SofemaOnline (SOL) www.sofemaonline.com considers the regulations driving EWIS compliance within the European EASA jurisdiction.

Introduction

The origins of EASA's focus on EWIS can be traced back to various incidents in the aviation industry that highlighted the risks associated with electrical faults leading to in-flight smoke and fire events. These incidents underscored the need for rigorous maintenance and training practices to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

Sofema Online (SOL) www.sofemaonline.com reviews the CS 25 system separation requirements.

Introduction EWIS Certification Requirements

(a) Each EWIS must be designed and installed with adequate physical separation from other EWIS and aeroplane systems so that an EWIS component failure will not create a hazardous condition.

>> Adequate physical separation must be achieved by separation distance or by a barrier that provides protection equivalent to that separation distance.

Sofema Aviation Services looks at the process to ensure effective EASA Part 145 Fuel Tank Safety (FTS) and Electrical Wiring Interconnect System (EWIS) - Training

Introduction

Sofema has been providing for several years support to help organisation achieve a high level of “In Company” - related to the “self management” of EASA 145 Initial & Recurrent Training.

FTS owes its origins to the analysis following the inflight break up of Flight TWA 800 in July 1996. The origins of EWIS in fact go back a lot further but did not take on a formal identity until Aug 1996 when a White House Commission under the directorship of vice president Al gore was set up.

Since August 2008 EASA has required Aircraft Inspectors to be trained in accordance with the provision to be found in AMC20-22

Aircraft inspection is normally performed by competent staff and such Inspectors are typically licensed aircraft engineers. Once qualified, they will gain the organization's approval and will be allowed also to certify General Visual Inspections, Detailed Inspections and EWIS Inspections.

What is a General Visual Inspection (GVI)?

The term GVI, when associated with Electrical Wiring Interconnect Systems, is a visual examination of an interior or exterior area, installation, or assembly to detect obvious damage, failure or irregularity based on a non-compliance or non-conformity with the standard configuration.

It is acknowledged that one of the weak areas in the maintenance chain is the effectiveness of the Inspection Process and the mitigation for this weakness will be found in the development of training programs.

What does EASA require for your Competence Assessment Process?

The organisation shall establish and control the competence of personnel involved in any maintenance, management and/or quality audits in accordance with a procedure and to a standard agreed by the competent authority.

In addition to the necessary expertise related to the job function, competence must include an understanding of the application of human factors and human performance issues appropriate to that person's function in the organisation.

SofemaOnline.com is pleased to offer both EASA compliant Initial EWIS and Recurrent EWIS training for all Target Groups.

SofemaOnline.com (SOL) is a service provided by Sofema Aviation Services (SAS) offering online video training by qualified technical aviation instructors including UK Nationals as well as Russian speaking trainers in the field of aviation.

AMC 20-22 makes it very clear as to the requirements which are to be complied with to ensure the organization remains in conformity with EASA regulatory requirements.

Ultimately in accordance with the terms of the approval issued to Operators and MRO’s It is the Operators and Maintenance Organization Responsibility to comply with the requirements of Electrical Wiring Interconnect Systems working practices and procedures including specifically EWIS training.

Over the years there have been a number of in-flight smoke and fire events where contaminants ignited by electrical faults allowed the fire to be sustained and spread. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have conducted aircraft inspections and found wiring contaminated with items such as dust, dirt, metal shavings, lavatory waste water, coffee, soft drinks, and napkins. Sometimes wire bundles and surrounding areas have been found to be completely covered with dust.
 
In recent years both the FAA & Industry have realized that current maintenance practices may not be enough to address aging non-structural systems. Over time, insulation can crack or breach, thus exposing the conductor.

EWIS Stands for Electrical Wiring Interconnect System and it is an abbreviation for something which has been around a long time. In fact any wiring, even a single wire may be considered as EWIS.
 
Training related to Electrical Wiring Interconnect System (EWIS) was introduced by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in August / September 2008. The details were to be found in 3 Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) documents, specifically AMC 20-21, AMC 20-22, AMC 20-23.
 
EWIS is Mandatory training requiring both Initial and Recurrent elements with details of the identified groups being detailed in AMC 20-22.

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Human Factors in Aviation Maintenance (Recurrent) with Voice Over
Course type: Presentation witht voice over. Duration: 1 Day

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Course type: Presentation with voice over. Duration: 1 Day

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Course type: Presentation with voice over. Duration: 1/2 Day

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SofemaOnline offers Electrical Wiring Interconnect System EWIS – Fuel Tank Safety FTS – Online Training with Voice Over (VO)

FTS owes its origins to the analysis following the in-flight break up of Flight TWA 800 in July 1996. The origins of EWIS in fact go back a lot further but did not take on a formal identity until August 1996 when a White House Commission under the directorship of vice president Al Gore was set up.

EWIS & FTS is a Recurrent training which is applicable to many employees within both the Operator Part EASA M environment and MRO EASA Part 145 environment.

www.sofemaonline.com offers a 2 Day Industry Specific EWIS – FTS online Initial and Recurrent training to ensure your employees have a full understanding of issues concerns and best practices to ensure they remain fully compliant with EASA regulatory requirements.

Background

EWIS was initially introduced as AMC material by EASA through AMC 20-21, AMC 20-22 and AMC 20-23.
Unlike Fuel Tank Safety (FTS) this was not driven by primary legislation (It should have been essentially there is little difference in the need for both FTS and EWIS). Тhis was a shortfall introduced by EASA which was later corrected in November 2011 with the enhanced requirement to include EWIS as part of the competence (but note this only applies to 145 - still not “fixed” for CAMO staff in many organisations who have not received EWIS training).

Every year there are literally hundreds of electrical events, incidents & accidents caused by Electrical wiring on commercial aircraft.

Whilst many organisations have procedures related to Fuel Tank Safety processes, there are considerably less in respect of processes and practices related to Electrical Wiring Interconnect Systems.

What Procedures should we consider?

a) Procedures in respect of Tripped Circuit Breakers and how we will manage the associated trouble shooting activities. To ensure that Flight Crew never reset circuit breakers (or reset circuit breakers) unless the procedure is a direct “in flight” instruction driven by documentation available on board the aircraft for example as an OPS Manual procedure.

To also ensure that ground support personnel carry out trouble shooting before proceeding to reset a circuit breaker as simply resetting without additional maintenance activity may be a pre-cursor to a more serious problem and even subsequently a fire.