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G lossary Accelerate-Stop Distance: The minimum allowable runway lengths for an airplane to accelerate and stop safely, depending on its gross weight, speed, prevailing weather, and runway conditions. If an emergency occurs after the accelerate-stop distance has been exceeded, usually the takeoff must be completed. Accident (as opposed to incident, q.v.): An accident is an occurrence in which there is substantial damage to an aircraft and/or injury or death to a person or persons. Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making (ANPRM): A public notice announcing the intention of the FAA to establish a regulation or amendment on a particular subject, inviting comments on the adequacy of the data base. (See NPRM.) Airframe: The major and essential parts of an aircraft structure. Airframe and Powerplant License (A&P): A license granted to an individual who is at least 18 years of age and has demonstrated a command of the English language and com- petence through examination in specific maintenance tasks specified in Federal Aviation Regulations, Part 34. Airmen: People such as mechanics, pilots, and parachute riggers, who work or operate aircraft or ancillary equip- ment. They are licensed by the FAA and are the subject of Part 65 and Part 91 of the FARs. 103
IMPROVING AIRCRAFT SAFETY/104 Airworthiness: The safety and physical integrity of an subsystems, handling aircraft, Including its component parts and its performance capabilities, and its flight characteristics, when operated within its intended environment and within its quantified and declared limitations. Airworthiness Certificate (AWC): A certificate, granted by the FAA, stating that an aircraft meets all specifica- tions required by the Type Certificate, and has been flown and found to be in compliance with applicable air- worthiness standards. When an airplane is transferred to a second or subsequent person, the AWC is transferred along with it to the new owner who is required to main- tain the aircraft in a state of continuing airworthiness. Airworthiness Directive (AD): An FAA regulation, usually issued in response to a safety situation, requiring man- datory action, e.g., inspection, repair, or modification within a specified period of time, depending on the urgency. Telegraphic AD: An AD issued for immediate action, with out public participation. Immediate AD: An AD issued for prompt action, without public participation. Alert Service Bulletin: A special Service Bulletin (God.) issued to all owners of a given aircraft by the manufac- turer of that aircraft, containing safety directive information. Applicant: As used in the text, a manufacturer, airline, or repair station that applies to the FAA for the appro- priate certificate. Avionics: That specialized branch of electronics per- taining to aircraft-installed electronic devices, pri- marily used for navigation and flight control functions. Certificate (v.t.): As used in the text, the act of granting a certificate (q.v.) to an applicant (q.v.) signifying approval of aircraft design, production, or maintenance plans and procedures.
105/Glossary Certificate (n.): As used in the text, a document issued by the FAA to an applicant (q.v.), which serves as evi- dence that the applicant has complied with applicable statutes, rules, standards and procedures in design, manufacturing, maintenance, or operation of aircraft. Certificate Holder: A manufacturer, operating airline, or maintenance or overhaul facility which has been examined by the FAA and found to meet the standards established by the Federal Aviation Regulations. Certification Basis: A negotiated agreement between the Type Certification Board and the manufacturer on how compliance with various standards will be demonstrated. Composite Materials: Structural materials, generally nonorganic and nonmetallic, that have high strength and low weight. Continuing Airworthiness: The assurance that an air craft with an airworthiness certificate is operated, maintained, and repaired in accordance with FAA-approved procedures. Continuous Gust Criteria: An engineering basis for designing aircraft structure and flight control systems to sustain safely a broad spectrum of flight loads im- posed by atmospheric gusts of various frequencies and intensities. Crashworthiness: A term that has come to signify the ability of the aircraft structure to tolerate given crash loads and to provide occupant protection. Design Basis: A negotiated agreement between the manu facturer and the FAA Type Certification Board on the specifications that the design of the aircraft must meet. (See Certification Basis.) Designated Alteration Station (DAS): An FAA-approved facility that specializes in major overhaul and repair of aircraft. Designated Engineering Representative (DER): Employees of the manufacturers, deputized by the FAA to review and verify certain elements of the design.
