Category: Blog

To align with ICAO Annex 19 many aviation industry organisations will have implemented a Safety Management System (SMS) of some description by now. This requirement was first muted in the initial edition of ICAO, Annex 19 which became applicable in November 2013. This first issue set the groundwork for each participating country to establish a State Safety Program (SSP) which, in turn, would require all service providers to implement a SMS. The implications of the revised Annex 19 are, however, more widespread. Read the rest of the article to learn more about three particular implications.

The second edition of Annex 19 was issued in July 2016 and is set to become applicable in November 2019. As part of this edition, the requirement for SMS implementation is extended to include organisations involved with the type design and/or manufacture of aircraft engines and propellers.

As with the first issue of Annex 19, ICAO have updated their Safety Manual (ICAO Document 9859) to Edition 4. This important document provides an expansive explanation of the requirements contained in Annex 19. Of note are the emerging requirements for organisations to implement safety data collection and processing systems alongside data analysis tools and suitable presentation applications such as safety dashboards.

1. Data Driven Decision Making (D3M)

Organisations will also be expected to determine, and monitor, a series of Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs) with their accompanying targets. These SPIs will be specific to each organisation but should be aligned to their safety policy and objectives. Examination of SPIs and their targets coupled with enhanced data analysis and presentation techniques will enable Data Driven Decision Making (D3M).

Many aviation occurrences have resulted, at least in part, from poor management decisions, which can result in wasted money, labour and resources. In the short term, the goal of safety decision-makers is to minimise poor outcomes and achieve effective results, and in the long term, contribute to the achievement of the organisation’s safety objectives.

A structured approach such as D3M will drive management to making decisions based on what the safety data is indicating. This requires trust in the safety performance management framework, if there is confidence in the Safety Data Collection and Processing System there will be trust in any decisions derived from them.

ICAO is keen that organisations are able to make management decisions based on reliable and comprehensive safety data using D3M processes.

2. Regulatory Changes

Regulators themselves will also be required to implement changes with respect to the new version of Annex 19. Specifically, they will be required to determine which sections of their jurisdiction require more detailed supervision as part of the Performance Based Oversight (PBO) requirements.

In effect, ICAO will require regulators to apportion their limited resource to those areas that require the most attention. The primary means by which an organisation can demonstrate to their regulators that they are meeting their safety targets and maintaining an Acceptable Level of Safety Performance is by suitable presentation of their SPIs and evidenced D3M. Can your current systems achieve this?

3. Audit Programme

Finally, it is worth noting that ICAO have stated that they intend to commence an audit program of all NAAs to determine their compliance with Revision 1 of Annex 19. This audit program was due to start in 2018 but is likely to be delayed until next November 2019 to coincide with the activation of Annex 19, revision 1.

If your regulator has not been overly strict with the enforcement of ICAO SARPs with respect to SMS implementation; you can expect a sudden change of gear next year!

Having spent a great deal of time and effort in establishing your organisation’s Safety Management System (SMS) it is now perhaps worth examining if it is functioning as first envisaged.

There are a number of reasons why a SMS might not deliver exactly what was first hoped for and as part of the ICAO requirement to ensure continuous improvement you should conduct a detailed analysis of your system to determine any potential shortfalls. Furthermore, revision 1 to ICAO Annex 19 is scheduled to become applicable on 7th November 2019 and this latest issue contains further requirements on both State Safety Programs (SSP) and service provider SMSs.

This article will focus on five of the main reasons why a SMS might not perform as expected or meet emerging requirements in the near future:

1. Limited Management Buy In: The airline industry is fiercely competitive, and many managers are faced with increasing demands from shareholders and senior executives to deliver more with less resource. Their efforts become focused in the wrong areas and the need to generate profit can lead to a complacent attitude towards safety. Quotes such as, “we have had no accidents, so we are safe” and “safety does not contribute directly to the bottom line” must be discouraged although this can be difficult to achieve.
   
   Managers must embrace the SMS as part of their everyday business systems and they must be seen to encourage their employees to accept that safety is everyone’s responsibility. This does not just apply to the flight operation; the entire organisation must be fully engaged in the promotion and conduct of safe practice.
   
   Ask yourself just how well engaged are your employees and are your safety policy and objectives clearly defined and freely available to all?
   
