You may be hearing a lot about PMA (Parts Manufacturer Approval) parts these days. There's an interest in PMA authority as airlines and repair stations sift out unapproved parts. In my position as PMA holder and former chairman of the PMA Council of the Aeronautical Repair Station Association, I've encountered many misconceptions about PMA parts.

The FAA commissioned a study of PMA parts in which many of these misconceptions were countered. The quotes below are from the 1984 and 1988 FAA COMSIS studies. Let us review a few misconceptions:

Misconception #1: PMAs are a new way for small companies to get into the aircraft parts manufacturing business.

FACT: The FAA has been granting PMAs for 38 years. The average PMA holder has about the same number of employees (1300) as the average Type Certificate holder. What's more, "PMAs hold approximately 33 percent of the parts aftermarket."

Misconception #2: Quality and manufacturing control is less stringent for PMA parts.

FACT: "The manufacturing and quality control are appropriate to the sophistication and diversity of parts the PMA holder produces, and there are no significant inspection program failures."

Misconception #3: A PMA is easy to get and therefore PMA parts must be of lower quality than the Type Certificate parts.

FACT: "FAA Aircraft Certification Offices now administer the PMA program as a normal part of the aircraft certification process. The same airworthiness engineers administer and approve PMA design requests that administer other aircraft certification functions, and the same manufacturing inspectors administer and approve PMA manufacturing requests."

Misconception #4: PMA parts are less safe and less reliable than parts supplied by the orginal Type Certificate holder.

FACT: Both the COMSIS and a GAO study find that: "There is no evidence of a significant safety problem with PMA parts." Ninety percent of the PMAs granted by the FAA are based upon a license agreement between the Type Certificate holder and the PMA holder or on an FAA engineering find of identicality with the Type Certificate part.

Misconception #5: PMA parts are really counterfeits or bogus parts which cause safety problems.

FACT: Again the COMSIS study finds: "There is no evidence of a significant safety problem with PMA parts." COMSIS also reports that "there is a significant safety problem with bogus parts, [which are] those parts produced without PMA approval, often as counterfeit Type Certificate holder parts."

Misconception #6: Purchasing PMA parts really doesn't save money.

FACT: Once a PMA has been granted, the COMSIS study found that competition causes the Type Certificate holder to reduce its price 85 percent of the time, reducing the cost of repairs approximately 20 percent. PMA parts have therefore saved users 20 percent for 33 percent of aftermarket spare parts purchases.

Purchasing PMAs is Smart Business.