GT bed [er Te DIGEST CULT eA Prt ery Dee AIRBUS INDUSTRIEAl AC ACARS acas ADRES AIA AIM AIM AIM-FANS Ama ANSI soc 400, ARES ARINC ASM ATA ATC ATE ATO AIN ATP ATSU AWE AWM cars: CADETS cats car ccmrres ecg cbs. CEL com CML My ens coc cpbLe crc SDB DGAC DSSSL DID ECAM EDP ERIS ES ETOPS FAA FBS FCoM Abbreviations used in this issue of FAST Airline ‘Advisory Circular Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System Aircraft Colision Avoidance System ‘Aircraft Documentation Retrieval System ‘Air Data System ‘Aerospace Industry Association Airbus Inventory Management System Aircraft Inegrated Maintenance ‘Airbus Interoperable Modular Future Air ‘Navigation System Aircraft Maintenance Manual ‘American National Standards Institute Airline Operational Communication Aircraft On Ground ‘Airbus Rotable Exchange Service ‘Aeronautical Radio Incorporated Aircraft Schematics Manual Air Transport Association Air Trafie Control ‘Automatic Test Equipment Air Trafic Management ‘Aeronautical Telecommunications Network Air Transport Pilot Air Traffie Services Unit ‘ireraft Wiring List Aireraft Wiring Manual Computer Assisted Aircraft Trouble Shooting Computer Assisted Documentation Education Tuorial Sysiem Computer-aided Acquisition and Logistic Support Computer Base Instruction Consultative Committee International Telegraphy and Telephony Group Cross Crew Qualification ‘Component Documentation Status ‘Component Evolution List Computer Graphics Metafile Consumable Materials List Communication Management Unit Communication, Navigation and Surveillance Cusiomer Originated Change Controller Plot DataLink Communications Cyclic Redundancy Check Common Source Data Base Concept Direction Générale de V'Aviation Civile Dispatch Reliability Document Style Semantics and Specification Language Document Type Definition Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor Electronic Data Processing Electronic Flight Insirument System Entry Ino Service Extended Range Twin Engine Operations Federal Aviation Administration Fixed Base Simulator Flight Crew Operating Manual FES PMCS PMS FOSr Full Flight Simulator Flight Management and Guidance System Flight Management System Formaning Ouput Specifications Instance Flight Standardization Board Flight Training Device Global Navigation Satellite System Global Positioning System Ground Support Equiprient Human Machine Interface International Airline Technical Pool International Civil Aviation Organization In-Flight Shut Down Insirument Landing System Initial Operating Experience Initial Provisioning’ Mlustrared Parts Catalog Integrared Services Digital Network International Standards Organisation Joint Airworthiness Authorities Local Area Differemial GPS Lufifahribundesamt Line Replaceable Units Minimum Equipment List ‘Message Handling System ‘Master Minimum Equipment List Ministry Of Transport ‘Maintenance Planning Data Support ‘Mean Time Between Failures ‘Mean Tine Between Unscheduled Removals Operator Difference Requirement Original Equipment Manufacturers Operational Interruption Operational Reliability Pool Item Candidate List Production Managements Data Base Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitor Random Access Memory ‘Area Navigation Required Navigation Performance Required Time of Arrival Radio Technicol Commission for Aeronautics Reduced Vertical Separation Minima Sarellive Communication Service Bulletin ‘System Device Structured Full-text Query Language ‘Standard Generalized Markup Language ‘Standard Job Card ‘Structured Query Language ‘Seructural Repair Manual Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System Tag Image File Format Trouble Shooting Manual ‘Two-Way DataLink Video and Computer Based Instruction Value-Added Networks Very High Frequency Wide Area Differential GPS World Airlines Supplier's GuideAIRBUS. TECHNICAL DIGEST NUMBER 17 DECEMBER 1994 EDITORIAL BERNARD CATTEEUW TOWARDS THE PAPERLESS AIRCRAFT. TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS IN DIGITAL FORMAT DANIEL MENARD INNOVATIVE INITIAL PROVISIONING METHODS PETER BUCHFELD CROSS CREW QUALIFICATION AND MIXED FLEET FLYING REGINE VADROT AND CHRISTIAN AUBRY PA AIMS-FANS, A FLEXIBLE APPROACH TO CNS/ATM a B ~ 3 Cc e LUC SIGNARGOUT EXTENDED RANGE TWIN ENGINE OPERATIONS AIRBUS IN-SERVICE EXPERIENCE CATHERINE SIMONNE ARTICLES IN PREVIOUS ISSUES OF FAST PRE-FLIGHT ICE PROTECTION DOUGLAS CARLILE RESIDENT CUSTOMER SUPPORT 6 REPRESENTATION "The articles hecein may be reprinted without permission except where copyright source is indicated, bat with acknowledgement to Airbus Industrie. Articles which may be subject to ongoing review must have their accuracy Verified prior to reprint. The statements made herein do not constitute an offer. They are based on the assumptions shown and are expressed in good faith. Where the supporting grounds for there statements are not shown, the Company Will be pleased to.explain the basis thereat © AIRBUS INDUSTRIE 1994 Graphic desi services Marketing, assisted by Eliane Fraysse Photo-engraving: Ione, 9 