Sunday, December 30, 2012

Aircraft Engineer Assessment

To become a aircraft engineer will almost guarantee you to earn a decent income. Many people may not exposed to this and may miss the opportunities. A person may join a training school and get the basic license within 4 years. The training will involve classroom (2400 hours), On job training (2 years), continuous examinations and assessments. This posting is about the assessments.

The applicants for the EASA examinations, either the A or B categories need to be assessed based on the followings:
- the learning objectives and the passing level. A typical learning objectives can be as... at the end of the program/class/ workshop etc, the participant would be able to .....action word ( list, demonstrate, explain etc) under ........ (specific condition) with .... specific performance (example 75% passing mark, do the task within 5 minutes etc).

At the conclusion, the trainee should know what he did well, what he did poorly and how he can improve.

A good assessment will have the following characteristics...
- clear objective.
- flexible approach
- acceptable
- comprehensive, covering the required areas.
- organised and thoughtful.

The following are examples of the areas of assessment for aircraft engineer.

- What are the success factors for the job?. The questions may be direct. Let say, for a task to change the wheel, the success factors can be... the tools, knowledge on how to access the wear limit and tyre conditions, the safety precautions and others. Then the assessor has to ask and check if the trainees know these factors.

- Reference and standard.
In the case of the tyre, where are the limit references. How many retreads are allowed?. If the reference is made to the maintenance manual, the trainees should know the elements of the manual, the effective pages etc.

Airworthiness Authority - EASA AMC Part 66 and 145

One of the task an approved 147 school has to do is to keep track with the changing regulations. Luckily, the focus is on Part 66 and 147. I enclose the my summary to the Annex to Decision 2012/004/R, focusing on Annex 4- "Acceptable Means of Compliance/Guidance Material to Part-66" and 5- Part 147.
Link to EASA - HERE   

The other important decision is the Regulation EU1149/2011 and Decision 2012/004R

A. PART 66 - These are the noted changes...
a. Changes in the time limit for knowledge and experiences requirements -
- previously, the limit to complete and pass the modules was 5 years. Now the limit encompass the knowledge examinations and experience is limited to 10 years. The proof of passing the examinations and the recent experiences are still required.
- The recent experiences is defined as... at least 1 year of recent experience, and recent means.. 50% (6 months) of your experience must be within the last 1 year and the rest must be within 7 years. The other "non-recent" can be within 10 years limit.  

b. Procedures of examinations failures.
If an applicants fails his/her examination, the waiting periods are given below.
- after first attempt - 90 days waiting
- after second attempt- 90 days waiting period.
- after third attempt and still fail, 1 year waiting period.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Issue of Staff Retention

The majority of Aircraft Maintenance School is run by an engineer or someone who has been raised up as an aircraft engineer. There is nothing wrong with that, and in fact the civil aviation requirements stipulates that such school and MRO has to have the accountable manager who is a qualified engineer.

However, engineers has the major short coming, probably their long and intense engagement with machines, making them more suited to deal with machines rather than human. My company facing a major setback due to the unexpected departure of teaching staff.

The company was employing a large number of young aircraft engineer as junior lecturers. The arrangement works very well, the newly qualified engineers were still fresh with the subjects. They had just passed their examinations. As they do not have type rating, they were facing problem to get a suitable job. The company offered them the job. Their pay is relatively lower as they are still inexperience.



Friday, August 10, 2012

Creating Multiple Streams of Income for Aviation Schools

The following blog posting was moved from my other blog http://part66school.blogspot.com/. It was posted in error into that blog,  where the blog is  reserved for resources for B1 examination.


An aircraft maintenance school is setup and guided by the EASA part 147 rulings to train the students to obtain the aircraft maintenance license. The curriculum of the course is stated in the Part 66.

Although the main objective of a 147 organisation is to train the students for the license, there a number of opportunities to create multiple income streams. In order to organize my thought, I would divided the opportunities into three groups...

a. based on the school's existing  processes,
b. based on core competencies.

A. Opportunities based school Training Process
Students has to be trained. The process will start from selection process, classroom training, On job training, internal examination and the License Qualifying examination.

The simplified processes are shown below:
STUDENTS selection---> TRAINING --> EXAMINATION -->QUALIFYING

The group of Students also need accommodations, transport and food. These are the other avenues of opportunities.

Without going into detail discussion, the following can be a source on new income opportunities...
- students accommodation - the company can be involved in supplying the meals and the hostels. 
- classroom rental - the school hours is normally between 9 to 5 pm. So classes are free for rental from 6pm to 10 pm.
- manpower resource - the trainees are trained skilled workers.They  need working experience working on the aircraft, it will be a fantastic deals if they are paid to get experiences.They maybe send to work with MRO or airlines during the peak period.
- examination center - Get the approval to be a center and start earning from external students coming for exam.
- Sale of training and study - This can be a world wide business selling selling softcopy of books, training notes and study guides.
- part time classes - there may be working people wanting to acquire the EASA license.