IMPROVING AIRCRAFT SAFETY/10 6 Designated Manufacturing Inspection Representative (DMIR): A company employee to whom the administrator delegates the functional determination of conformity of prototype articles to design data prior to type certifi- cation, and the final inspection and airworthiness cer- tification or approval of type certificated aircraft and related products. The DMIRs are trained and supervised in their FAA duties by the responsible FAA Manufacturing Inspectors. Exception: A waiver granted to permit noncompliance with a specific FAR requirement, negotiated as an agreement with the FAA. Extremely Remote, Extremely Improbable: Terms applied to a measure of system reliability, equivalent to a 10-9 or one chance in a billion of failure. Fail-safe: A design philosophy that assumes components of a system have a limited lifetime, and that provides safety assurance through alternative components which can function in the event of failure of the primary com- ponent. Fatigue: The tendency of a material to break under repeated load. Fatigue Crack: A crack appearing in a metallic element of an aircraft structure as a result of repeated loads caused by flight and ground forces and vibrations. Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs): As used in the text, that part of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations that includes the rules, regulations, and standards by which the FAA assures the safety and airworthiness of aircraft and their operations. Fuselage: The long, main tubular body of an aircraft to which is attached the wing structure.
107/Glossary Hard Landing: A landing of an aircraft in which the vertical component of the speed at which ground contact is made is higher than the maximum normal operating value specified in the design. A hard landing must be followed by an inspection of the landing gear and sup- port structure for possible damage before the aircraft is permitted to fly again. Hole-size Criteria: An engineering basis for designing the pressurized fuselage of an aircraft to sustain a damage-caused hole of a specified size and continue to fly. Horizontal Stabilizer: One of the primary elements of the tail assembly of an aircraft; the fixed horizontal airfoil that provides stability in flight. Incident (as opposed to accident, q.v.): An event - involving a malfunction of equipment or which no significant damage or injuries which, under other circumstances, could accident, and which has significance to Inherent Airworthiness: human error in occurred, but have been an safety. The assurance that both the design of the aircraft and the manufacture of individual aeronautical products are in accordance with FAA-approved procedures. Approval of and assembly the design basis and of the manufacturing and quality control sys- tems under which the product will be manufactured and inspected are thus preconditions to establishment of inherent airworthiness. (See Continuing Airworthiness.) Inspect: As used in the text, the process by which company employees examine parts, equipment, processes, and procedures for conformity to applicable standards, certifying that the standards are met; or FAA inspectors assure that company maintenance and production systems are properly in place to assure compliance with applic- able standards. Maintenance Program A set of procedures that assures continuing a~rwortn~ness and approval by the FAA. It is developed from the manufacturer's Maintenance Manual to suit the individual air carrier's particular system, facilities, and needs.
IMPROVING AIRCRAFT SAFETY/108 Maintenance Review Board (MRB): A Board of FAA regional specialists, convened to review the maintenance manual for a particular aircraft that has been developed by a maintenance manual steering group. This maintenance manual then becomes the basis for an air carrier's individually developed maintenance program. Maintenance Steering Group (MSG): A committee of indus- try experts, convened to develop a maintenance manual for a given aircraft type, in order to assure the con- tinuing airworthiness of each aircraft. The maintenance manual is proposed to the FAA MRB and, upon approval, forms the basis for the air carrier maintenance program for that type of aircraft. Manufacturer's Maintenance Manual: See Maintenance Review Board and Maintenance Steering Group. Mechanical Interruption Summaries (MIS): A summary report required of the air carrier by the FAA concerning interruptions to a flight for mechanical reasons or the number of engines removed prematurely because of mal- function, failure, or defect. Mechanical Reliability Report (MRR): A report required of an airline for submission to the FAA of the occurrence or detection of each failure, malfunction, or defect concerning 16 specific items--including fires and ~ire- warning systems malfunctions; engine exhaust system- caused damage; aircraft component causing accumulation or circulation of smoke, vapor, or noxious fumes in the occupied part of the aircraft; engine shutdown; failure of propeller control; malfunctioning fuel dump system; inadvertent landing gear system operations; brake system component malfunction; aircraft structural damage requir ing major repair; cracks, permanent deformation or cor- rosion of aircraft structures, malfunction of aircraft components or systems that results in taking emergency action. National Aviation System (NAS): The system of airports, airways, and air traffic control, within which aircraft and airmen operate. -
