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The Safety Management System requires a structured Risk Management Process to be effective. In the technical fields where numerous potentially catastrophic risks exist, processes and procedures need to account not only for the hardware random failures but also of human errors. The technology has progressed to the point where the predominant safety risks are not so much the machine failures but that of the human interaction. Accidents are rarely the result of a single cause but of a number of latent contributing factors that when combined result in the accident. In the Aerospace industry, the operational risk to the fleet is assessed by the manufacturer and the operator independently and is used in safety and/or regulatory decision-making.

Metal matrix composites (MMCs) exhibit superior characteristics such as low weight, high stiffness, and high mechanical and physical properties. Inheriting such an outstanding combination of specifications, they are nowadays considered as the promising materials in the aerospace and biomedical industries. However, the presence of high abrasive reinforcing particles in MMCs leads to severe manufacturing issues. Due to the tool-particle interactions which occur during the machining of MMCs, high tool wear and poor surface finish are induced and those elements are considered as the main drawbacks of cutting MMCs. In this study, dry turning experiments were conducted for two different inserts and coated carbide on a bar of titanium metal matrix composite (Ti-MMC). Semi-finishing machining is operated with cutting parameters based on the tool supplier's recommendations which were not fully optimized. The maximum flank wear length (VBBmax) was selected as the tool wear criteria.

The need for efficient manufacturing approaches has emerged with the increasing usage of composites for structural components in commercial aviation. Resin Transfer Molding (RTM), a process where a fiber preform is injected with resin into a closed tool, can achieve high fiber content required for structural components as well as improved dimensional accuracy since all surfaces are controlled by a tool surface. Moreover, RTM is well suited for parts that can be standardized throughout the aircraft, such as a fuselage frames and stringers. The objective of this investigation is to develop a preforming approach for a C-Shaped Fuselage frame. Two approaches are proposed: tri-axial braiding and hand lay-up of Non-Crimp Fabrics. The fiber architecture of the basic materials as well as the complete preforms is explained. The necessary preforming operations are detailed. The quality control measurement of fiber orientation and thickness are presented.

Statistical process control (SPC) has been extensively used in many different industries including automotive, electronics, and aerospace, among others. SPC tools such as control charts, process capability analysis, sampling inspection, etc., have definitive and powerful impact on quality control and improvement for mass production and similar production systems. In aerospace manufacturing, however, applications of SPC tools are more challenging, especially when these tools are implemented in processes producing products of large sizes with slower production rates. For instance, following a widely accepted rule-of-thumb, about 100 units of products are required in the first phase of implementing a Shewhart type control chart. Once established, it then can be used for process control in the second phase for actual production process monitoring and control.

Within the aerospace industry there is a growing interest in evaluating and reducing the environmental impacts of products and related risks to business. Consequently, requests from governments, customers, manufacturers, and other interested stakeholders, for environmental information about aerospace products are becoming widespread. Presently, requests are inconsistent and this limits the ability of the aerospace industry to meet the informational needs of various stakeholders and reduce the environmental impacts of their products in a cost-effective manner. Energy consumption is a significant business cost, risk, and a simple proxy value for overall environmental impact. This paper presents the initial research carried out by an academic and industry consortium to develop standardised methods for calculating and reporting the embodied manufacturing energy content of aerospace products.

The hydraulic actuators are used to power flight control surfaces of the aircraft and to ensure surface movement. A system of two or three actuators is usually designed depending on the surface and intuitively these actuators are considered as a redundant architecture from a reliability and functionality point of view. The proper reliability modeling of the system of actuators must consider the system's functionality and design constraints for the remaining available actuator hinge-moment in the event of a partial or total actuator failure. As a result, this will affect the reliability assessment of that design. Furthermore, this system of actuators is also designed to provide a second function involving an assurance of the surface stiffness and damping. Generally, this second function does not require necessarily the same number of available actuators in order to be fully provided.

Manufacturing operations introduce unreliability into hardware that is not ordinarily accounted for by reliability design engineering efforts. Inspections and test procedures normally interwoven into fabrication processes are imperfect, and allow defects to escape which later result in field failures. Therefore, if the reliability that is designed and developed into an equipment/system is to be achieved, efforts must be applied during production to insure that reliability is built into the hardware. There are various ways to improve the reliability of a product. These include: Simplification Stress reduction/strength enhancement Design Improvement Using higher quality components Environmental Stress Screening before shipment Process Improvements, etc. This paper concentrates on ‘Manufacturing Process Improvement’ effort through the use of design of experiments, (DOE). Hence, improved levels of reliability can be achieved.