boulevard du Libre Echange Printer: Escourbiae, 5 avenue Marcel Dassault, 31502 Toulouse Publisher: Abus Indust Customer Services, Irond-poiat Mautice Bllote, 31707 Blagnae Cede, France Telephone +33 61 9333.3, Telex AIRBU S30S26h, Telefax +33 61 300125 This issue of FAST hasbeen prined on paper produced without using cori 1oFeduce waste & and hep to conserve nanral resources. very litle helps Euitor: Denis Dempster, Product Marken FAST / NUMBER 17 1Welcome to the 17th issue of FAST. FAST has been giving you information to improve the in-service use of your Airbus aircraft for many years, It has provided you with pertinent details of Airbus Industrie initiatives and shared experience from our operators’ wide range of expertise in the use of our machines, In response to the positive reaction from our readers we will continue to give you the best information in the siyle that is FAST's However there is an innovation in this issue: an article on training. In itself not a surprising subject to present, but itis an indication of a significant change Airbus Industrie's support functions have been regrouped with Training, Flight Operations ‘and Line Operations support included in the new Customer Services Directorate, This consolida- tion is a logical step in our drive for continuous improvement, ensuring that support is coherent and complete and responds to the toral needs of our operators. Our operators have given us a clear message that they have to concentrate, profitably, on their core business. We fee! that our best response to this is to ensure that the support from us is the best - focused, timely, pertinent and compleie. With the addition of the Training and Flight Operations functions, Customer Services now has the breadth of resources to address the total demand. Our staff understand the importance of the time factor and is continuously pushing to minimise response times, But we cannot operate in isolation and our focus and pertinence has t come Jrom continuous dialogue with our operators. In recent symposiums - Materiel, Technical and with our lessor customers - the will of all to work cooperatively is more and more emphasised. Parmership has always been a watchword for us, and we consider that our first priority is t0 ‘maintain and increase confidence that the support needed is available from us and our suppliers and that it is available at a realistic cost. Our Customer Support Services people, both resident at the operators and based in Toulouse and Washington, ensure that we are close to the realities ofthe operation and thas our response matches real needs Our Industry is going through probably the biggest and fastest change process it has seen since its creation. Airbus Industrie's firm intention is t0 anticipate these changes to be in a position to meuich them, This is reflected in she ar- licles in this FAST, giving ways of facitiuaing and reducing the cost of operations, as well as describing Airbus Industrie innovations. Next year will be another year of challenges to us all, Customer Services" efforts will be in one direction, 10 make our support 10 our ‘operators the best - an essential contribution to making operating Airbus aircraft a profitable affair Finaily, in closing, 1 would like to express my best wishes to you, as part of the great Airbus family for 1995. [\ fib Bernard CATTEEUW Senior Vice President Customer Services Directorate FAST | NUMBER 17Lo ee INICAL PUBLICATIONS IN DIGITAL FORMAIhis article describes the general concepts of the paperless/pazeless ‘concept. It follows with an overview ‘of major standards involved in elec- tronic data interchange in the technical publications area, and highlights the relationship between standards and document life eycles. Readers are then given a brief definition and the purposes of main standards to demys~ tify the acronyms used in technical publications in digital format. A few words about the use and the trans- mission of digital data are provided with a summary of Airbus Indutrie achievements with regard to technical publications in digital format. Traditionally the term "technical publications" implies information provided on paper or microfilm The paper technical publications delivered with an aireraft still repre- sent an enormous volume, with all their economical as well as qual- itative constraints. The work perfor- med by the airlines on their basic set of documentation represents. an important cost in terms of workload. demanding a level of quality which is not easy to maintain. This work includes the update of the basic set the incorporation of the airline's, modifications, the creation of derived documents such as job cards or maintenance planning documents, the duplication of the amended documentation and its shipment to the out stations. The other aspect which represents a considerable activity is the consultation of docu- mentation by people involved in maintenance. The evolution of computer tech nology has permitted us to envisage the transfer and processing of infor mation