DRAFT
NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATION
Minutes
TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MEETING (06/1)
Thursday 20th April, 2006.
UK CAA Offices, Gatwick
The following meeting notes are written for the use of IFA members only and represent the Chairman’s and the Secretary’s understanding of the current position and opinions expressed on the various topics discussed. They do not necessarily represent the opinion of either the IFA or the authors and should not be copied or reproduced without permission.
Present: Brian Perry (Chairman), B Green, R Yates, J Saull, J Rainbow, P Hosey, F Jauregui, F Fickeisen,
A McClymont, T Johansen, G Harris, J McKenna (part-time), A Heather (part-time) .
1.APOLOGIES
Apologies were received from:
P Harper, C Edwards, Simon Place, Simon Witts, Stephan Hills, Roger Holliday, Bob Davis,
Alan Troughton, Norman Creveul, Steve Bond, Alasdair Anderson.
2.NEWS of MEMBERS
The Chairman reported that:
-Alan Troughton continues to work from home on behalf of the TC.
-Peter Harper has unfortunately suffered from a relapse following recent surgery and was now back in hospital.
3. MINUTES of MEETING 05/2 - Held at the SAS Slavyanskaya Radisson Hotel in Moscow, 6th November, 2005. These Minutes were accepted as tabled.
4. MATTERS ARISING – not covered in the Agenda
(Item 5.1) Andrew McClymont updated this item by reporting that the subject JSSI Website should be up and running within the next few months.
(Item 5.10) It was confirmed that the Safety Management Combined Action Group has now been merged with the RAeS EMSG Group. An update is requested from Cliff Edwards.
Action: Cliff Edwards
5.INFORMATION on JAA/EASA, FAA and UK CAA ACTIVITIES
5.1 JSSI Steering Group and Action Plans Team (including CAST and EASA liaison)
Andrew McClymont reported that EASA has now formally accepted responsibility for this activity. They will be convening a meeting in Cologne shortly and IFA will be attending.
Action: Thor Johansen
5.2 JAA Steering Group on Human Factors
John Saull reported that the JAA Steering Group on Human Factors is now known as the CJAA (Central JAA). Its next meeting will take place in Zurich on 10th May, 2006.
Action: John Saull
It was noted that Trinity College Dublin now seems to be a significant player in Human Factors research, aided by EU funding. However, EASA have as yet to state their intentions with respect to Human Factors.
It was noted that IFA had circulated many copies of the UK – CAA’s CD Rom on HF Issues and that hopefully, this could continue at future conferences. The same thing is true for the UK – CAA’s CAP 715/CAP 716 booklets and their future updates.
5.3 Current EASA Regulatory Programme
The Chairman requested that Frank Fickeisen and Thor Johansen try to establish the current position at the forthcoming Portland, Oregon US/EU meeting.
Action: Frank Fickeisen/Thor Johansen
John Saull mentioned that Maintenance Error Management Systems (MEMS) remains an ongoing, important area.
5.4 EASA - update on IFA liaison, organisation, regulatory activity and documentation
Jim McKenna provided the following update on EASA’s ongoing evolution:
JAA still exists but has now moved locally in Amsterdam. It is expected to move to Cologne on 1st January, 2007, where its role will be the co-ordinating body for European, non EU, countries.
EASA is now well established in Cologne and continues to grow, but has yet to sort out the various interfaces involved. The costs associated with their expansion to-date have exceeded their budget and income. A revision of their scale of charges is a possible outcome.
Certification of both A380 and B787 is ongoing led by an EASA team leader and supplemented by staff from the national regulatory authorities.
Amended regulations in respect of Operations and Licensing have attracted much comment and criticism. New regulations can be anticipated by next year, leading to the emergence of a legal remit around 2008/2009.
EASA are looking at the possibility of using JAR Ops 2 & 4 in respect of General Aviation.
The proposed Standardisation Process has also attracted much comment and criticism.
The Rule-Making Process is developing very slowly, with around 400 tasks outstanding. This has wide ranging implications for national requirements. (See 5.3 above)
Jim McKenna also reported that UK-CAA had recently undergone an internal re-organisation, and that it has also established a working group to revise CAP 712, with the objective of making it more practical. It was however noted that ICAO were working on a new requirement in respect of Safety Management, which could become mandatory by 2009. John Saull and Andrew McClymont were requested to keep in touch with this ICAO activity.
Action: John Saull/Andrew McClymont
Also, in a joint review with industry, UK-CAA is looking to conduct a complete review of the regulatory processes associated with General Aviation in the UK.
The Chairman reported that, as a member of a RAeS working group, he had visited EASA and met Mr Peter Sorensen, who is now Manager of the Executive Director Office and was well aware of industry’s criticisms. Brian had also reminded EASA of the advantages of IFA membership and the need for them to be involved with IASS, 2007 in Paris.
