Factual Information 2015:1.6 Aircraft Information/1.6.3
This page contains an extract from MH370/01/15 Factual Information which accompanied the (first) Interim Statement released by The Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370 on 8th March 2015.
1.6.3 Airworthiness and Maintenance
The aircraft, Serial Number 28420, was issued with a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Export Certificate of Airworthiness No: E370249 on 29 May 2002 and placed on the Malaysian aircraft register as 9M-MRO on 03 June 2002. Ownership of the aircraft, as state don the Certification of Registration (C of R), was Malaysian Airline System Berhad. The ownership was subsequently changed to Aircraft Business Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., as the lessor, and leased and operated by MAS. A new C of R to reflect the new owner was issued on 17 June 2002.
A Certificate of Airworthiness (C of A) in the ‘PRIVATE’ category was initially issued on 03 June 2002. The aircraft was then flown to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where a C of A in ‘TRANSPORT PASSENGER’ category was issued by the DCA Malaysia on the 12 June 2002 after the pre-service modifications were accomplished.
The C of A was subjected to annual renewal by DCA Malaysia and its renewal was subjected to compliance to the DCA Malaysia Airworthiness Notice No. 2 - Certificate of Airworthiness Renewal Procedure. The operator was required to declare the aircraft, engine, APU and equipment maintenance status as per the approved Maintenance Schedule, and that they complied with all the mandatory inspections and modifications originating from the State of Manufacture and State of Registry. The Quality Assurance Department of MAS was required to submit an ‘Aircraft Physical Inspection for the Purpose of C of A Issue/Renewal’ prior to the expiry of the C of A. An ‘Aircraft Survey Report for Certificate of Airworthiness’ will be issued by the DCA Inspector after a satisfactory physical inspection on the aircraft has been carried out. At times, the physical aircraft inspection has to coincide with the aircraft scheduled check at base or line maintenance.
The last C of A document review by DCA Inspector was carried out on 15 May 2013 for the C of A renewal and the aircraft physical inspection was carried out by MAS Quality Assurance Engineer (QAE) on 12 April 2013. The only inspection defect noted was a torn left hand flaperon inboard seal which was subsequently replaced. The aircraft C of A was renewed with no airworthiness issues identified.
Source: Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370, 8 March 2015, Factual Information MH370/01/15
The Factual Information was updated in 2018 by the Safety Investigation Report MH370/01/2018 which added new content but did not include all of the previous data.
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