Annual US/Europe (FAA/EASA/JAA/Industry) Safety Regulation Conference
Portland, Oregon, June 6 -8, 2006
Compiled from contributions by Frank Fickeisen and Thor Johansen.
Headlines
FAA’s aviation safety rulemaking and oversight organization (approx 6200 people) expects ISO 9000 quality management system certification later this year. One major reason for this move is the steadily increasing complexity of rulemaking and oversight requiring more integrated multi-disciplinary approaches.
EASA’s staff and competence growth is slower than scheduled. Revised target is 350 people by end of this year and 500 people by end of 2007. Currently EASA employs 230 people. Scope extension to add operations, flight crew licensing and oversight of non-EU operators has been postponed approx two years, to late 2008.
JAA’s 10 person liaison office at EASA’s head quarters in Cologne will commence operations on January 1, 2007, as planned, however, its authority will expand beyond that of liaison with EASA to include continuation of JAA operations and flight crew licensing rulemaking until late 2008. At that time the scope will narrow to liaison with EASA until the JAA liaison office closes by end 2010.
There is regulator and industry agreement to move further in the direction of risk based safety regulation and decision making. FAA and EASA indicated willingness to adjust their safety regulations (long term) to become less prescriptive and more risk based, objective driven. In a global standardization perspective a key to success is that ICAO follows the same avenue with its material.
There is FAA, EASA and industry agreement to ease the strong focus on harmonization of regulations and put more emphasis on developing joint processes and principles leading to strengthened delegation (i.e. more indirect approvals) and mutual recognition of output, and thereby progressively minimizing the validation effort required.
There are good cross-Atlantic plans and initiatives to enhance operator and aircraft inter-operability (JPDO, SESAR, etc). A major challenge, in particular in Europe, is to execute the plans. Fortunately, the commitment and constitutional capability to do so appears to be stronger than ever.
The new US-EU bilateral aviation safety agreement for airworthiness and maintenance operations is slowly progressing towards (best case) signatures by end of this year and ratification one year later. Compared to the current bilateral system between the US and individual EU member states there is some improvement and new provisions reflecting industry input. Simplified processes for cross-Atlantic aircraft transfer of registry is probably the most significant step forward. A couple of outstanding issues could be show-stallers however, in particular FAA’s concern about EASA’s inadequate enforcement authority.
There seems to be good momentum to further develop and implement ICAO’s Global Strategy for Aviation Safety. A principal challenge is to ensure commitment, ownership and execution in regions where safety enhancement is most imperative.
General Comments
The total attendance was about 350 including: European and American sponsors, panel moderators, panel participants and attendees from many parts of the world.
The format of the meeting was new in that most sessions included a moderator and from two to five panel members, who contributed pre-prepared material and who responded to questions or comments from the session attendees. The new format seemed to work well based on the level of knowledge and preparation of the moderators and panel members; and also based on the interests and knowledge of the attendees.
Panels included:
1. Opening, Update on FAA, Update on EASA, Update on JAA
2. Risk Based Regulatory Decisions
3. Fees and Services
4. Hot Issues Round Table
5. Future of Design Validation
6. Common International Air Carrier Ops. Specs.
7. Rule Making Work Programme Priorities
8. Achieving a Seamless Global Aviation System
9. Global Design and Manufacturing
10. Understanding US/EC Maintenance Agreements
11. ICAO Directors Conference on a Strategy for Aviation Safety
12. The Many Faces of Delegation
13. Understanding US/EC Airworthiness Agreements - Exec Agreements
14. Operation of Very Light Jets
15. Implementing Safety Management
16. Understanding US/EC Airworthiness Agreements – Implementation Procedures
17. Aircraft Certification, Maintenance, Smoke in Cockpit (A collector session with an interesting mix)
18. Certification/Maintenance
19. Sports/Recreational Aviation
20. Closing Sessions (Summaries and Conclusions, Review of Action Items and Closing Remarks)
The 2007 conference will be in Europe on June 5, 6, 7 in Prague, Czech Republic.