B. Optimising the Company's Competencies
      - The main competencies are managing training and content development and deliveries.
      - It is possible to venture into similar business

CASE STUDY
I had seen how the training organisations in Malaysia optimized their expansion options to various degree of success. Here are some of the observations...
1. One company based in the East Coast used the company's competencies to venture into military training with limited success. Unfortunately it is facing various challenges due to unethical and illegal activities such not paying EPF ad even staff salary.

2. Another organisation in Selangor managed to combine the manpower supply with training and venturing to MRO.

3. There is one education institution venturing into aircraft maintenance training with limited degree of success. Basically they are not able to get out of the education mindset and move to the specialized structured vocational training.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE COMPETENCIES (SKILLS) DEVELOPMENT FOR EASA PART 66 STUDENTS

The award of aircraft maintenance license is made based on the competencies of the applicants. The requirements include the basic knowledge requirements, the skills and work experience. This posting discuss the issue involve in developing the skills components need for aircraft engineer.

1. Introduction
Competencies for a specific job are the cluster of skills set required to perform the JOB effectively according to a given performance criteria. In aircraft maintenance, the performance criteria are set by the authorities and the aircraft manufacturers the like of maintenance manual or CAIP

2. Competency Development Model
a. It is imperative that the skill development processes start from the day the trainees join the Training School  and ended on their graduation. It is frustrating and counterproductive to view the LOG BOOKS of final year students with BLANK entry for BASIC SKILLS.

The model consists of 3 basic components,
- competency plan,
- competency development
- assessment and recording.

The above components have to be managed by the Approved Training School. The authorities, like DCAM are more interested on the assessment and recording. They are less concerned on the planning development, as their roles as a licensing agency is to ensure the standards and requirements are met.

3. DCAM Requirements:
DCAM is very clear and specific on the Knowledge Requirements as detailed in the AN1101/Part 66. However the skills components are open and best guided by the Logbook CAP 741. There are subject the interpretation and experiences of the ATO.

4. The broad requirements are given under AN1201 para 6.4 :
a. Basic Practical Training and Validation
   i. The practical training element shall cover the practical use of common tooling/equipment, the disassembly/assembly of a representative selection of aircraft parts and the participation in representative maintenance activities being carried out relevant to the particular modules such as Modules 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 of Appendix 1 specified in AN No. 1101.
  ii. The skills and experiences acquired by the trainees at the ATO or maintenance organisation shall be validated by a Validator.
  iii. The evidence of validation shall be documented using a document approved by DGCA.

 b. Basic Practical Assessment shall: i. be conducted by an approved practical assessor and carried out in a manner that is acceptable to DGCA; and ii. ensure evidence of skill and experience acquisition and determine whether the student is competent at using tools and equipment and working in accordance with maintenance manuals. The student shall also be assessed on their situational awareness ability.

 5. PROPOSED METHOD:
There are 4 interrelated processes, Planning, Development , Assessment and Recording.

 i. The planning to be linked to the modules, OJT, the logbook and the assessment processes.
ii. Example.

Year
Modules/ OJT
Expected Skills
Log Book to Fill/ Record
Assessment
1
Foundation –
 Basic Workshop
1.Use basic tools
2.micrometer
a. 2.2.B2
b.2.2.A1
When to do assessment





1
Foundation
Safety
Safety awareness
a. 2.2.A1
When to do assessment




                                 
6. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION 
    a. Concept Discussion and agreement 
    b. Processes and time line 
    c. Resource allocation

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

WELCOMING NEW STUDENTS

Yesterday, my school was welcoming 40 new students enrolled for Aircraft Maintenance License. This was my presentation to the group..

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On completion of the course, the students are targeted to get the licenses in the categories of B1-1 and B1-3. These licenses correspond to the fixed wing aircraft with turbine engines and helicopter licenses with turbine engines.
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The companies to work for ranged from airlines, the MRO and manufacturing facilities. The main employers in Malaysia are MAS, AirAsia and SAE or Sepang Aircraft Engineering.

The choice of employers is open.The license is widely accepted and Malaysia License has been accepted in Europe, Middle East and Australia. The small city state of Singapore is taking Malaysian as the preferred workers due to many factors including cultural, historical and legislatives.
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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Tracking of Students' Performance


My EASA 147 school is situated in Malaysia. We are proud to be producing over 200 qualified aircraft maintenance engineer in various fields. Our success is mainly as the direct result of hard works by our staff and our policy of selecting a matured students for our program.

Our process model for the training was designed for students holding at least a diploma in technical subjects.That means they are already have the fundamental knowledge and sufficient discipline to pursue the course of study. However with the recent change of policy, we are currently accepting students with SPM or equivalents and the students performance in the internal examinations has shown a sharp drop.

