Persons Authorized to Perform Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance, Rebuilding, and Alterations

14 CFR § 43.3 authorizes seven categories of person to perform maintenance, preventive maintenance, and alterations — and bars everyone else. The default rule in § 43.3(a) is a flat prohibition: no person may touch a covered aircraft unless the section (or § 43.17) names them. Everything after paragraph (a) is the list of who's named. Here is the full authorization map.

"(a) Except as provided in this section and § 43.17, no person may maintain, rebuild, alter, or perform preventive maintenance on an aircraft, airframe, aircraft engine, propeller, appliance, or component part to which this part applies…"

"(g) Except for holders of a sport pilot certificate, the holder of a pilot certificate issued under part 61 may perform preventive maintenance on any aircraft owned or operated by that pilot which is not used under part 121, 129, or 135 of this chapter…"

Two narrow extras live in § 43.3(h) and (i): the Administrator may authorize a Part 135 operator to let a pilot do specific preventive maintenance on rotorcraft in a remote area after a known mechanical difficulty, and may approve a pilot of an aircraft type-certificated for 9 or fewer passenger seats (excluding any pilot seat) to remove and reinstall approved cabin seats, stretchers, and medical oxygen bottles. And § 43.3(k) clarifies that updating an avionics database from the flight deck — no disassembly, no tools — isn't even maintenance, and a pilot may do it.

Yes — 14 CFR § 43.3(g) lets a holder of at least a private pilot certificate perform preventive maintenance on any aircraft they own or operate, as long as that aircraft is not used under Part 121, 129, or 135. "Preventive maintenance" is not whatever you decide is simple — it is the specific, closed list of 31 items in paragraph (c) of Appendix A to Part 43. If a task isn't on that list, § 43.3(g) does not authorize you to do it.

Three numbers anchor this authorization, and they are exact:

• At least a private pilot certificate — sport pilots are carved out of the main rule and limited to light-sport-category aircraft (still under § 43.3(g)).
• 31 preventive maintenance items — the full menu in Appendix A(c). Examples: servicing landing gear wheel bearings; replacing defective safety wiring or cotter keys; servicing landing gear shock struts by adding air, oil, or both; replacing spark plugs and setting gap; replacing or cleaning fuel and oil strainers or filter elements; replacing prefabricated fuel lines; replacing batteries; replacing side windows; replacing safety belts; replacing seats; lubrication not requiring disassembly other than removal of nonstructural items.
• Three excluded operating parts — 121, 129, 135. Fly your airplane under any of those and § 43.3(g) shuts off.

One more step people forget: doing the work and signing it off are two different regulations. 14 CFR § 43.3(g) lets you perform the preventive maintenance; 14 CFR § 43.7(f) is what lets a person holding at least a private pilot certificate approve the aircraft for return to service after that work. And 14 CFR § 43.9 requires the logbook entry. No entry, no return to service.

"(f) A person holding at least a private pilot certificate may approve an aircraft for return to service after performing preventive maintenance under the provisions of § 43.3(g)."

"Preventive maintenance" under 14 CFR § 43.3 means only the 31 items listed in paragraph (c) of Appendix A to Part 43 — nothing more. Anything that rises to a major repair or major alteration (Appendix A paragraphs (a) and (b)) is off-limits to a pilot/owner under § 43.3(g) and must be done by a mechanic, repairman, or repair station. The list is the line; if a task isn't named in Appendix A(c), a pilot is not authorized to perform it under this section.

The FAA's own plain-language guidance on this is AC 43-12A CHG 1, Preventive Maintenance. It reinforces that the privilege in § 43.3(g) is bounded by the Appendix A(c) list and by the performance rules of § 43.13 (you still must use approved data, proper methods, and return the item to at least its original condition). "Allowed to do it" is not the same as "qualified to do it" — and the regulation doesn't waive the airworthiness standard just because the task is on the preventive-maintenance list.

The most common 14 CFR § 43.3 mistake is assuming "preventive maintenance" means "anything simple" — it does not. § 43.3(g) authorizes only the 31 enumerated items in Appendix A(c). The second-most-common mistake is the recordkeeping gap: performing legal preventive maintenance, then failing to make the § 43.9 maintenance record entry and the § 43.7(f) return-to-service approval, which leaves the aircraft technically un-airworthy on paper.

A third trap lives in 14 CFR § 43.3(d) — the "working under supervision" paragraph that owner-assisted maintenance and many flight-school shops rely on. The text requires the supervising mechanic to "personally observe the work being done to the extent necessary" and be "readily available, in person, for consultation." In the FAA Office of the Chief Counsel "Moss Interpretation" (Sept. 3, 2024), the FAA concluded that this in-person requirement cannot be satisfied by live video or other remote means: the mechanic "must be available, not just to answer questions, but to notice mistakes and take over if necessary." The agency later placed that interpretation on hold pending industry input — so treat remote supervision as legally unsettled, and lean conservative.

14 CFR § 43.3 answers "who may do the work"; it works as a system with § 43.7 ("who may approve return to service"), § 43.9 ("the record you must make"), and Part 65 ("the certificates that back § 43.3(b)–(d)"). You can't read § 43.3 alone — performing, approving, and documenting maintenance are three separate authorizations that must all line up before an aircraft is legally airworthy again.

And the front gate to all of it is 14 CFR § 43.1 (applicability) — if Part 43 doesn't apply to your aircraft (for example, certain experimental and light-sport situations, or aircraft operated under Part 107), § 43.3 doesn't bind you the same way. Always confirm applicability under § 43.1 first, then read § 43.3 for who may do the work.