Arlington, Va. (Feb. 15, 2022) – Today, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) announced a set of new industry standards for developing and conducting airworthiness training and education programs in conjunction with the aviation industry, academia, and government and military partners. The standards present an acceptable means for developing and conducting airworthiness training and education programs to address the needs of industry and government.
Each standard focuses on a different aspect of airworthiness training and education: academic curricula for university airworthiness engineering programs, civil aviation airworthiness, and defense and military aviation airworthiness.
“The United States has the safest aviation system in the world. With these standards increasing and enhancing certification and airworthiness education and training, the next generation of engineers will have the knowledge and resources they need to work towards keeping it that way,” said David Silver, Vice President of Civil Aviation for AIA. “We are proud to have worked with our partners in industry, academia, government, and military to provide a baseline for what programs in airworthiness engineering should look like.”
The three standards are:
- NAS9945-1, Airworthiness Engineering Academic Curricula
- NAS9945-2, Airworthiness Engineering Training and Education – Civil Aviation
- NAS9945-3, Airworthiness Engineering Training and Education – Defense and Military
AIA has been developing and publishing standards for the global aerospace market since 1941. For more information on AIA’s standards program, please visit http://www.aia-nas.org. AIA’s National Aerospace Standards NAS9945-1, NAS9945-2, and NAS9945-3 are available for purchase here.
Below are statements of support for the standards from leading industry experts and educators.
“This NAS9945 collection of standards now establishes a well-defined base-line for a whole new engineering discipline, both academically and professionally. I sense in future time these standards will be employed by companies, institutions, and accrediting agencies for creating education, training, and determining advancement points within the field that will be uniformly received and recognized, very much like other new engineering fields of former times (mechanical, electrical, aeronautical, aerospace, computer, and so on).”
-Jim Ladesic, Former Associate Dean of Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
“This standard is the link that will now allow institutions of higher education to become involved in the airworthiness inculcation and training process in engineering and engineering technology programs nationwide. Prior to this standard there wasn’t wide agreement on what an academic program in Airworthiness Engineering should look like; that problem is now solved.”
-R. Kurt Barnhart, Ph.D., Professor at Kansas State University Polytechnic
“Strengthening ‘showing of compliance’ and ‘finding of compliance’ efforts associated with aircraft designs, and design changes, are the foundation of aviation safety. FAA, DoD, and industry experts agree that these efforts can be improved by increasing and enhancing certification and airworthiness education and training.
“Applicants, design approval holders, suppliers, repair stations, and universities with Aerospace, Aeronautical, and other Aviation related Engineering programs can find course topic and content ideas in NAS9945-2, Airworthiness Engineering Training and Education – Civil Aviation, and NAS9945-3, Airworthiness Engineering Training and Education – Defense and Military. In addition, curriculum guidance can be found in NAS9945-1, Airworthiness Engineering Academic Curricula.”
-John W. Lee, Senior Technical Fellow of Certification, Test & Regulatory Compliance at Spirit AeroSytems, Inc.
BACKGROUND:
In July 2020, AIA published a new AIA National Aerospace Standard for airworthiness engineering called NAS9945, Airworthiness Engineering Training and Education. Over the last year, three AIA working groups developed three additional NAS9945 standards, developed in conjunction with industry, academia, and government and military partners.
NAS9945-1, Airworthiness Engineering Academic Curricula
- Focuses on curricula structure, content and the instructional expectations considered necessary and sufficient for educating post-secondary students in the basic principles of aircraft certification and airworthiness engineering that complies with national, regional, and professional accreditation standards for universities, colleges, and other academic entities at undergraduate and graduate levels.
- Recommends structure and content for organizations and institutions that provide airworthiness related education and training generally for employees and individuals supporting products and/or services requiring airworthiness related knowledge and skills.
NAS9945-2, Airworthiness Engineering Training and Education – Civil Aviation
- Provides content related guidance for developing and conducting airworthiness training and education programs to address the needs of industry and government, with specific emphasis on civil aviation airworthiness and certification.
- Provides course content guidance for colleges and universities
- Provides guidance to industry for providing professional advancement of working engineers and technicians in the aerospace community who are involved with certification and continuing airworthiness of civilian aircraft through activities such as design, testing, manufacturing, repair and/or maintenance.
NAS9945-3, Airworthiness Engineering Training and Education – Defense and Military
- Provides content related guidance for developing and conducting airworthiness training and education programs to address the needs of industry and government, with specific emphasis on defense and military aviation airworthiness and certification.
- Provides course content guidance for colleges and universities
- Provides guidance to industry for providing professional advancement of working engineers and technicians in the aerospace community who are involved with certification and continuing airworthiness of military and other public aircraft through activities such as design, testing, manufacturing, repair and/or maintenance.
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