CUSTOMER SERVICES DIRECTORATE

2 ROND POINT EMILE DEWOITINE

31700 BLAGNAC FRANCE
TELEPHONE + 33 (0)5 61 93 33 33

OPERATORS INFORMATION TRANSMISSION - OIT

SUBJECT: ATA 31 – Alignment of Technical Data relative to Flight Recorders with ARINC 647A

AIRCRAFT TYPE: A300,A300-600,A310,A318,A319,A320,A321,A330,A340,A350,A380

OUR REF.: 999.0099/18 Rev 00 dated 08-JAN-2019

OIT CATEGORY: GENERAL INFORMATION

NOTICE: This OIT provides general Maintenance and Engineering information. It is left to each
Operator’s discretion whether to distribute this OIT, or to distribute the information contained in this OIT,
to all of their applicable Maintenance and Engineering organizations for information.

REFERENCED DOCUMENTS:

ARINC 647A : https://standards.globalspec.com/std/1183005/arinc-647a

1. PURPOSE
The purpose of this OIT is to inform Airbus Customers about the way Airbus will deploy a new solution for
Airbus Flight Recorder data management, based on ARINC 647A: Flight Recorder Electronic
Documentation (FRED) files.

The main identified Operational Tasks using FDR documentation are:

- FDR data full functional check performed every 1 to 2 years,
- Flight Data Monitoring (FDM),
- Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA)

This information is addressed to persons involved in:

- Operational Maintenance,
- Incident / Accident Investigation,
- Flight safety departments.

2. BACKGROUND
Airbus currently delivers Flight Recorder data in two different file formats:
- FDRPL (Flight Data Recorder Parameter Library) downloadable application for the A300/A310,
A320 and A330, A340 families,
- DFDRS (Digital Flight Data Recorder System) documentation (pdf files) for the A380 and A350.
The FDRPL downloadable application will soon become obsolete.

3. DESCRIPTION
Airbus will discontinue the development of the FDRPL tool and implement a new solution to publish Flight
Data Recorder Documentation, based on the ARINC 647A standard.
Airbus is updating the existing Flight Data Recorder data-set format using the industrial standard 647A
also called FRED files.
FRED (Flight Recorder Electronic Documentation) is based on the free open XML standard.

OIT ref: 999.0099/18 Rev 00 Page 1 of 2 Date: 08-JAN-2019

© AIRBUS S.A.S. 2019. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY DOCUMENT
CUSTOMER SERVICES DIRECTORATE
2 ROND POINT EMILE DEWOITINE
31700 BLAGNAC FRANCE
TELEPHONE + 33 (0)5 61 93 33 33

OPERATORS INFORMATION TRANSMISSION - OIT

It defines a set of rules to encode data in a format that is human-readable and machine-readable.

With this change:

- Airbus aims to offer its Customers a reliable, easy-to-use and efficient solution to download,
browse and search Airbus Flight Data Recorder parameters whenever they are required, without
having to install a specific application, whatever the aircraft program.
- In order to perform Operational Tasks using FDR data, a decoding ground tool is generally used.
The ARINC 647A format will enable customers to directly use FRED files, for all aircraft types, as FDR
calibration files for the decoding ground tool. It will no longer be necessary to manually create calibration
files by extracting published FDR data parameters.
All FRED files will be available via the AirbusWorld platform in AirnavX (section Mylibrary) for download.

Airbus plans to progressively replace the FDRPL downloadable application and DFDRS documentation
by FRED files.
The Entry-Into-Service of FRED files will be conducted progressively across Airbus Aircraft programs
during 2019, allowing Airbus’ customers to become familiar with the new format.

The deployment plan is as follows:

- Beginning 2019: FRED files for all already-delivered FDR data sets for all Airbus programs will be
progressively released in Mylibrary, without removing already-published data,
- Mid 2019: all FRED files for all Airbus programs will be available,
- Mid 2020: existing FDRPL and DFDRS files will be decommissioned.

Starting in 2019, FDR data-set new revisions will then only be provided as FRED files.
For example, the next new revision of FDR data-set for the A350 program planned for the end of 2019 will
be then only delivered in FRED file format instead of DFDRS documents.

It is left to each Operator’s discretion to organize their activity according to this change. To support this
change, an update of this OIT will be published when all FRED files are available.

4. PREREQUISITES
The FRED files rely on the same prerequisites as AirbusWorld.

5. FOLLOW UP
Airliners will be acknowledged when the change will be effective.
This OIT will be further updated with detailed information on FRED deployment planning.

6. CONTACTS
Questions about the technical content of this OIT are to be addressed to Airbus Customer Services
through TechRequest on Airbus World, selecting Maintenance and Engineering Domain, Technical
Content and ATA 31-33.

Best Regards,

Olivier DEVIENNE
Head of Systems Technical Data
Airbus Customer Services – SEDY

OIT ref: 999.0099/18 Rev 00 Page 2 of 2 Date: 08-JAN-2019

© AIRBUS S.A.S. 2019. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY DOCUMENT