14 CFR § 145.219
Recordkeeping
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What does 14 CFR § 145.219 require?
14 CFR 145.219 is the recordkeeping rule for Part 145 repair stations — the "what records, who signs, how long" requirement. Every certificated repair station must keep records of every maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alteration action for at least 2 years, with the clock starting on the date the article was approved for return to service. Each record must identify what work was done, what parts were used, who performed the work, and who approved the article for return to service (by name and airman certificate number). Records can be paper or electronic, but they must be accessible to FAA inspectors on request — an electronic system that can't produce records for FAA surveillance is a finding even if the underlying data exists. §145.219 sits alongside §43.9 (which dictates the content of each maintenance record entry) and §43.11 (which adds requirements for annual and 100-hour inspection records); operators routinely cite all three together in enforcement actions because the rules are operationally inseparable.
Regulation text (summary)
§145.219 requires each certificated Part 145 repair station to maintain records of all maintenance, preventive maintenance, and alterations performed for at least 2 years from the date the article was approved for return to service. Records must identify the work performed, the parts used, the person(s) performing the work, and the person(s) responsible for approving the article for return to service (including airman certificate number). §145.219(c) requires records to be made available for inspection by the FAA upon request and to be retained in a form (paper or electronic) that supports FAA surveillance workflow. Pairs with §43.9 (record content requirements) and §43.11 (annual/100-hour inspection records).
Read full regulation at eCFR.govWho must comply with 14 CFR § 145.219?
All FAA-certificated Part 145 repair stations (approximately 5,000+ worldwide, including both domestic and foreign repair stations). All repair station ratings are in scope (airframe, powerplant, propeller, radio, instrument, accessory, limited specialized service). Foreign repair stations operating under bilateral agreements (EASA Part 145 / FAA Part 145 mutual recognition) remain subject to §145.219; bilateral procedures may modify HOW records are produced for FAA inspection but do not modify the retention duration or content requirements.
What happens if you violate 14 CFR § 145.219?
FAA civil penalties typically $2,500-$50,000 for §145.219 recordkeeping violations, matching the §145.211 enforcement range since recordkeeping is the documented output of the QC system. Higher penalties apply for systemic findings (multiple records missing, electronic system that fails to produce on FAA request, pattern of incomplete entries) or willful non-compliance. Repair station certificate suspension is possible for repeated systemic failures. Operationally, missing or incomplete §145.219 records also block release-to-service workflow: an article without a complete record cannot be returned to service, and the absence creates §43.9 + §43.11 findings in parallel. After-incident investigations always pull §145.219 records — a gap between work performed and what's documented creates significant civil and potentially criminal exposure for the repair station and the individuals named as performing or releasing the work.
Penalty range
Annual citations
YoY penalty trend
How to comply (implementation checklist)
- 1Maintain work order records for every maintenance, preventive maintenance, and alteration action — including work scope, customer reference, aircraft/article identification, date opened, date closed, and date released to service.
- 2Maintain release certificates (FAA Form 8130-3 for parts/articles approved for return to service, or maintenance record entries per §43.9 for aircraft work) for every release-to-service action, with name + airman certificate number of person approving for return to service.
- 3Link personnel records to each work order entry — every person who performed work on the article must be identifiable in the §145.219 record, and the person approving for return to service must be identifiable with their airman certificate number per §43.9.
- 4Maintain parts traceability records linking received parts (with manufacturer + serial number + receiving inspection per §145.103) to installed parts on specific work orders, supporting FAA Form 8130-3 release tags and §43.9 record entries.
- 5Retain all §145.219 records for at least 2 years from the date the article was approved for return to service; retain longer if customer contracts, the repair station's QC manual under §145.211, or other regulations (e.g., aircraft logbook records under §91.417) require it.
- 6Use electronic recordkeeping systems that support FAA surveillance workflow — records must be exportable or displayable to FAA inspectors during SVE, with intact signatures + timestamps + version history; access controls must allow FAA inspector access during scheduled surveillance.
- 7Document the §145.219 recordkeeping procedure in the FAA-accepted Quality Control Manual under §145.211, including: record types maintained, retention periods, storage media (paper/electronic), FAA-inspection access procedure, and (for foreign repair stations) bilateral-coordinated inspection procedure.
