Apave Aeroservices to work on EMACC for EDA
The EMACC is the European Military Airworthiness Certification Criteria Handbook. The document produced by the EDA is aimed at supporting the military certification authorities to identify relevant airworthiness requirements for military certification purpose and to issue a Military Type Certification Basis for any new project of military aircraft design. Wrongly established or ‘’unadjusted’’ certification criteria could have a direct negative impact on Safety, on economics (budget and financial means), on operational capability and availability as well as on the synergy and recognition among EU state members and NMAAs.
The EMACC was produced in the early 2010s but the observation was done that it was not used as it should be, without any benefit for the certification specialists and the Authorities. Apave Aeroservices has been tasked to analyse the reasons why it was not properly used, and to propose scenarios to make it used and useful:
- Monitoring impact of the present regulation and synthetizing root causes
- Proposing better intervention strategies: assess possible ways of intervention and providing a set of actions from a safety, operational, financial and synergy/recognition perspectives
- Testing corresponding scenarios and assessing their impact
- Support the decision-making process of EDA: Prepare and assist at DPAG meetings to communicate and present the proposed changes and their respective impacts
Description of
methodologies/techniques/tools used
The Monitoring of the EMACC use was performed based on evidence gathered from recent military projects and the performance of using such a handbook to draft a Military Certification Basis.
The evaluation was based on a stakeholder’s consultation synthesized in a SWOT …
- Drafting a questionnaire, discussed and approved by the Agency: introducing the potential rules and criteria modifications, objectives of the consultation, describing consultation time and constraints
- Submission of the questionnaire to MAWA DPAG members and collection of the feedback (including Q&A on request)
- Analysis of the collected questionnaires completed by MAWA DPAG members
- Analysis report highlighting the possible structural improvements of the EMACC handbook
- Performing a SWOT
- Simulation of EMACC use on agreed topics (Troop transport helicopter, Future Combat Air System)
… and an in-depth benchmarking of international databases has been performed on military certification like UK and US equivalent handbooks and in the analysis of source documents databases.
A Design Thinking Process has enabled an end-user-oriented approach to identify practical reasons for using/not using the EMACC as a standard certification tool. The broad list of data and concerns/questions gathered during the audits, topics analysis and practical cases were sorted out using a mind mapping tool. This methodology enabled to highlight concerns and opportunities which were not even raised at the beginning of the project. Indeed, the process has highlighted many aspects linked to human factors and specific military environments in addition to regulatory, performance and financial aspects.
The recommendations were first prototyped and tested on concrete users’ cases to get measurable results together with the estimated efforts (human and costs) required for their implementation regarding their expected impacts. The recommendations were also weighted considering a risk assessment method and a complexity assessment analysis.
The regulatory impact of all potential ways forward was assessed together with military authorities’ members of EDA, highlighting potential cost benefits and performance aspects for all stakeholders, thus, taking into account the industrial stakeholder’s standpoint.
The proposed strategies to enhance the EMACC usability and maintainability have been endorsed by the EDA and the industrial stakeholders attending the meetings. Following this validation, a functional analysis of the EMACC has been conducted aiming at strictly defining the role and limits of the EMACC, including the specifications, constraints, environments of such a regulatory tool.
A functional mock-up of the future EMACC is presently under definition based on these selected strategies. Dedicated tests will be conducted on the mock-up of (future) EMACC format and content in order to validate the efficiency and adequacy of the new regulatory means for all parties. The key tests to be performed will mainly focus on: Usability, Regulatory compliance, Performance, Maintainability and Cost-efficiency aspects.
Dowload the interview of Stefan Schunke (Project Officer Airworthiness and Certification at the EDA) : Interview
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