AD previously published in the period 2003-2006 by the EU MS NAAs)
• ADs that EASA has grandfathered, as per Regulation (EC) No 1702/2003, and,
• ADs that EASA has adopted i.e. Foreign State of Design ADs on non-EU products.

All applications for 'Request for acceptance of Alternative Methods of Compliance (AMOC) with Airworthiness Directive (AD)' must be submitted to EASA using FO.CAP.00042 duly completed and signed. 
Unsigned applications cannot be accepted. It should also be noted that every AMOC application request should relate to one AD only.

• If the State of Design (SoD) is the USA, Canada or Brazil: The Technical Implementation Procedures for Airworthiness and Environmental Certification (TIP) between EASA and FAA (resp. TCCA for Canada and ANAC for Brazil) contain provisions for the EASA acceptance of some SoD approved AMOCs. In such cases, no further application to EASA is necessary for European registered aircraft. See the relevant TIP for conditions.

• For all other State of Design countries, or if the AMOC approval is not held by the TC / STC Holder of the product to which the AD applies: An AMOC application must be submitted to EASA using FO.CAP.00042. The prior issuance of an equivalent AMOC approval by the State of Design authority is recommended and likely to facilitate the EASA AMOC approval process. Only after EASA approval could such an AMOC be applied to aircraft registered in EU Member States or associated countries (the latter as per Article 129 of the Basic Regulation).

Please refer to Technical Implementation Procedures for Airworthiness and Environmental Certification under the Agreement on Civil Aviation Safety between the Government of Canada and the European Union ('EASA-TCCA TIP' - §3.5 with TIP Rev.4) .

Please refer to article 4 of EASA Decision 2004/03/CF of The Executive Director of The Agency of 10 December 2004 on the acceptance of certification findings made by the 'Departamento de Aviação Civil,' Centro Tecnico Aeroespacial (DAC/CTA) for products designed in Brazil.

No, EASA provides the AMOC approval only to the applicant (the AMOC approval holder) that has applied for it and, if relevant, to the authority of state of registry (in case of an application coming directly from an operator). 
Therefore EASA does not publish AMOCs to its web site, or add the AMOCs to the AD tool - as it does for PADs and ADs. 
Where an AMOC to an EASA AD is of generic nature e.g. not limited to a few aircraft, this should lead to a revision of the affected AD. The AD would then be posted to EASA's website and the alternative method of compliance in that way then made public.

EASA cannot accept applications for AMOCs referring to aircraft that are not registered in an EASA Member State, as this is outside of EASA’s jurisdiction. In these situations EASA advises operators to either:

• Contact their local National Aviation Authority (NAA) for a national AMOC or similar approval. The European TC holder of the product to which the AD applies may provide technical assistance for the NAA’s decision. Or
• If the AMOC is of general applicability and thus could also be used by aircraft that are registered in an EASA Member State, contact the European TC holder for them to apply for an EASA AMOC.

Note: the NAA of the non-EASA State of Registry is responsible for the decision on whether an AMOC can be used or not for aircraft on its register. This applies in both cases: issuing national AMOCs; or accepting EASA AMOCs.