Common misinterpretations
- Misinterpretation: 'The 2-year retention starts from the date of release to service.' Reality: §145.219(a) specifies retention is from the date the article was approved for return to service — i.e., the release-to-service date is the clock-start. Records of work that was performed but never approved for return to service still must be retained for 2 years from the date of work; some operators incorrectly assume an incomplete or aborted maintenance event has no §145.219 record obligation. The conservative practice is to retain records for the longer of (a) 2 years from work date, or (b) 2 years from release-to-service date, plus any longer period the customer's contract or the repair station's own quality system specifies.
- Misinterpretation: 'Electronic records satisfy §145.219 by default.' Reality: Electronic records are explicitly permitted, but §145.219(c) requires records to be made available for inspection by the FAA upon request — which means the electronic system must support FAA surveillance workflow. Common findings include: electronic systems that can produce data internally but cannot export or display records in a form FAA inspectors can review during an SVE, systems with access controls that block FAA inspectors during a surveillance visit, and systems that retain data but lose record-integrity metadata (timestamps, signatures, version history) when records are exported. The practical bar is: can your FAA Principal Maintenance Inspector (PMI) see the complete record, with signatures and version history, within the timeframe requested during surveillance? If the answer is no, the electronic system isn't satisfying §145.219(c) regardless of how complete the underlying data is.
- Misinterpretation: 'We only need to keep the release tag (FAA Form 8130-3 or equivalent).' Reality: §145.219 requires records of the work performed — not just the release certificate. §43.9 specifies the content of each maintenance record entry: description of work performed, date of completion, name of person performing the work (if other than the person approving for return to service), and signature + airman certificate number of person approving for return to service. A release tag alone (without the underlying work order, parts traceability, and personnel records) is incomplete. The §145.219 record obligation covers the full chain: customer work order → work performed entries → parts received + installed traceability → release certificate. Each piece is required and must be retained.
- Misinterpretation: 'Foreign repair stations operate under a different recordkeeping rule.' Reality: §145.219 applies identically to all FAA-certificated repair stations, foreign or domestic. EASA-FAA and other bilateral agreements may modify the operational procedure for how records are produced for FAA inspection (e.g., coordination through the foreign authority during surveillance), but the underlying §145.219 retention duration and content requirements are not modified. Foreign repair stations should document their bilateral-coordinated FAA-inspection procedure in their FAA-accepted Quality Control Manual under §145.211 so the procedure is unambiguous when FAA surveillance occurs.
Real enforcement examples
Anonymized from public FMCSA enforcement summaries. Penalty amounts reflect assessed and final settled values where disclosed.
Part 145 repair station received a $28,500 FAA civil penalty in 2024 after surveillance identified §145.219 recordkeeping findings across three work orders: (1) one work order had a complete release certificate but the underlying work-performed entries (which mechanic performed which task) were missing from the electronic system, breaking the §43.9 chain, (2) one work order had a complete record on paper but the electronic system that the repair station's QC manual identified as the system of record showed an incomplete entry, creating a §145.211 manual-compliance finding alongside §145.219, and (3) one work order had complete records but the parts traceability link between received parts (per §145.103) and installed parts on the work order had been broken when the parts-receiving system was migrated 14 months earlier — meaning the release-to-service decision was no longer supported by an intact traceability chain. Corrective action plan required a recordkeeping-system audit, restoration of broken traceability links where reconstruction was possible, FAA notification + record-keeping-procedure update for cases where reconstruction was not possible, and an updated QC manual section on system-migration procedures to prevent recurrence.
Source: FAA Enforcement Decision Process summaries, anonymized; consistent with FAA Compliance + Enforcement Program reporting in FAA Order 2150.3C
How FileFlo handles 14 CFR § 145.219
FileFlo's compliance rule-pack FAA-14CFR145.219 automatically checks every document you upload against this regulation. Auto-detects document type, parses key fields, sets renewal alerts, and surfaces this section in your audit binder if a gap is found.
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Frequently asked questions
How long must Part 145 repair stations retain maintenance records?▾
At least 2 years from the date the article was approved for return to service, per §145.219(a). This is the regulatory minimum — customer contracts (operators, airlines, lessors) frequently require longer retention (5-10 years is common for transport-category aircraft work), and many repair stations adopt internal retention policies that match the longest customer requirement to avoid per-customer retention exceptions. The clock starts on the release-to-service date, not the work-start date. Records of work that was performed but never released (aborted maintenance events, work scope changes) should also be retained for 2 years from the date of work as a conservative practice. For records that also support aircraft logbook entries under §91.417, the aircraft owner's separate retention obligation applies — but the repair station's §145.219 obligation is independent and runs from the release-to-service date.
