CAST holds SDR working meeting

The Center of Aviation Safety Technology joint departmental work meeting on service difficulty report (SDR) was held on December 7th to discuss relevant issues on aviation safety. The Maintenance Engineering Department and the Aircraft Airworthiness Department of the Civil Aviation Administration of China - Center of Aviation Safety Technology (CAST) met to discuss SDR-related issues and aviation safety concerns. Present at the working meeting were Shi Dinghao, Director of CAST, Shu Muhuai, General Engineer of CAST, and Chen Xinfeng, Vice Director of Maintenance Engineering Department of CAST. Shu Muhuai presided over the meeting and introduced the meeting’s main objectives. According to Shu, they were to promote the exchange of CAST’s airworthiness and a continuous airworthiness program by using the SDR work platform, and to undertake promotion of the SDR work program to the next level. Shu also presented a brief review of the history of the SDR work and on the CAAC’s airworthiness program. He also stressed the importance of SDR data and its application to the many works and research made by CAST using the information gathered from it. Shu further said that there was still much to discover about SDR’s data analysis and risk evaluation work. Vice Director Chen Xinfeng of the CAST’s Maintenance Engineering Department delivered a report on their department’s present development on SDR work. Chen reported that with the advancement of the system software and hardware, the SDR work environment has improved. Chen also reported on the disadvantage of the system. According to Chen, because of the technological advancement, SDR system engineers were getting much too dependent on the computer system. He added that too much reliance on the computer system reduces the engineers’ analytical performance in exploring choices and using logical information. Vice Director Chen made a suggestion for the creation of a monthly exchange system that will encourage the system engineers to participate in on-site evaluation. The monthly exchange system can develop the system engineers in researching relevant topics that will help prevent work problems from recurring. Furthermore, Chen said, their department is currently developing an early warning system for SDR. The system is intended to further carry out classification management and risk evaluation of SDR works.