(Post meeting note; The late submission of an EASA abstract on’ Standardisation’ has now been accepted as a paper for IASS, Paris)
A copy of the RAeS discussion paper on EASA is attached for information. (See Attachment A)
Thor Johansen reported that negotiations regarding future FAA/EASA bilateral arrangements were proceeding well.
5.5 Fuel System Safety
Toni Heather (UK-CAA) joined the meeting and provided an update on these topics:
Wiring:
An NPA has been drafted and awaits EASA approval to publish, but is being held awaiting costing data from industry (AEA and others). The next meeting is scheduled for 5th June, 2006 and it is probable that the NPA will proceed, with or without cost data from industry. This is to ensure that the European NPA is harmonised with the FAA’s EAPAS. Changes to both maintenance requirements and certification will then follow.
(Post Meeting note: It is now confirmed that airlines are now beginning to provide some costing
data)
Fuel System Safety.
It was noted that what had previously been known as “inerting” was now known as “flammability reduction”.
Regrettably, the regulatory impact assessments carried out independently by the FAA and EASA have produced quite different results. This is possibly driven by the fact that America has experienced 4 cases of fuel tank ignition, whilst Europe has had none?
This has resulted in very different outcomes, which are likely to preclude harmonisation. The FAA is specifying retro-fit of the subject fuel tanks to achieve “flammability reduction”, whilst the EASA are not!
The foregoing led to much discussion within the TC and members noted that this lack of harmonisation would inevitably lead to significant impacts upon airline operations. Particular concerns were expressed with regard to transfer of aircraft between the two regulatory regions and in the leasing market. In the latter case, airlines could be contractually obliged to pick up these significant modification costs, prior to returning leased aircraft.
5.6 2006 Europe/US International Aviation Safety Conference
This will take place in Portland, Oregon 6th – 8th June 2006, and will be attended for IFA by Frank Fickeisen. (See also 5.3 above)
Action: Frank Fickeisen
5.7 UAVs
Nothing further to report
5.8 ECCAIRS and Operational Data Analysis ( ODA)
The chairman reported that the EU has established a requirement for Mandatory Occurrence Reporting. ECCAIRS provides guidance on the aerospace application of this directive and software packages and associated training courses are already available. The associated ODA report has recently been finalised.
(Post meeting note: It is now confirmed that Michel Piers’, abstract for an IASS paper on these topics, has been accepted and that his paper will be presented in Paris next October.)
5.9 FAA NPRM/JAA NPA/EASA IR/CS Proposals and Consultations
The following JAA proposals were identified as being of potential interest to members:
JAA Sub-part E All Weather Ops, NPA-OPS41 (JAR OPS 1)
JAA Required Cabin Crew During Ground Ops, NPA-OPS45 (JAR OPS 1 & JAR OPS 1-311)
JAA Pax Health (Mandatory First Aid Kits), NPA-OPS51 (JAR OPS 1 & FMK/EMK)
JAA Cabin Crew Training for Icing Conditions, NPA-OPS52 (JAR OPS 1)
JAA Cabin Crew Medical Aspects & First Aid, NPA-OPS54 (JAR OPS 1)
JAA Changes to Sub-part M, reflect EASA input, NPA-OPS55 (JAR OPS 1) & NPA-OPS56 (JAR OPS 3
All information regarding EASA material is available from their web-site
The following FAA Rulemaking items were identified as being of interest to members,
(See Attachment B)
6. IFA MRO Meeting Activities
Phil Hosey reported on the SMI MRO Conference, which was held in London on 30/31 January, 2006 (for full report see IFA Website – Members section).Copies of the referenced papers are available from the IFA Secretariat via the CD ROM of the Conference Proceedings.
In summary, only 4 of the 16 papers presented were safety related, but these were well received. A paper on PMA Parts was presented by a Miami based company, the abstract of which had also been submitted for IASS Paris, October 2006.
(Post meeting note: This paper has also been accepted for presentation at IASS, Paris)
Brian Perry and Graham Harris reported on the Aviation Industry Group MRO Conference, which was held in Prague on 4/5 April, 2006 (For full report see IFA Website Members Section).Hard copies of the papers may be obtained from the IFA Secretariat.
In summary, this conference was similar in make-up to the London one reported above. Only a small number of safety related papers were presented, but these were of a high quality. IFA’s exhibition stand was on show and attracted reasonable attention.
In addition, Brian and Graham conducted a lively Discussion Group on the subject of “Fatigue in Maintenance”, using the IFA White Paper as the driver. This proved very successful, with the assembled members of the Maintenance Community generally accepting that industry must take a responsible attitude to this issue, but hoping that this did not take the form of a rigid regulation.
It was noted that a good deal was negotiated with Aviation Industry Group for our attendance at this conference, in exchange for use of IFA’s Logo and Publicity, plus our contribution of the discussion group..
Boeing MRO Market Survey
Thor Johansen reported that Boeing had recently completed a survey of the global MRO market and were predicting that the total market for 2007 would be worth US$ 40 Billion, divided approximately into one third engine and two thirds airframe. Longer term, the engine share was predicted to grow whilst the airframe share decreased.
