OREANDA-NEWS. The repair business of NPO Saturn (a part of the UEC holding belonging to the Rostec State Corporation) successfully passed its maiden supervisory audit administered by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The audit was held on 5 - 7 August 2014, and demonstrated full compliance of NPO Saturn with the requirements of the European airworthiness regulations (Part 145) imposed by EASA on organizations involved in MRO activities on aviation products. As a result of the audit, no discrepancies that could prevent the prolongation of the held certificate were found.

'The two systems that were audited in the first place were the quality assurance system and repair organization internal audit administration system. It was stated that our repair organization works well at the elimination of problems and analyzes the root causes of deviations identified through the internal audits,' - noted Sergey Antropov, NPO Saturn quality director.

In the course of the audit, the repair organization's system of management, training and evaluation of its personnel was reviewed and received favorable appraisal. Its further development provides for the creation of an information system which will accumulate the information about every employee and his or her competences. The tooling quality assurance metrological system received only few minor recommendations during the audit.

In addition, Sergey Antropov said that a list of corrective actions would be elaborated following the audit recommendations and upon the EASA approval the corrective actions would be implemented on schedule.

Overall, the audit results demonstrated that there were no significant deviations which could prevent the continuation of MRO activities on the SaM146 engines.

As a reminder, the EASA certificate authorizing the performance of MRO operations on the SaM146 engine was granted to NPO Saturn in March of the current year. Pursuant to the EASA rules, the certificate is subject to annual revision. The next supervisory audit will take place in 2015.

The NPO Saturn Research and Production Association (OJSC) is an engine-building company specialized in the design and development, production and after-market support of gas turbine engines for military and civil aviation, naval ships and power-generating plants and gas-pumping units. The association is part of the All-Russian public organization The Union of Russian mechanical engineers whereby the regional branch is headed by I. N. Fedorov, NPO Saturn CEO.

NPO Saturn is part of United Engine Corporation (OJSC) and acts as the leader of the Civil Engines Division, a business unit of UEC founded on 09.10.2012 as a result of integration of the following companies: NPO Saturn (OJSC), Aviadvigatel (OJSC), PMZ (OJSC), Metallist-PM (CJSC), Energetik-PM (OJSC), REMOS-PM (CJSC), Motoservis-PM (CJSC) and Zheleznodorozhnik-PM (CJSC).

United Engine Corporation (OJSC) is a subsidiary of the OBORONPROM UIC (OJSC). The UEC structure integrates over 85% of Russia's leading companies specialized in the design and development, serial production and after-market support of gas turbine machinery as well as the key enterprises - the industry's integral players. One of UEC's prioritized fields of activity is the implementation of comprehensive programs of development of the companies in the industry by introducing new technologies meeting the world-class standards.

The OBORONPROM United Industrial Corporation (OJSC) is a multi-field machine-building group created in 2002. It is part of Rostec. The main fields of activity are helicopter building (the Russian Helicopters holding), engine building (the UEC holding) and other assets.

The Rostekhnologii State Corporation (Rostec) is a Russian corporation established in 2007 in order to facilitate the development, manufacturing and export of high-technology industrial products of military and civil purposes. Today it comprises over 663 companies, which form 8 military-industrial and 5 civil industry holdings. Rostec's subsidiaries are located in 60 regions of Russia and supply their products to over 70 countries worldwide. In 2012 revenues of the Corporation amounted to RUB 931 billion, net profits were RUB 38.5 billion and total taxation exceeded RUB 109 billion.