EUROCAE at EASA Safety Conference in Vienna

EASA’s Safety Conference 2018 took place on 6 and 7 November in Vienna. Keynote speaker André Borschberg, world record holder for the highest solar-powered flight and for the longest solo-flight in an airplane of this kind, held an inspiring talk that set the scene for this energetic conference. The focus of the event was on General Aviation (GA). At the same time, the event emphasized new and future concepts, such as electric and hybrid aircraft, VTOL, flying cars and taxis, as well as passenger drones.

EASA underlined its commitment, as part of the GA Roadmap 2.0, for a truly innovative, better, cheaper and safer GA in Europe.

The 2-day conference on GA asked for a positive and much needed cooperation between all stakeholders to take on the challenges that come with the innovation of GA. 

EUROCAE is actively participating in this cooperation and has paved the way into the next generation of GA.

The EUROCAE Council has just approved the 2019 Technical Work Programme, an outlook for the next decade, which is clearly leading us and paving the way to support innovative concept into industrialisation to become reality.

The European GA community actively engaged in the evolution of GA in a world full of exciting technological developments. A substantial range of European GA manufacturers, developers of hybrid and solar-powered aircraft but also of air taxis and other UAV, cost-sharing platforms as well as GA associations and policy representatives participated to the various panels.

EUROCAE at EASA High Level Conference on Drones 2018

27-28 November, Amsterdam

This year's edition of the High Level Conference on Drones was hosted by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management of the Netherlands and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

In her opening statements Commissioner Violeta Bulc stressed the importance of the drone industry overall and, in particular, in building multi modal solutions. Drones should be used in areas where public transport is not available. Further on she reaffirmed the relevance of standards as an important enabler of the regulatory frame, pointing at the necessity to have a global outreach for standards.

Patrick Ky, Executive Director of EASA, welcomed the record number of participants at the event and mentioned that drone industry is moving at a very fast pace and all stakeholders need to work together to deliver the expected results.

The conferences addressed such topics as the new European regulatory framework, U-space smart mobility, and how all these will impact the environment and urban development. Participating to the panel discussing tools to enable new drones operations and businesses  EUROCAE representative Sergiu Marzac, Technical Programme Manager, introduced the work EUROCAE is performing to deliver
the necessary standards in a timely manner to support the performance based regulations. He highlighted the importance of the industry as the main resource in developing standards and stressed the need to ensure a transversal  coordination between stakeholders e.g. EUSCG (www.euscg.eu) for an efficient use of resources and to avoid overlapping activities.

The outcome of the Conference was the Amsterdam Declaration which can be accessed here.

EUROCAE at the European Strategic 
Coordination Platform 

EUROCAE was invited to attend the ESCP High Level Meeting on Cybersecurity in Civil Aviation 2018. The meeting was organised by EASA and DGAC France in Toulouse on the 14-15 November 2018.

This invitation is in line with EUROCAE’s involvement in aviation cybersecurity. WG-72 and its Sub-Groups are currently developing four documents and have just published ED-203A - Airworthiness Security Methods and Considerations. EUROCAE also launched the European Cybersecurity for aviation Standards Coordination Group (ECSCG) last month.

The High-Level Meeting was well-attended, gathering representatives from EU institutions, National Aviation Authorities, as well as other key organisations and industry representatives involved in cybersecurity. During these two days, cybersecurity was addressed from various perspectives. The focus of the first day was on the political implications and the European strategy.  A case study of a French initiative was explored: the Conseil pour la Cyber sécurité du Transport Aérien (CCTA), a civil aviation cybersecurity dedicated Council to centralise information and coordinate response in the country. The second day focused on technical workshops. A few major topics emerged from the forum. The need for a trust framework and information sharing was raised.

The baseline needs to be elevated across the network as a network is only as strong as its weakest link. Increased awareness, including for entities with limited resources, should be encouraged.

Resources and adequate competences are limited; therefore, impact of actions should be maximised. The question of costs should also be considered. Beyond Europe-centric initiatives, cyber diplomacy is also taking place with the development of cyber capacity-building in third countries.

Different initiatives support the technical implementation. The event was the occasion for explanations on EASA’s new Basic Regulation and on the application to aviation of the Directive on security of network and information systems (the NIS Directive). The coordination of activities and harmonisation of regulation is important. There is a need to find solution ‘right rather than fast’. A hierarchisation of risk and comparability across sectors should be defined. Security-by-design should be systematised. The Shared Trans-Operational Risk Management (STORM) initiative intends to coordinate the different actors in Europe.

To conclude, this gathering was a great opportunity to bring aviation cyber security stake-holders in the same room and to draw together the next step of the ESCP Roadmap.

EUROCAE meets US key partners

In the framework of our stakeholder engagement plan, a EUROCAE delegation met some of our key partners in the US during the week of 12th November 2018. such as ANSI, ASTM and NTSB. It was a good opportunity to meet these organisations and get to know their activities better and to identify  how EUROCAE can better cooperate with them.

