The Gliding Federation of Australia administers a system of maintenance for sailplanes and powered sailplanes in Australia under delegated authority from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia (CASA). This is called the GFA Airworthiness System, which nurtures and develops an environment of safety and continuing airworthiness for all members’ aircraft as well as GFA Authorised Inspectors and GFA Authorised Organisations. The system maintains and develops standards for technical specifications, maintenance procedures, training and education as well as performing certification, audit, aircraft registration and technical advisory roles for members.
The Airworthiness System is outlined in the GFA Manual of Standard Procedures Part 3 (Airworthiness), referred to as the MoSP part 3, which explains the general procedures for administering the Airworthiness System, including the roles, privileges and limitations of all GFA airworthiness staff, authorised persons and authorised organisations. The MoSP part 3 refers to lower level documentation such as Basic Sailplane Engineering (the technical standards and detailed procedures for continuing maintenance, available for purchase from the GFA Secretariat), Airworthiness Directives (documentation directing specific mandatory maintenance procedures), Airworthiness Advice Notices (documentation of an advisory nature concerning maintenance, administrative procedures and guidelines for complying with regulations or requirements), Mandatory Airworthiness Requirements (mandatory requirements which must be met before a sailplane can be admitted to the Australian Aircraft Register) and other documentation available from the GFA Secretariat.