7, IFA White paper – Extended working Hours
A discussion group was conducted at the Prague MRO Conference, using this white paper as its topic - see item 6 above. It was noted that United Airlines, in attendance at this discussion group, had requested specific references on all of the various university research projects listed in our paper, to help with internal work which they were conducting.
John Saull tabled a draft paper, issued by the UK Safety Management Systems Combined Action Group (UK SMSCAG). The theme of this paper was one of “SMS Supporting Guidance concerning Engineer Working Hours”. A copy of this discussion draft is available from the IFA Secretariat, but please note this is for personal use only, not for publication.
The Committee discussed whether this was a worthwhile topic for an IFA project, but concluded that it was not suitable at this time. However, it was agreed that we should review anything which UK SMSCAG produced for input to ICAO.
Action: John Saull
8. IFA INVOLVEMENT WITH OTHER ORGANISATIONS
ICAO Observer report:
Andrew McClymont reported that the next ICAO meeting would take place in Montreal, early in May, 2006 and that SMS was on the agenda. John Saull would be attending this session on behalf of IFA.
Action: John Saull
ICARUS Committee Report:
John Saull reported that again, SMS was currently the major issue. IFA has recommended that ICARUS should produce and circulate a very brief paper, which targets CEO’s and reminds them of the forthcoming ICAO requirements in respect of SMS. John promised to supply copies of recent ICARUS papers.
Action: John Saull
RAeS Human Factors Group EMSG:
John Saull referrd to a recently presented Risk Assessment model concerning maintenance tasks. A copy of this will be available in due course.
9. IASS 2006 CONFERENCE – Paris, 23rd – 26th October 2006
It was reported that the call for papers had proved particularly difficult this year, but that IFA had managed to identify some 28 potential papers, of which approximately a dozen had been submitted as abstracts to FSF.
A six man IFA team will be going to Washington DC on 26/27 April to participate in the Agenda Selection process. Advance packs containing 76 abstracts had already been received from FSF, so the total is likely to be higher. (Post meeting note: The final number of abstracts offered was 87 of which many were of very high quality)
The meeting debated what workshop, if any, IFA should offer in Paris. It was agreed that the two topics which had served us so well during the last few IASS sessions were now due for a rest and that we needed something new. After discussion, it was agreed that the IFA would organise a Discussion Group on the topic of outsourcing and associated potential safety problems. It was suggested that this should take a format similar to that which we ran at Prague (See 6. above) and consist of several brief presentations followed by an interactive discussion between the panel and the attendees. Phil Hosey, Jim Rainbow and Thor Johansen offered to arrange this.
The importance of getting this resolved quickly was stressed, in order that it can be offered to FSF as an integral part of IFA’s Paris programme, and therefore be included in the printed Preliminary Agenda documents, which FSF circulate worldwide. Such coverage should then ensure that we get a good turnout on the day. The ideal timing for the workshop would be during the afternoon of Monday, 23rd October, which would follow on after the EC and various fringe meetings, and catch delegates arriving for the Monday evening seminar opening session.
These timings would be proposed by the Chairman to the EC, for their endorsement..
(Post meeting note: The arrangements for this event are already in hand)
Action: Phil Hosey/Jim Rainbow/Thor Johansen
It was agreed that we should again plan to hold the Paris TC during the afternoon of Sunday, 22nd October, so as to free-up members for all the other various activities during the Monday.
Action: Brian Perry
10. IFA ADMINISTRATION
It was reported that Graham Harris would be resigning from the role of Director, Membership & Publicity, at the next day’s EC meeting (as indicated at the last AGM in Moscow). The Chairman was pleased to announce that Graham had agreed to stay on and serve the Technical Committee, as replacement for Andrew McClymont, in the role of Vice Chairman of the TC.
The Chairman reported that SR Technics were putting together a paper on composites, to present to the TC at the next meeting in Paris.
A Number of old IFA White Papers dating back to the early 1990’s have been located and are available for inspection via the IFA Secretariat.
11. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
a)Phil Hosey reminded the committee that we need more younger people who are active in industry, to join in the TC activities. This was fully understood by all, but very difficult to achieve in the current climate. All members were requested to make every effort to invite suitable people to join the TC.
Action: all members
b)Ron Yates reported that the current Scholarship Award had finally been endorsed by Kuwait Airlines, for whom the winner works.
He also proposed that the Whittle Award Committee becomes the Awards & Scholarship Committee, so that it can manage both programmes, up to the point of TC/EC endorsement. This was unanimously agreed.
This needs to be reflected in various publicity material, including website, Membership Directory and any future issues of brochures which refer to these topics.
Action|: Linda Hare
c)Frank Fickeisen tabled two magazine extracts, which related to the European airlines approach to emissions and an Asian report on ‘Accidents’ , which may be of interest to members, (Copies included as Attachments C and D respectively)
12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will take place at 13.00 on Sunday, 22nd October, 2006 at the Meridien Hotel, Montparnasse, Paris
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