• ANSI

The discussion with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)  offered a more detailed insight on how the standardisation system works in the US.  A link between the EUSCG and ANSI's Unmanned Aircraft Systems Standardization Collaborative (UASSC) is established 
to exchange information on the developments and avoid overlaps in in the activities of the SDOs dealing with UAS.

• ASTM

The meeting with ASTM was focused on a potential increase of the collaboration between our organisations, specifically on two main subjects: UAS and runway weather information systems. Both ASTM and EUROCAE see a good potential in this cooperation and the parties agreed to work on a way

forward to exchange of information and cross participation in working groups. 

• NTSB

At the meeting with NTSB, EUROCAE presented a number of activities, such as: ROAAS, flight recorders, flight tracking, return link service, helicopter TAWS and runway safety. It was very useful to have the NTSB feedback on these topics taking into consideration their insightful perspective.  Another topic for discussions was the safety recommendations from the investigation authorities as triggers to standard development activities and how can standards better support the needs of investigators. NTSB mentioned a few priorities which they think could benefit from standards. 

The visit of the US stakeholders helped to strengthen the links between EUROCAE and these
organisations and helped to identify
potential for cooperation and new
activities. 

EUROCAE - RTCA coordination meeting

14-15 November, Washington DC

The annual coordination and working meeting between EUROCAE and RTCA took place at the RTCA premises in Washington DC.

The RTCA team was led by RTCA Vice President Technology and Standards  Al Secen, supported by the Program Management Committee (PMC) Chair, Chris Hegarty.

The EUROCAE team was led by Christian Schleifer, Secretary General, and composed of Eric Bouchard, Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Chair; Anna von Groote, Director Technical Programme; and Sergiu Marzac, Technical Programme Manager.

The meeting was dedicated to a detailed review of the various
standardisation activities as well as general items and policy-related subjects, such as our organisations’ contributions to ICAO work. The organisations had constructive

discussions on exploring new areas of joint activities in order to support the industry with globally applicable standards.

In closing the meeting all participants recognised the importance of coordination between RTCA and EUROCAE, and the value this coordination brings to the aviation community. It is also an important signal of our continued efforts in working together to achieve our common goals of international harmonisation and global interoperability.

Steve Brown, the RTCA Board of Directors Chair, used this opportunity to introduce Terry McVenes who was just appointed as RTCA President & CEO.

EUROCAE is looking to a positive continuation of the partnership with RTCA under the new leadership. 

EUROCAE acknowledging its WG participants

For the third time after 2016 and 2017 EUROCAE will recognise the excellent performance of its Working Group members with the 2019 EUROCAE Awards, presented during the EUROCAE Symposium on 25 and 26 April in Toulouse.

Standards Development by EUROCAE is performed by volunteers who dedicate their time and effort in the production of high quality documents. Every year this dedication is recognised by EUROCAE by presenting the EUROCAE Awards in the scope of the yearly Symposium. In 2019 the Award Night will be held on 25 April, this time in Toulouse.

The nomination for the Awards is organised via the Working Group Chairpersons and Secretaries. They will be invited to inform all Working Group members about the ongoing nomination period and to submit to the Secretariat the names of those who in their opinion deserve to receive an Award. The Selection Board will consist of members of the Council, the TAC and the Secretariat. To select the winner of the Global Harmonisation Award a representative of RTCA or SAE will join the Selection Board since this particular Award will be presented to a member of a joint Working Group.

In 2019, Awards will be handed out in the following Categories:

Lifetime Achievement Award – to a contributor who has shown his dedication to the EUROCAE activities over an extended period of time

Global Harmonisation – to a Working Group member that has contributed in an outstanding manner to a joint Working Group with RTCA or SAE

Working Group Leadership – to a Working Group Chairperson which has proven to be a successful and efficient leader.

Best Contribution – to  recognise a single contribution that goes beyond what can normally be expected from a WG Member.

International Award – to a non-European member of a EUROCAE only Working Group

The Awards process will start soon and will find its highlight in the Awards ceremony during the 2019 EUROCAE Symposium.

For more details please contact Alexander Engel at alexander.engel@eurocae.net.

EUROCAE WG-105 UTM Focus Team is looking for additional experts

EUROCAE is launching this Call for Participation to invite additional participants to the WG-105 UTM Focus Team activities. It is expected 
to provide additional support in order to complement the already ongoing work on geofencing.

If your organisation is interested in contributing to this activity, please complete the Registration form, latest by Friday, 21 December 2018.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

EUROCAE WG-105 (Unmanned Aircraft Systems - UAS) develops standards and guidance material to ensure the safety of operations with unmanned aircraft. The ultimate goal is to enable safe access of all types of UAS to all types of airspace at all times.

