Groups to Support Supersonic Aircraft Applications and Clarify the Role of Human Considerations
in Development and Safety Assessment Processes

WARRENDALE, Pa. (June 14, 2022) – To promote the advancement of aerospace standards, SAE International announces the formation of two new aerospace entities. The Supersonic Aircraft Steering Group, which will help identify and coordinate standardization activities necessary to support supersonic aircraft applications and hypersonic aircraft applications. In addition, the SAE S-18H Human Considerations for Safety Assessment Committee will develop aerospace industry information reports, recommended practices, and standards to clarify the role of human considerations in the development and safety assessment processes.

Supersonic and hypersonic aircraft applications are being researched, developed and tested to varying degrees of maturity. The activities of the Supersonic Aircraft Steering Group are intended to harness industry stakeholders to help shape the collective effort of supersonic aircraft systems and applications, and through the collaboration of industry and government, look to how industry standards may facilitate certification and regulatory compliance.

The purpose of the S-18H committee is to bring together aviation stakeholder expertise to clarify relationships and resolve gaps involving human considerations in function development, safety assessments and human factors processes. Reports produced by the committee will facilitate closing the gaps between these processes in civil aviation. 

Robert Voros, Chair of S-18H and System Safety Lead at Merlin Labs said, "The S-18H committee, in collaboration with the G-10 committee on Flight Deck Human Factors, has begun the work of developing and improving standards to comprehensively address the role of human considerations as part of the safety assessment process. SAE has gathered expertise from several aerospace committees and the industry to assure the development of timely and useful documents which will address this critical issue in civil aviation."

“Boom applauds SAE’s initiative to proactively evaluate new and updated standards required for commercial supersonic aircraft certification and regulatory compliance, and we expect the work of the SASG will help facilitate the timely return of commercial sustainable supersonic aircraft,” said Ben Murphy, Head of Sustainability Policy at Boom Supersonic.

“SAE International is honored to work with the global aviation community through these new SAE standards groups to develop important standards to support the growth of the exciting new supersonic and hypersonic aerospace community, and with S-18H to take on the critical role of addressing human considerations in the development and safety assessment processes” said David Alexander, Senior Director, Standards at SAE International.

Applications are now being accepted for volunteers to participate in the SAE S-18H Committee.  If you are interested in joining, please contact Kevin Bires at Kevin.Bires@sae.org. To learn more about SAE International’s standards committees, please visit: https://www.sae.org/standards/development.

About SAE International
SAE International is a global organization committed to advancing mobility knowledge and solutions for the benefit of humanity. By engaging nearly 200,000 engineers, technical experts and volunteers, we connect and educate mobility professionals to enable safe, clean, and accessible mobility solutions. We act on two priorities: encouraging a lifetime of learning for mobility engineering professionals and setting the standards for industry engineering. We strive for a better world through the work of our philanthropic SAE Foundation, including award-winning programs like A World In Motion® and the Collegiate Design Series™. More at http://www.sae.org.

###

Contact:
Jeff Laskowski
SAE International
248.925.4770
pr@sae.org