Can Part 145 repair stations use electronic records to satisfy §145.219?▾
Yes — electronic records are explicitly permitted under §145.219, and most modern repair stations use electronic systems for at least the work order + parts traceability + release certificate workflow. The critical constraint is §145.219(c): records must be made available for inspection by the FAA upon request. In practice this means the electronic system must support FAA surveillance workflow — FAA inspectors must be able to view complete records (work performed, personnel signatures, parts traceability, release certificates with airman certificate numbers, version history) during an SVE within the timeframe requested. Common electronic-system findings include: systems that retain data but cannot export or display records in a reviewable form during surveillance, systems with access controls that block FAA inspectors during a visit, and systems that lost record-integrity metadata during a migration. Documenting the electronic-records procedure (including the FAA-inspection access workflow) in the FAA-accepted QC manual under §145.211 is the cleanest way to prevent §145.219(c) findings.
What specifically must a §145.219 record contain?▾
§145.219 requires retention of records of the work performed, but the CONTENT of each record entry is governed by §43.9 (general maintenance record content) and §43.11 (additional content for annual + 100-hour inspections). Per §43.9: a description of the work performed, the date of completion, the name of the person performing the work (if other than the person approving for return to service), and the signature + airman certificate number (or repair station certificate number under §145.157(b)) of the person approving for return to service. For parts approved for return to service, an FAA Form 8130-3 or equivalent release certificate is also required and is part of the §145.219 record. The full chain — customer work order, work-performed entries per §43.9, parts received + installed traceability per §145.103, and release certificate — is the §145.219 record. A release certificate alone, without the underlying work-performed and traceability records, is incomplete.
Who must sign Part 145 maintenance records?▾
Per §43.9, the person approving the article for return to service must sign the maintenance record entry and provide their airman certificate number (mechanic) or the repair station's certificate number under §145.157(b) (for repair-station-level release). The person who actually performed the work — if different from the person approving for return to service — must be identifiable on the record by name (their signature is not required by §43.9 for the work entry itself, but the repair station's QC manual under §145.211 typically requires it as a quality-control practice). Inspector signatures (for in-process and final inspections under §145.211) are also typically required by the repair station's QC manual on top of the §43.9 minimum. The §145.219 retention obligation applies to the complete signed record set, including all required signatures and certificate numbers, in a form that supports FAA inspection.
Do foreign Part 145 repair stations follow a different §145.219 rule?▾
No — §145.219 applies identically to all FAA-certificated repair stations, foreign or domestic, including stations operating under EASA-FAA bilateral agreements. The 2-year minimum retention, the §43.9 content requirements, and the FAA-inspection-availability obligation under §145.219(c) are not modified by bilateral status. What bilateral agreements may modify is the operational PROCEDURE for FAA surveillance — for example, EASA-FAA bilateral may specify that FAA surveillance of an EASA Part 145 station with FAA Part 145 certification is coordinated through the foreign authority, rather than the FAA inspector showing up unannounced. The records themselves, and the duty to produce them on FAA request, remain governed by §145.219. Foreign repair stations should document the bilateral-coordinated FAA-inspection procedure in their FAA-accepted QC manual under §145.211 so the procedure is unambiguous when surveillance occurs.
What happens if a §145.219 record is lost or destroyed before the 2-year retention period ends?▾
Loss or destruction of §145.219 records before the 2-year retention period ends is a finding — and operationally creates downstream problems beyond the §145.219 violation itself. The release-to-service decision for the article is no longer supported by an intact record, which may require operator notification (and in some cases, operator inspection or rework before the aircraft can return to service). For records that supported §43.9 entries in an aircraft logbook, the aircraft owner's §91.417 record may also be compromised. The corrective-action process typically requires: notification to the FAA Principal Maintenance Inspector, reconstruction of records from supporting documentation (work orders, parts receipts, personnel timesheets) where possible, customer/operator notification for any affected releases, an update to the QC manual under §145.211 to address whatever procedure failure caused the loss, and (in severe cases) a civil penalty. Electronic-system migrations are the most common cause of record loss; documenting the migration procedure in the QC manual and verifying record-integrity post-migration before retiring the old system is the cleanest preventative.
Related regulations
Sources + reviewer
Primary source: eCFR.gov — 14 CFR § 145.219
Reviewed by Chad Griffith (Founder + CEO, FileFlo) on