109/Glossary Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM): An announcement in the Federal Register of intention to establish a rule or amendment to an existing rule, providing a descrip- tion of the intended action, and arguments therefor and inviting public comment prior to final adoption. Operator: As used in the text, an air carrier or oper- ator of a transport aircraft. Primary Structure: The part of the aircraft structure that carries and transmits all loads. Principal Avionics Inspector (PAT): An FAA employee who provides continuing surveillance of an air carrier's avionics maintenance program and who works at the regional or district office level. Principal Inspector (PI): An FAA employee, resident at the manufacturer's site, who monitors the quality control system, conducts inspections, and supervises the Desig- nated Manufacturing Inspection Representative (q.v.). Principal Maintenance Inspector (PMI): An FAA employee who provides continuing surveillance of an air carrier's maintenance program and who works at the regional or district office level. Production Certificate: An approval of a manufacturer's facility granted by the FAA Production Certification Board, and an authorization for that manufacturer to proceed with the manufacture of aircraft which are faith- ful copies of the type certification specification. Production Certification Board (PCB): A regional-level board of FAA specialists convened to examine a manufac- turer's capability to produce aircraft as specified in the Type Certificate and to grant authority in the form of a Production Certificate. Pylon: As used in the text, the main support structure attaching an engine to an airframe.
IMPROVING AIRCRAFT SAFETY/110 Quality Assurance System Analysis and Review (QASAR): A periodic review by a team of FAA specialists which con- sists of in-depth audits of companies' production, quality control, and inspection processes. Originally scheduled at 18-month intervals, QASAR intervals are now about three years. Regional Office: An office of the FAA, located within one of 10 federal geographical regions of the United States, and two overseas areas (Pacific and Far East; Europe, Africa, and Middle East), through which the policies, practices, and regulatory oversight of the FAA are carried out. Regulatory Basis: A determination, by the Type Certi- fication Board, of which regulations will apply to a proposed aircraft design. (See Design Basis.) Retrofit: As used in the text, the practice of instal- ling a substitute component in an existing system for purposes of design change, or fault correction. Rule making: One of the two main procedures (along with certification) by which the FAA assures inherent safety or airworthiness of aircraft. Rule making is a public, due process, establishing the baseline standards by which aircraft are designed, built, operated, and maintained. Safe-life: A design philosophy that treats a structural component or assembly as designed to retain its strength and integrity throughout its useful life. Service Bulletin: A bulletin issued by a manufacturer containing nonmandatory information and recommendations regarding product improvement and equipment reliability. (See Alert Service Bulletin.) Service Difficulty Report (SDR): A report compiled by the Air Carrier District Office every 24 hours on the basis of the MRRs (q.v.) submitted by the air carriers. SDRs are sent to the Maintenance Analysis Center for computation, analysis, and dissemination.
111/Glossary Situation Monitoring Program: A program of audit-like inspections, conducted in limited cases, of maintenance programs, especially where the regional office becomes aware of specific safety problems. Special Conditions: Special rules, applied in arriving at a design basis for the Type Certificate, that define compliance requirements not covered under the existing FARs. Systemworthiness Analysis Program (SWAP): ~ program involving an FAA team of experts that inspects air carrier and general aviation maintenance programs and practices. Discontinued and replaced by Situation Monitoring Program (q.v.). Type Certification: The process of issuing a Type Cer- tificate to an aircraft design. Type Certification Board (TCB): A board of FAA technical experts at the regional level that examines the manufac- turer's proposal, negotiates the design basis, supervises the design evolution, and grants a Type Certificate upon satisfaction that the proposed design meets the FAA- approved specification. Type Inspection Authorization (TIA): An authorization granted by the TCB, for FAA flight test crews to examine the aircraft in flight prior to issuing the Type Certificate.