Aircraft systems are designed with reliability, safety and cost effectiveness in mind. The certification of the aircraft is based on tests and results of theoretical analyses that show the compliance with the FAR/JAR requirements. Monitoring for safety for in-service aircraft is an important, critical and extremely complex process. The ultimate objective is to assure that the safety level is equal to the original estimate or better. The manufacturer of the aircraft is particularly responsible for overall monitoring and assessment of all safety related events and corrective actions. Many different philosophies were adopted for this purpose. The safety monitoring and audit strategy is generally based on experience, engineering judgment, event analysis and numerical quantification by using probability theory and statistical tools. The aircraft sequential entry in the service and the aging of their components lead to the non-homogeneity of the fleet.

Ice adhesion on critical aircraft surfaces is a serious potential hazard that runs the risk of causing accidents. For this reason aircraft are equipped with active ice protection systems (AIPS). AIPS increase fuel consumption and add complexity to the aircraft systems. Reducing energy consumption of the AIPS or replacing the AIPS by a Passive Ice Protection System (PIPS), could significantly reduce aircraft fuel consumption. New coatings with superhydrophobic properties have been developed to reduce water adherence to surfaces. Superhydrophobic coatings can also reduce ice adhesion on surfaces and are used as icephobic coatings. The question is whether superhydrophobic or icephobic coatings would be able to reduce the cost associated with AIPS.

Nowadays, optimization of manufacturing and assembly operations requires taking into account the inherent processes variations. Geometric and dimensional metrology of mechanical parts is very crucial for the aerospace industry and contributes greatly to its. In a free-state condition, non-rigid parts (or compliant parts) may have a significant different shape than their nominal geometry (CAD model) due to gravity loads and residual stress. Typically, the quality control of such parts requires a special approach where expensive and specialized fixtures are needed to constrain dedicated and follow the component during the inspection. Inspecting these parts without jig will have significant economic impacts for aerospace industries, reducing delays and the cost of product quality inspection. The Iterative Displacement Inspection (IDI) algorithm has been developed to deal with this problem.

The safe operation of technical systems is a mandatory basic requirement for the entire industry. However, there are specific industries where the safety of operation is critical and is considered as a required characteristic. These types of industries include the aerospace, military, civil aviation, nuclear power, as well as chemical and automotive industries. Safety is everyone's responsibility but engineering plays the most important role in the course of achieving a safe product operation. There are two specific phases of the product life cycle where the safety characteristics should be addressed by engineering activities: the design and development and operation phases. Modern engineering education is oriented to provide future engineers with a sufficient background to be able to Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate.

In civil aviation the main driver for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is to provide maintenance and ownership benefits. The maintenance benefits are defined in terms of improving maintenance planning, increasing inspection intervals and reducing inspection cost. The ownership benefits can be measured in residual value and life extension. In this paper different aspects of SHM implementation are discussed for fatigue monitoring and fatigue damage sensing with a consideration of minimizing challenges for SHM implementation. First, the current Fatigue Monitoring implementation scenarios for the most representative agile military aircraft are reviewed. In the following some aircraft utilization results obtained from analyzing different airlines are presented. The obtained results show a better possibility of categorizing fleet of an airline in comparison with agile military aircraft.

During its flight an aircraft can be struck by lightning and the induced high current will require a highly conductive airframe skin structure in order for it to propagate through with minimum damage. However an aircraft skin is generally coated with paint and the airframer does not always have control on the paint thickness. Paint thickness generates heightened concerns for lightning strike on aircraft, mainly because most of coatings dedicated to that purpose are non-conductive. Using insulating material or non-conductive coating with certain thickness may contribute to or increase damage inflicted by the swept stroke lightning energy, even on metallic structures Due to its high relative permittivity, a non-conductive paint or coating on a fuselage skin surface will contribute to slow down the lightning current propagation through structure. With this comes the risk of increasing heat that will favor structural damage and possible melt through.

The aircraft components' lifetime is a key decision–making metric for the performance of safety–critical items. The piece–part degradation and age–related changes are critical from the perspective of design and continued airworthiness. The most obvious issue during design development is to establish the need for planned replacement for components that are known to have a limited life. During investigation of an airworthiness issue, it is necessary to determine if the anomaly is time–dependent. If it is, then the anticipated failure probability as a function of time must be estimated such that a decision regarding corrective action can be made. For both cases, an analysis must be performed to determine if and when planned replacement is necessary. Because unanticipated retrofits are costly and difficult, credible and accurate lifetime prediction is essential.