You could buy a gallon of gas for about a dollar, mail a letter for 20 cents, see Terminator in a movie theater or listen to Prince on the radio. Indira Ghandi was assassinated, Apple’s Macintosh computer came to market with an iconic commercial and repair stations were given a voice. Thirty years ago, the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) – a slightly older sibling to this magazine – was born in a small, Washington, D.C., office.
The ARSA board of directors first convened in October 1984. Industry representatives worked with the fledgling staff to define a set of objectives for the one trade group that would be devoted to the unique needs of the global civil aviation maintenance industry:
- To have ARSA act for the repair station community to reduce the occurrence of capricious actions on the part of major manufacturers.
- To serve as a lobbying organization for the repair station community before Congress.
- To represent the repair station community before the FAA and other government agencies on the issues of concern to the industry.
- To establish a liaison between the repair station community and the FAA for the purpose of insuring that the rights of the repair stations to protest FAA actions are secured without the fear of reprisal against individual stations.
In the three decades since I typed those words, the world has changed. Nations have fallen, wars have been fought, won and re-fought, the world has been digitized and downsized and millions of aircraft have taken off and landed safely. The list of repair stations has expanded and shifted. New businesses have emerged and old ones have washed away. The association has grown in fits and starts and survived its own near misses.
Despite all that is different, the core purpose of ARSA elaborated in those four objectives remains the same: to be the voice of civil aviation maintenance. We stand on behalf of the men and women who keep the world flying safely. Before regulators, on Capitol Hill, on flight lines or in component shops, we always show up on behalf of our members, their customers, and the flying public.
Of course, the work depends on the strength of allies and partners on whom the industry depends. AMT magazine has long been the quintessential forum for aircraft maintenance professionals and the resource on which our members depend for the latest updates on technology and best practices. On behalf of ARSA, I congratulate them on 25 years and excitedly look forward to the future.
Sarah MacLeod is executive director of the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA), an organization she helped found more 30 years ago. She is a managing member at the law firm of Obadal, Filler, MacLeod & Klein, P.L.C. For more information visit www.arsa.org.