   
   
2. Poor Reporting Culture: Unless employees are encouraged (or even rewarded) to submit reports, the SMS will never improve. Employees are the front line of the business and they will be the first to note and, hopefully, report hazards or safety issues. A healthy reporting culture will result in an increase in voluntary reports that, in turn, will alert management to potential hazards that can be risk assessed as required. This can only be achieved by the establishment of clear guidelines as to what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour; sometimes referred to as a “just culture”.
   
   It is very important that the workforce have trust in their management and believe that they can report issues without fear of reprisal. It is not easy to establish a good reporting culture and traditional mistrust between unions and management can influence negatively this important feature of the SMS. Initiatives such as the FAA’s Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) are helping to remove these traditional barriers with good effect. Of course, the ability to access and use suitable reporting mechanisms is vital. A well-designed reporting software package that is easy to use and available in both tablet and desktop formats (on and off-line) is considered a primary requirement of any SMS.
   
   Is your culture supporting or hindering your safety management system?
   
   
   
3. Data Rich Information Poor. Many organisations will experience a sudden surge of voluntary reports from all aspects of the business if the SMS is implemented appropriately. Many of these reports will contain what may appear to be inconsequential information. However, it is only by examining these reports in detail that the safety teams may be able to determine underlying trends that could be indicative of something more sinister. These underlying trends are referred to as ‘Latent Issues’ and by identifying them in advance, it may be that action can be taken before they manifest as a serious incident or accident. It requires a considerable amount of time and resource to complete this type of analysis unless your SMS is supported by a software package designed to meet this need. A well-designed software package will help the safety team to extract the necessary information from the safety database to complete suitable trending and analytical processes. Having extracted the required data, there is then a need to present this information in a suitable format to help the decision makers reach the correct conclusions. This could be in the form of a dashboard or a management presentation/report.
   
   Although your SMS will focus on safety reports, there are many other sources of safety information that need to be considered; these include, Line Operations Safety Audit, Safety Surveys, Internal and external audits. This can result in a huge amount of safety data, hence, the expression, “data rich but information poor”. This large amount of data, gathered from disparate parts of the business, must be classified, stored, retrieved, analysed and then presented to senior management in a format that can be understood.
   
   Does your software package have the ability to store, extract and format the data for suitable analysis?
   
   
   
4. Poor Decision Making: It is often the case that poor decisions made in higher management can have detrimental effects on the safety performance of an organisation. Indeed, a focus on cost savings and regulatory compliance can result in an oversight or even complacency when it comes to safety. This is not intended to be a swipe at management it is merely an expression of the facts.
   
   Unless management are presented with appropriate safety data that is digestible, accurate and complete it is highly unlikely that their decisions will be sound. This fact is pointed out very clearly in ICAO Document 9859 (4^th Edition) which expounds the virtues of data driven decision making (D3M). In effect, when armed with the correct, useable information, managers can make informed safety-based decisions that are aligned to the organisation’s safety policy and desired objectives. D3M can assist with decision making in the following areas:
   
   1. Changes that can be expected in statutory and regulatory requirements, emerging technologies or resources which may affect the organisation;
   2. Potential changes in the needs and expectations of the aviation community and interested parties;
   3. Various priorities that need to be established and managed (e.g. strategic, operational, resources);
   4. New skills, competencies, tools and even change management processes that may be needed to implement new decision(s);
   5. Risks that need to be assessed, managed or minimised;
   6. Existing services, products and processes that currently provide the most value for interested parties; and
   7. Evolving demands for new services, products and processes.
      
      Unless your software package can present meaningful safety information to higher management, it is unlikely that they will be able to use D3M techniques and the knock-on effect could be an erosion in safety margins that go unnoticed until a serious event takes place.
      
      Is your SMS providing the data in a format to senior management so that important safety decisions can be made?
      
      
      
5. Establishment of Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs): It is now a requirement for organisations to monitor their own safety performance and to demonstrate that they achieve an acceptable level of safety performance (and continuous improvement of the SMS) to their regulators.
   
   The accepted means of achieving this is to establish and monitor suitable safety performance indicators (SPI) and their associated safety performance targets (SPT) that are aligned to the business safety policy and objectives. SPIs and SPTs should be defined using the SMART criteria i.e. they should be: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound.
   
   Whilst it can be relatively easy to define SPIs, it is more problematic to monitor them and then present the information in a useable format for management. Obviously, software can help but this process will require a significant drawdown on safety team resource unless the software is particularly well designed. Due to the work effort required, it is often the case that SPIs are either poorly defined or not monitored sufficiently. Not only will the presentation of SPI data enable better D3M, it will also assist with your regulator’s requirements for performance-based oversight.
   