One of the key elements of UAS operation is to enable safe integration in the airspace. This calls for a reliable UAS traffic management (UTM) system that, with minimal or no human intervention, provides services such as dynamic geo-fencing, identification, secure UAS operations, weather alerts, contingency management, route planning etc. In order to build a UTM system that can support a wide range of UAS with different performance capabilities, standardised methods of providing UAS services become critical.

Following the analysis of regulations and guidance related to the emerging UTM operations, WG-105 has identified the need for:

1. A definition of a Workplan for the development of standards necessary to support the U-Space concept as proposed by SJU for the Air Traffic Management Master Plan (ATM MP) Addendum
2. Standardisation of UTM services, with a focus on UAS Electronic Identification in accordance with the applicable safety and security requirements

OBJECTIVES

The UTM Focus Team will develop a workplan to clearly identify the recommended standards for the use of UAS within the U-Space concept. This workplan should consider the full spectrum (U1 to U4) of U-Space.

Already identified as an essential capability for U1 phase, the UTM FT will also address the development of standards for electronic identification. This work will focus on the standardisation of the required UAS enabling elements common to any kind of UAS operation in the U-Space environment. The proposed work will duly consider the existing projects performed under SJU as well as other standardisation activities (e.g. ISO, ASTM, ASD-STAN etc)

DELIVERABLES & SCHEDULE

Within this activity the following deliverables will be developed:

• UTM Workplan – Target Date: 06/2019
• MOPS (Minimum Operational Performance Specification) on Electronic Identification – Target Date: 11/2019

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

For a successful standardisation activity, experts in the following areas of expertise are of paramount importance:

• System of system
• CNS (Communication, Navigation and Surveillance)
• On-board equipment
• ID/Localisation data protocol/format
• Protocol designs
• Aeronautical data
• ANSP and Remote pilot.

For more information please contact Sergiu Marzac, at
sergiu.marzac@eurocae.net

Last call: WG-110 kick off meeting  

13-14 December, Saint-Denis

EUROCAE launched a Call for Participation to inform interested parties about activities undertaken by WG-110 and to provide a possibility to nominate expert participants.

The kick-off meeting will take place at EUROCAE in Paris area on 13 and 14 December 2018. The objective of this new WG is to develop Minimum Operating Performance Standard for Class A HTAWS for offshore helicopter operations primarily in support of the EASA operating rule mandate under Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/1199 of 22 July 2016 (SPA.HOFO.160(c)). The EASA mandate currently applies only to aircraft first registered after

31 December 2018, but this may be extended to other aircraft depending on the outcome of the proposed EASA Rulemaking Task RMT.0708, Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) prevention with helicopter terrain avoidance warning systems (HTAWS). 

If your organisation is interested to contribute to this WG, please complete the Registration Form 

For more information please contact Anna Guegan, at
anna.guegan@eurocae.net

Office closure announcement  

EUROCAE offices will be closed over the winter holidays between 24 December 2018 - 1 January 2019.

Please take this into account to ensure we can provide you with
timely assistance.

Aviation Cybersecurity Training 

Benefits of attending

• Participants will gain access to the tools and understanding to use available standards to manage cyber risk in an aviation context in a standards-led way (which in itself brings many additional benefits).
• ED-201 brought to life with classroom scenarios and exercises.
• Learn best practice on auditing and certification.
• Instructor a leading authority on aviation cybersecurity and a certified lead auditor for ISO27001.
• Sharing experiences with colleagues from other aviation stakeholders/countries.
• Extensive course handouts including ED-201, ED-202, ED-203A, ED-204.
• Ideal learning environment at EUROCAE HQ in Saint-Denis (Paris area, France).
• Certificate on completion of the course.

The next sessions are planned as follows:  

The course outline is available here.

For any additional information please contact Adrian Cioranu at adrian.cioranu@eurocae.net. 

Aviation Software Standards 

With airborne and ground-based aviation systems increasingly interconnected, the landscape for critical systems software is changing.

Whether you are an ANSP specifying or accepting a system, the person responsible for system maintenance, or a supplier at the cutting edge of software product development, you will need to understand the standards options available to you, how to apply them, and the impact on costs.  

Join our next training session of Aviation Software Standards based on your availability and experience a practical and interactive approach to the subject matter, drawing on the trainers’ extensive experience in both aviation safety and critical systems software development. The course outline is available here.

The next sessions are planned as follows:  

For any additional information please contact Adrian Cioranu at adrian.cioranu@eurocae.net. 

EUROCAE documents

EUROCAE recently published:

• ED-240A "Minimum Aviation System Performance Standard (MASPS) for Remote Tower 
  Optical Systems
• ED-257 "Safety Performance and Interoperability Requirements Document defining Takeoff Minima by Use of Enhanced Flight Vision Systems"

All EUROCAE publications are accessible by clicking the button: 

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