related to technical publi- cations, in a digital format. But what does "technical publications in digital format" mean? Although the term “digital format” is used in its generic form to define data transferred electro nically, which can be stored and processed by computerized applica- tions, in the actwal context the notion of digital format is extended to the ability to manage information down to the lowest level 4 ample to illustrate the digital notion in the context of the technical publications follows: some pages of the maintenance manual represen- ting certain maintenance tasks can be digitalized by a scanning process to provide a set of digital data which can be stored and processed by computer. However the only use that ean be made of this data is a display or re-print similar to the original pages. It will not be possible for the airline to work on the informa- tion contained in these pages, or extract a part of the information, to create job cards for example However if individual information contained in the concerned pages is processed independently in a digital format, it is possible to re-create the pages for display or print purposes by grouping the information, as well as to extract a part of the information, to create derived documents such as job cards. in the 1980's Airbus Industrie was already in a position to supply the A320 maintenance manual in digital format. However, for the airlines using these data, it rapidly appeared that a form of standardization was required to optimize the EDP deve opments and the computer resources, necessary for processing this data ‘The data supplied by the manufac- turers required processing before its integration into the airline's com- puterized applications Future Lile Cycle Support of an aircraft _ The future will see the emi of a wider concept which will not only deal with the information related to the technical publications but also take into account the complete set of information related to the aircraft's support during its whole life cycle. A progressive build-up of a comprehensive Information System will provide both airlines and their suppliers (engine and airframe manufacturers and main- tenance providers) with shared ac- cess 10 the information used during. the life cycle support of the aircraft without using paper. Emphasis is on reduced maintenance cost and maintenance cycle time. This will be achieved through a step-by-step approach (Figure 1) that encompasses concurrent engi- neering practices and technical data in electronic form. The first stage is already under way and concerns the technical publications area whieh is one of the areas where the civil aerospace industry has searched for ‘ways to improve productivity. One of these is the use of electronic data processing. This stage covers the following activities: @Selection and implementation of a set of international standards to enable data encoding and inter change, primarily through convention: al means (shipment of mass storage media oF networking through point-to- point lines). Originally defined . eeu) Paty Be etry) FAST / NUMBER 17or selected within the frame of | the "Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support” the former Computer-aided Acquisition and Logistic Support (CALS) project, launched by the US Department of Defense, these standards have been adopted by the Air Transport Association (ATA) and Aerospace Industry Association (ATA) and have now gained wide acceptance in the aerospace community © Computerization of large areas of Industry the data processing, from the data paper! produced by manufacturers to the data Macs sing abl alanis Digital Data nee this transition phase is eom- ape plete, the next step will be based on the Common Source Data Base concept (CSDB) (Figure 2). The set-up of this integrated data base will enable data producers Tapernicl cate omay and users to find and feed any sCEPE. data necessary during the life of the aircraft. However, pro: towards this concept will requ further studies to take the fragmen: ted structure of the aerospace indus- | | Pageless: try into account. To sum up, the first mandatory step for the CSDB concept is repla ment of data exchan| paper docu: y a dig interchange conforming to defined standards for each type of informa- tion. This step enables progressive evolution of the way to access the information. Poet | Ke paper documents have gradually evolved oe from "paper-like" documents on a (ocreertnes sereen, with page-turner applications, LEE to the Tull exploitation of underlying data with consideration of the infor- ‘o information ‘ation they convey (Figure 3). Today represented by data bases the objective is to go pageless and to build up automated applications that deal with a data base rather than manuals. This has had the side effect of emphasizing the need to separate the information itself from its use. This separation is based on three layers which characterize BU a document, each layer supporting one characteristic of the document (Figure 