3. Technical Areas

The TC module is the foundation for the aircraft register (EMPIC® AR) and for approvals of organisations (EMPIC® OAS). It is fully integrated into the AR and OAS modules and manages all relevant types (airframes, engines, and propellers) including their data (e.g. MTOM, CS, airworthiness categories, type certificates, TC holders, manufacturers, modifications, parts & appliances, noise certificates, documents, …).

This also covers:

• min crew, max PAX, MLM, volume, BRS, national type acceptance numbers
• automated determination of all relevant EASA categories (complex motor-powered aircraft, ELA1, ELA2, Part-ML)
• additional data structures and values according to customer’s specification
• hierarchical structure for airframe, engine, and propeller types including blades
• management of related TCDSes, SASes, their TC holders, and orphans
• management of historic and current manufacturers
• synonyms (marketing designations, popular and historical names, …)
• noise certificates (all ICAO chapters, levels, …)
• variable management for noise certificates
• management and approval of modifications (STCs, major, minor, repairs, …) and their design holders including invoicing
• parts and appliances and their manufacturers, amongst others ELT, radio equipment, main and tail rotors of helicopters, as well as baskets, burners, and envelopes of balloons
• airworthiness directives (ADs), their relationships (revision, correction, cancellation, merge, split, …) and pertaining documents
• mapping functionality for all aircraft types to other EMPIC-EAP® modules that use rating systems based on ICAO CICTT data to enable validation
• incoming and outgoing notifications about relevant changes from and to customer management (EMPIC® CM) or the aircraft register (EMPIC® AR)
• powerful search function with numerous filters, user-specific preferences, …
• bookmarks for fast access to important objects
• history management “Who did what and when in the database?”
• XML import/export interface for all relevant data
• Excel import interface for noise data published by EASA

This module supports aviation authorities in the administration of registered aircraft covering their life cycle. It takes care of organisational matters such as registration and deregistration of aircraft including the corresponding board documents (CofR, CofD,…), owners and operators, insurance, ICAO 83bis contracts, IDERAs, exemptions, accidents and invoices, as well as airworthiness issues. The latter includes the management of airworthiness inspections, corrective action handling, and the corresponding board documents (e.g., CofA, ARCs, PtF and tempPtF, Export CofA), suspension, AMPs and maintenance.

Recorded data and available features include:

• reservation of registration marks
• temporary or permanent registration of national and foreign aircraft including management of registration data (mark changes, home base, data on aircraft import, customs data and assignment of mode S codes) which follows a life cycle that ends with deregistration
• management of all aircraft addresses (mode S codes) assigned to the country by ICAO in order to avoid duplicate usage by civil and military authorities.
• management of owners / operators / representatives /… including applicants for the respective roles
• link to TC types (airframe, engines, propellers) and all corresponding technical data (as detailed under EMPIC® TC)
• actual manufacturer, serial number, year of construction, and recording of flight hours (TSN, TSO, … for airframe, engines, and propellers)
• management of ELT 406 parts & appliances, their codes, and the corresponding contacts
• insurance policies covering aircraft and/or passengers
• ICAO 83bis or other contracts between countries
• management of IDERAs (based on the Capetown Convention)
• management of all types of suspensions (groundings), e.g. administrative ones by CAA, organisational ones by owner/operator, …
• exemptions from regulations
• management of technical actions scopes relevant especially for AOC certificates
• management of AMPs (e.g. maintenance programs, (self-)declarations)
• maintenance (e.g. CAMOs, CAOs, MOs / AMO’s, self-maintenance (POM, …)
• references to all OAS certificates concerning the aircraft / fleet
• integrated surveillance layer (EMPIC® SL) to enable a powerful management of aircraft inspections incl. corrective action handling and finding resp. follow-up register and a powerful rule management
• integrated mobile solution (EMPIC® mobileSL) to conduct offline aircraft inspections at aerodromes, airfields, hangars, …
• as of 2020, EMPIC® AR includes case management to handle more complex procedures in highly configurable worksheets, as detailed on EMPIC® CASE
• management of inspectors, delegates, certifying staff, and independent certifying staff
• management of accidents including related pilots, as well as material damage and personal injury
• powerful configuration feature for board documents including management of their life cycle (draft, active, suspended, revoked, inactive, …)
• issuing of board documents (standard or self-configured), management of duplicates, full history
• upload functionality for certificates via EMPIC® WEB for employees of airworthiness companies like CAMOs, CAOs, AMOs, … and freelancers holding necessary authorisations
• linking of parts & appliances, e.g. to detail hardware used for communication or radio signals as well as removed / added components which must be printed on an aircraft’s CofR
• administration of all relevant modifications (STC’s, major, minor, …)
• printouts like letters, reports, overviews, …
• management of assigned documents (by the system resp. by the user), sent e-mails and invoices, file notes and alerts
• de-registration and non-registration notifications
• bookmarks for fast access to important objects
• additional data structures and values according to customer’s specification
• incoming and outgoing notifications about relevant changes from and to customer management (EMPIC® CM) or type certificates (EMPIC® TC), and about open findings or corrective actions from the surveillance layer (EMPIC® SL)
• powerful search function with numerous filters, user-specific preferences, …
• history management “Who did what and when in the database?”
• XML import/export interface of all relevant data

The AO component within the AR module manages aircraft mortgages in a dedicated life cycle:

• mortgages can be assigned to an individual aircraft or to groups of aircraft
• managed data include a unique reference number, status, registration date, local and foreign mortgagor, mortgagee, mortgaged sum, and currency
• a mortgage starts out in „draft“ status until all necessary data is completed
• when the responsible officer has set the mortgage status to „active“, data may not be changed anymore
• the current mortgagee may be substituted by another. These so-called cessions are historically recorded
• the mortgage life cycle ends with the status „discharged“

EMPIC® OR is a reporting tool for the aviation occurrences. The Module offers an API which can be integrated into the Authority’s website/frontend and the EMPIC® OR module’s backend provides the possibility to report / retrieve occurrences. via a self-developed frontend for non-EASA countries or an interface to EASA E2. The authorities using the solution can review, save, process, conduct investigations and follow up on these occurrences.

Regulators may assess occurrence risks and link the affected aircraft and organisation, pilot etc within the EMPIC-EAP® system to the occurrence. This data could be further used in EMPIC’s Risk- and Performance-Based Oversight module as a basis for even better decision-making and predictions on future risks in relation to stakeholders or service providers. Using the occurrence dashboard, regulators can get an overview on all the occurrences and filter them based on sector, class, severity etc.

The module offers the following functionalities:

• API interface to report/ retrieve occurrences
• an inbox function allows the users to view and analyse the incoming original reports and create an occurrence object or mark reports as duplicates
• users can set up the mandated reporting timeframe in the module and follow up on occurrences accordingly
• users can link involved aircraft, organisations, and persons to the occurrence
• Combined with CASE feature, user can create and conduct multiple investigations on Occurrencesrisk assessment and safety recommendations for occurrences
• based on the outcome and assessments of Occurrence investigations, various enforcements can be created using Enforcement object.
• all activities on the occurrences will be logged

An extremely detailed module, integrated in OAS, providing everything required for the registration, certification approval and oversight of flight simulators, their operators, sites, variants, etc. This module also uses the full functionality of EMPIC’s surveillance layer (module EMPIC® SL) to support audit preparation, completion, and follow-up.