Avionics News March 2012 - 17

After years of listening to the national aviation authorities try to shoehorn an operations-based SMS program into the highly regulated and controlled maintenance environment, the AEA leveraged more than 500 years of aviation safety experience from the AEA Government and Industry Affairs Committee. The result was the development of a safety management system designed for the avionics industry.

tions before issues arise. Look for the SMS session at the AEA convention on Friday morning, April 6. After years of requests, last fall the AEA introduced its repair station training program. This is a five-day program divided into three sessions, which walks the student through the regulations that apply to repair stations, maintenance and their customers’ maintenance requirements. The second session reviews the audit requirements and what to expect when the repair station receives an FAA audit. The third and final session combines the information from the first two sessions to begin the development of the repair station’s manuals. Ideally designed to support the start-up repair station, the program offers value to the operating repair station looking to perform internal audits or is engaged in editing its repair station manuals. More information on the AEA training programs can be found at www.aea.net/training. December brought the conclusion of the European Aviation Safety Agency rulemaking project to introduce an avionics engineer’s license with pro-

gressive systems authority that better parallels the needs of general aviation. While the classic B-2 license is sufficient for commercial aviation, it doesn’t fit well for general aviation. In addition, the licensing system deterred apprentices from progressively learning their trade from relatively simple general aviation aircraft to the more advanced business or commercial aviation. This program is a huge success for the AEA membership; it promotes a cost-effective education system, while giving the engineers progressive return to service authority as they become qualified on the individual avionics systems. We expect a notice of approved amendment in the fourth quarter this year. While March came in like a lion, it seems 2012 arrived in a fury. The AEA played host to the second FAA Part 23 Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking Committee meeting, Jan. 24-26. The ARC’s working group is charged with creating a progressive, tiered certification system – from low-complexity, low-performance airplanes all the way to high-complexity, high-performance airplanes – so small recreational air-

planes won’t have to be designed and certificated under the same regulatory requirements as heavier, more complex, and higher-performance aircraft. This working group of industry leaders is modernizing Part 23 and simplifying certification requirements. Recognizing that the current Part 23 regulation is both a design standard and a safety standard, the thought process is to separate the prescriptive design standard from the performance safety standards, with the FAA retaining the control and management of the safety standard. The focus is on improved safety, reduced cost and promoting innovation. The final outcome also should reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses. This event marks the second in a series of meetings for the working group. The participants met for the first time in November 2011, in Washington, D.C. When the working group completes its work, the ARC will submit a report to the FAA. The second event hosted by the
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Avionics News March 2012

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