   Can your safety management system software achieve this requirement?
   
   
   

The above list is far from exhaustive, but it does highlight some of the more common issues that organisations experience when establishing their SMS. A common theme is poorly thought out software support. Unless your chosen provider understands the emerging requirements that will become extant in November 2019, it is likely that your SMS will fail to meet the standards needed to satisfy your regulator. Furthermore, your management decision-making capability might not be focused in the appropriate areas to result in enterprise wide, improving safety performance.

Both A350 and B787 Dreamliner are swiftly becoming the world’s most technologically advanced airplanes, produced respectively by Airbus (Europe) and Boeing (USA).

But what makes these rival aircrafts so revolutionary? Here are some comparative features to get you thinking:

Lower Maintenance Costs 

The 787 and A350 are the first large commercial aircraft to be constructed extensively from carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP). CFRP is more durable as it doesn’t corrode to the same extent as traditional aluminium used in older planes, translating into lower maintenance costs for airlines.

Improved fuel efficiency 

The use of CFRP and other composites help the A350 and the 787 to be lighter than its predecessors. This, combined with unparalleled engine efficiency, make the overall cost of flying cheaper than before. The newer engines on both the A350 and 787 provide up to 25% improved fuel efficiency and 15 % less CO2 compared to older generations.

Better passenger experience

Both the 787 and the A350 have far quieter cabins than conventional aircraft, thanks to engine design developments from Rolls Royce and GE. The A350 specifically has the quietest cabin of any twin-aisle aircraft, with a typical noise level of 57 decibels – around the same as a normal conversation.

Ultra-long range 

The 787 and the A350 have impressive range, both planes can travel at least 15,000 kilometres without stopping – The same as travelling from London to New York 2.5 times without stopping to refuel. This astonishing range is why airlines are now deploying the 787 and A350 on the world’s longest routes.  

With all these benefits, both the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 are without a doubt revolutionary in their design. However, as such, aircraft designs have become increasingly complicated and require constant review and updates to ensure safety, reliability and utility.

Learn how our leading document management solution, DocuNet can help your publishing department to manage increasingly complex Airbus and Boeing documents.

The Airbus A350 XWB has revolutionized modern aviation since its commercial debut three years ago. With over 142 deliveries to 17 global airlines, including Iberia and British Airways, the A350 is a game-changer.

But what makes this aircraft stand out? Here are 10 key facts about the Airbus A350 and why document management is critical for new fleet operations.

1. Impressive Size and Range
   • The A350-1000 stretches over 240 feet, nearly the length of a football field.
   • With a range of 8,000+ nautical miles, the A350-800 can fly between London and New York 2.5 times without refueling.
2. Advanced Materials
   • Over 70% of the A350’s airframe is made from advanced materials, including 53% composites, titanium, and aluminium alloys, making it lighter and more fuel-efficient.
3. Powerful Engines
   • The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines on the A350-1000 produce 97,000 lbs of thrust, ensuring exceptional performance.
4. Fuel Efficiency
   • The A350 delivers up to 25% fuel savings compared to previous models, making it a cost-effective choice for airlines.
5. Innovative Lighting
   • A full-LED lighting system offers over 16 million color options, enhancing passenger comfort and mood.
6. Cutting-Edge Avionics
   • The A350’s avionics can operate over 40 functions, surpassing the A380’s 23-function capability.
7. Simplified Fuel Tanks
   • Unlike most commercial aircraft with eight fuel tanks, the A350 XWB has only three, located in the fuselage and wings.
8. High Price Tag
   • Purchasing an A350 will set you back approximately $290 million, reflecting its advanced technology and capabilities.
9. Passenger Well-Being
   • The A350 offers greater cabin space, flying times of up to 19 hours, and improved air quality for enhanced passenger comfort.
10. Evolution of the A350
    • Originally dubbed the “A330-lite,” the A350 project began in 2004, culminating in a state-of-the-art aircraft that redefines air travel.

The Importance of Document Management for Airbus Fleets

Introducing a new fleet like the Airbus A350 requires meticulous planning, especially when it comes to document management. From operational efficiency to compliance and safety, managing Airbus manuals is a complex but essential task.

Challenges of Manual Management

• Maintaining structured XML data for Airbus manuals can overwhelm in-house teams.
• With Airbus releasing updates up to three times a year, revision peaks can lead to errors and delays.