4); ‘® The content, corresponds to the basic information, which consists of structured data, textual data, gra- phics and perhaps an audio/video sequence, The structure, corresponds to the jerarchieal organization of the infor- mation in the document and the relationship between the various items of data Document FAST / NUMBER 17 5© The style, which corresponds to the physical output, in printed as well as displayed form. ‘This separation between the content ‘and its use is also found during the document's life cycle (Figure 5), During a document's creation, the key element is the content, which is, a coherent set of information to convey a message. Information is organized according to a predefined document structure and, at the end of the creation stage, the result is a set of information complying with this structure. The documents are exchanged with ny airlines which have different means of processing them. They therefore have to be exchanged in the most neutral form possible, so as to cope with this heterogencous environment. Therefore only the struc- ture and the set of information are exchanged, the style of the document not being taken into account at this stage. The document structure repr sents the link between the producer and the user of the data Retrieval and formatting are also based on the document structure. In fact, we may have to limit the scope of a search Let's take an example, the main- tenance manual has titles in yarious parts of the document; a title m correspond to a task of a sub-task and if we need to retrieve only the title of a certain task, the search arguments must define the context by using the document structure. na eT Document life cycle In this case the search will be pro- cessed only on the part of the structure corresponding to the information related to the task. The presentation rules are also closely linked to the context: in the previous example. we may have to present titles in @ different way depending on the part of the structure they refer to; such as the title of a task, having to be prin- ted or displayed in bold characters, underlined and located at the top of the page or screen, with the title of a sub-task being indented and presen- ted in bold characters only ‘The purpose of the retrieval func- tion is to obtain information corres- nding to the search requirements ith a view to accomplishing a certain task on the aircraft. The formatting and display processes present this, information in the most suitable shape for the end user. The physical page corresponding to the paper version. Of the document has become obsolete Waa ya ur Rots | rd This new way of providing the infor- mation, in digital form, increases the potential possibilities for documen- tation processing within the airlines, Benefits Production of the technical publi- cations in digital form instead of Document creation Document interchange Document Crag the traditional paper and microfilm, will provide benefits to the end user and the producers © Benefits in data use Access time and search for pertinent data, simpler and more accurate through use of retrieval software Possible Integration into the air- line's EDP environment © Benefits in data distribution Easier check on data completeness. Delivery time shortened, Shipping costs reduced. © Benefits in data modification Less time needed to incorporate the modifications. > Engineering costs reduced (editing) Possibility for airlines to incorporate their own modifications easily 9 Automatic translation made possible. (© Benefits in data production 9 Single data source required for mul- tiple documents Automation of configuration man- agement OF low time decreased through the reduction of paper handling. Quality improved through the use of relevant software >Produetivity improved through the use of common libraries. Based on airline experience, signi ficant benefits have already been highlighted Standards ‘The standards defined or selected by the civil aerospace industry govern the different stages of the document's life cycle. Figure 6 illustrates the infer-relations between the stages of the document's life cycle, the docu- ment’s characteristics and the suppor- ting standards During creation or modification, the content of a major part of the technical publication documents are governed by ATA Specification 100 ‘The interchange of technical publi cations documents is governed by ATA Specification 2100, The main goals of this specification are to form: alize the tree structure of each docu- ment to be exchanged and to select the ISO standards necessary to repre- sent the format of the data exchanged: @ SGML (Standard Generalized Mark: up Language) for the interchange of textual information, SGML provides a method of representing the docu: ment's tree structure and identifying the information therein, © TIFFICCITTGS for the interchange of graphical information in raster mode: OTIFF stands for Tag Image File Format and corresponds to the general information associated with the graphic. FAST / NUMBER 17