(1) A person shall not fly an aircraft registered in Saint Lucia in respect of which a certificate of airworthiness is in force unless—
(a) the aircraft, including in particular its engines and propellers, together with its equipment and radio station, is maintained in accordance with a maintenance program developed in accordance with these Regulations applicable to the type of operation;
(b) the required inspections of the aircraft have been completed in accordance with these Regulations applicable to the type of operation; and
(c) there is a flight manual or other approved document carried on, and available in, the aircraft, in such form as shall be approved by the Authority, for the use of the flight crew containing the limitations within which the aircraft is considered airworthy, together with such additional instructions and information as may be necessary to show compliance with these Regulations relating to performance and for the safe operation of the aircraft.
(2) The holder of an air operator certificate issued pursuant to these regulations, or other operator of an aircraft, shall ensure that an aircraft registered in Saint Lucia shall be maintained and periodically inspected in accordance with the requirements of the approved data and manuals issued by the manufacturer and in accordance with the maintenance program issued by the manufacturer and approved by the Authority and that all airworthiness directives and mandatory service bulletins are complied with, and shall ensure that an approved maintenance organisation maintains its aircraft in an airworthy condition and in accordance with the approved maintenance program.
(3) The approved maintenance program referred to in subregulation (1) shall specify the occasions on which an inspection must be carried out for the purpose of issuing a release to service in accordance with this regulation and the applicable Parts of the Schedule.
(4) A release to service may be issued for the purposes of these regulations only by—
(a) the holder of an aviation maintenance technician licence -
(i) granted under these Regulations and the applicable Parts and entitling the holder to issue that release to service, or
(ii) granted under the law of a State other than Saint Lucia and rendered valid under these regulations in accordance with the ratings, privileges and limitations of the licence;
(b) a person whom the Authority has authorized to issue a release to service in a particular case, and in accordance with that authority;
(c) an approved maintenance organisation; or
(d) subject to subregulation (5), a person approved by the Authority as being competent to issue such a release to service, and in accordance with that approval.
(5) In approving a maintenance programme, the Authority may direct that a release to service relating to that programme, or to any part thereof specified in its direction, may be issued only by the holder of such a licence as is so specified.
(6) A person referred to in sub-regulation (4) shall not issue a release to service unless the person has first verified that—
(a) maintenance has been carried out on the aircraft in accordance with the maintenance programme approved for that aircraft;
(b) inspections and modifications required by the Authority and the applicable requirements have been completed as certified in the relevant release to service;
(c) defects entered in the aircraft logbook or technical log of the aircraft in accordance with these Regulations have been rectified or the rectification thereof has been deferred in accordance with procedures approved by the Authority; and
(d) other releases to service have been issued in accordance with these Regulations,
and for this purpose the operator of the aircraft shall make available to that person such information as is necessary.
(7) A release to service shall be issued in duplicate and one copy of the most recently issued release to service shall be carried in the aircraft when these Regulations so require, and the other shall be kept by the operator elsewhere than in the aircraft.
(8) Subject to the provisions regarding retention of documents in this regulation and its applicable Parts, each release to service shall be preserved by the operator of the aircraft for a period of 2 years after it has been issued.