Continuing airworthiness: major drivers and challenges in civil and military aviation

A wide regulatory reform is taking place world-wide in the continuing airworthiness domain. The major influences for promoting changes in how continuing airworthiness is managed are civil and military aircraft accidents to which fatigue, corrosion, wear, deterioration in ageing aircraft and the need for regulatory harmonisation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) signatory states and the military were the contributing factors. Another emerging factor is the conversion of older passenger aircraft to freighters, which brings forth the concern that aircraft are being used in a capacity for which they were not designed. The challenges of the regulatory reform are acceptance, certification of maintenance organizations and personnel, education and training, as well as information sharing and administration. This paper presents both the drivers and challenges in these areas and proposes a related change management framework.