EASA Continuing Airworthiness Management
Introduction
The Key to a successful delivery of “CAMO” Continuing Airworthiness is without doubt “Core Competency” across the key business elements of Continuing Airworthiness Manager (CAM), Maintenance Planning (MP), Engineering (Eng), Reliability (REL) and Tech Records (T/L).
Remember that the goal of EASA compliance is a step on the journey and not the destination – the focus of any effective Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisation (CAMO) should be to maximize the availability, reliability and safety of the fleet as well as focusing on a reduction in maintenance costs.
EASA Focus is shifting to a Performance Based Approach to Regulation
A “Performance Based Approach” brings to the fore two challenges:
The first is the organisations' ability to deliver the required management approach and understanding which is necessary to drives the process.
The second is the ability of the regulatory authority to “audit” the organisation and to determine if it is meeting expectations and requirements.
A clear understanding of the role and responsibility related to accountability is fundamental and if such widespread misunderstanding exists a degree of responsibility must sit with the regulatory authorities who it seems are not validating this essential requirement.
Partly as a result of “inadequate” communication regarding roles and responsibilities from EASA there is confusion amongst many senior managers within industry that in in the same way the Quality Manager was “Responsible” for Quality (SIC) the Compliance Manager is “Responsible” for Compliance.
As we know the reality is somewhat different – The Compliance Manager is responsible to determine gaps which are then the responsibility of the business area owner to rectify but dealing with the immediate issue understanding the root cause and developing appropriate mitigations which will remove the problem going forward.
Typical Challenges which may face an operation CAMO include:
Performing Effective Airworthiness Reviews
Cost per flying hour is higher than it needs to be – how to measure? (What are the norms)
Ineffective use of the reliability system – the reliability system is “following” not leading!
The effectiveness of the Maintenance Program is not being driven!
Further Considerations
Operators have the opportunity to engage with the reliability program to whatever depth they decide is appropriate.
At the entry level this consists of demonstrating the effectiveness of the maintenance program, whereas at a deeper level it can become the source of a justification for an operator initiated escalation of a task or number of tasks.
The specifics regarding the type of information to be collected should be directly related to the goal of the Reliability Program with the outcomes being a consolidated assessment related to the ongoing well being of the program.
In addition to provide focus on any trends or exceptional events requiring engineering attention and supporting the appropriate interpretation of the manufacturers’ maintenance recommendations ISC – MRB versus OEM – CMM!
Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com and our sister company SofemaOnline www.sofemaonline.com provide classroom and online training for regulatory and vocational training fully compliant with EASA requirements. For more information please email office@sassofia.com or online@sassofia.com