The Solution

A robust document management system simplifies the process, ensuring your manuals are updated accurately and efficiently. By leveraging the right tools, airlines can maintain compliance, reduce risks, and keep their fleets ready for takeoff.

Why the Airbus A350 is a Game-Changer

The Airbus A350 combines cutting-edge technology, fuel efficiency, and passenger comfort, making it a top choice for airlines worldwide. However, successful fleet integration relies on effective document management to ensure operational readiness and compliance.

New technology is revolutionizing air travel across the globe, making flights more efficient, eco-friendly, and secure. From improving flight planning and operations to enhancing the passenger experience, technology is transforming the aviation industry. 

In this post, we’ll explore current technologies driving positive change and glimpse into future innovations that could make air travel even more attractive.

1. The Potential of Blockchain in Airline Operations

Perhaps the biggest technological buzz in the air travel industry is centred on Blockchain technology, the system that powers the secure, virtual currency Bitcoin. Described as a ‘secure digital ledger of transactions and agreements’, Blockchain offers tamper-proof data that can be managed and shared via authorised access. 

Blockchain could be a game changer for flight operators, which can use it to transform their maintenance and safety regimes. Data entered into the blockchain would allow companies to track where every part on a plane came from and exactly who had handled it, and when – bringing security and safety to new levels.

For passengers, blockchain offers seamless travel experiences by integrating biometric ID verification with check-in, baggage handling, and passport control—eliminating counterfeiting risks and reducing processing times.

2. Wearable Technology in Aviation for Enhanced Efficiencies

Wearable technology trials have already been undertaken by some airlines, both for cabin crew and engineers. Uniforms of the former include LEDs to provide additional lighting in an emergency and to display important information like flight numbers. Similar lighting in ground staff jacket cuffs can be used to help with aircraft movement.

Engineers can benefit from LEDs in jacket hoods to illuminate work areas and leave both of their hands free for inspection and maintenance. In-built cameras and microphones allow remotely based colleagues to help troubleshoot technical issues, while air quality sensors allow wearers to monitor their work environment. While relatively simple innovations, the net result is to improve safety and make maintenance and repairs faster – delivering efficiencies to the flight operator.

3. Maintenance Drones for Faster Inspections

Some airlines are deploying maintenance drones to speed up aircraft inspections and improve efficiency. These drones:

• Assess lightning-strike damage in under 30 minutes (compared to manual inspections taking 4–6 hours).
• Scan aircraft fuselages for wear and tear, reducing downtime.
• Some analysts predict drone images of aircraft sections could be compared with online image databases, allowing defects to be detected automatically.
• Could soon be used to deliver spare parts, accelerating repairs and minimizing delays.

4. More Efficient and Sustainable Flight Routes

Flight operators now make use of new technology to optimize their routes and cut their emissions. For example, on a range of services Emirates is using technology that optimises routes for the prevailing weather, saving fuel and emissions – not to mention getting passengers to their destination quicker.

Future developments are even more exciting, with a solar-powered plane already successfully completing a round-the-world flight. It’s a big step towards reducing airlines’ reliance on fossil fuels, but it is likely to be many years before we see the world’s first solar-powered commercial aircraft.

5. Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) and Document Management

Pilots began to use mobile devices as electronic flight bags in 2011, meaning they could access e-documents rather than relying on the hard copies of the charts, flight manuals and other information they used before, Electronic devices quickly helped pilots to become more productive and reduced aircraft weight by a significant degree.

That said, airlines can still find it expensive, time-consuming and difficult to manage the huge number of documents that pilots and cabin crew need (and are required by regulators to have). Even if an airline has invested in document management software, they still have to spend huge amounts of time each year managing electronic document libraries and making sure that all information is correct. For example, aircraft manuals may change every 2-3 months, and because qualified pilots have to spend time making sure they are correct it takes them away from more productive and profitable duties.

Today this problem is frequently solved by outsourcing. Solutions such as the DocuNet airline document management system (now used by more than 140 airlines worldwide) helps streamline compliance by:

• Providing pilots and cabin crews with instant access to up-to-date operational documents.
• Ensuring compliance-checked updates reach all users simultaneously.
• Reducing costs—airlines save an average of £500K per year for fleets of 100+ aircraft by transitioning to digital document management.

The Future of Aviation and Technology

Technology in aviation continues to evolve, offering new efficiencies, improved safety, and enhanced passenger experiences. Airlines that embrace innovations such as blockchain, AI-driven flight optimization, and advanced document management will lead the industry into a more secure, efficient, and sustainable future.