The failure rate for diploma holders used to hover around 80%, however for SPM holders, it has sharply drop to around 60%. As we were comfortable before, we are pushing for solution.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

SCHOOL's ONGOING PROJECTS

There are some projects which are considered ongoing for EASA 147 school. The documents state the requirements of the school:

1- Continuous Learning.
It is a requirement stated in the regulation that the trainers need to update their knowledge. The amount training is 4 days for every 2 years, averaging 2 days per year. The ruling is rather lenience on the subjects, the contents and the training methodology. 

2- Qualifying for trainers -
3- Assessment Kits -
4- Course Notes
5- Examination Centers
6- Questions Bank
7- Students Performance Tracking  

Monday, May 28, 2012

How to Calculate the number of Trainers Required

The trainers are the most important resource to run a school. I am sharing the formula that can be used to forecast the requirements of trainers required. However, always bear in mind that this is only a forecast and there is always room for error.

There are a few assumptions we have to made. The forecasted may change if the assumption changes. The assumptions are:

a. The class hour per group is 2400 hour for a period of 4 years. (Note: Part 66 EASA states that the training hours is 2400 hr minimum and 40% can be practical.
b. The course of study is 4 years.
c. Instructors teaching hours is 70 hours per month

A. The calculation of the number of instructors:.

If you have 4 intakes per year, and your current number of class is 6, then in one years time you will have 10 classes.
- 10 classes will require 10x2400 hours for 4 years.
- therefore the hour per year = 10x2400/4 hours
= 6000 hours per year
- therefore nbr of instructors = 6000/12 divided by 70
= 7.1 instructors

B. The situation get more complex if the trainers are specialized. Some can only teach airframe, some can do engine and others probably electric. The calculation requires dividing the contents into separate trade.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Maintenance School Technical Instructor

As we are expecting a further expansion to our school, we are in the process of getting more technical instructors.

There are basically 2 groups of instructors, the basic knowledge instructors and the workshop practical instructors. Between these two groups, the qualification requirements are different:

a. Knowledge instructors - They are the trainers that conduct the modular courses meeting the requirements of Part 66.

b. The workshop instructors - they conduct the practical components of the course. Some examples are.. the basic engineering, where the students learn how to file, drill a hole, do the sheet metal works.

The part 66/ 147  give the division between the theory and practical components of the training. The percentage of practical training is about 50%.

The requirements for the trainers are:
- An  aircraft maintenance engineer with 5 year experience on Airframe, Engine or Avionics
or a current trainers with 5 years experience teaching the above categories.

The recruitment Process
We are following the traditional methods of recruitment. We will be advertising for the position in a local newspaper. Then the short-listed applicants will be called for an interview. Normally. we will ask them to provide a short mock teaching for about 10 minutes duration.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Qualifying the Aviation Trainer

The trainers are the key personnel for an aviation school. They are the group that have the direct effect on the students performance. Because of the importance, the aviation authorities, such as FAA and EASA have installed the rules and regulation specific to the trainers (instructors). The guidelines by EASA is about qualifying the trainers and the continuing training.

A. Qualifying for Trainers
The CAA UK is very specific on how aviation trainer to be qualified. The standard document 46 list the requirements as given below:
- The trainers must have undergone an instructional training course.
- Able to demonstrate their understanding of part 66 and 147 knowledge.
- Hold the approved license, if he is teaching courses for B1-1, then he has to have the license.
- The requirement for the license can be replaced by experience as instructors .

B. Implementation of the ATO (approved training school)
An approved school is required to come up with its own procedure to qualify the trainers based on the given guidelines . The policy and procedure to be listed in the TOE (training organisation exposition). It should consist of the followings:

- description of eligible candidate for the position of the trainer. The requirements have to be meeting the requirements of the regulation.

- the process to qualify him to be a trainer. Which include the competencies required, the training to be given and the assessment to be given.

The qualified trainers have to be listed in the TOE. A process has to be observed to endure that the trainers are kept current by giving them the continuing training.


HOW WE DO IT


Our original plan was to do one week program  of the train the trainer. However due to heavy commitment, we are not able to schedule program thus delaying the plan. The next alternative is to send them for the external course. As the course is conducted by a government agency, the cost is rather low.


We also identify the competencies required. Basically is will be putting the requirements that the trainers should be able to:
- deliver a course
- prepare the training notes
- make the suitable presentation material and graphic
- carry out the assessment.

Monday, May 21, 2012

The Assessors and the Assessment

One of the characteristic of the EASA licensing system under Part 66 is the majority of the tasks are to be done by the approved training school, part 147 school. The application for the grant of the licenses can be made by the students of the school and the following documents are required:-

1. Evidence of theoretical knowledge
2.  Practical skills Task and assessment
3.   Assessment of maintenance experience by assessors

Please take note the documents are produced by the school.  The evidence of theoretical knowledge can be obtained by taking and passing the 12 or 13 modules designed for basic knowledge examinations. The course itself shall take about 2400 hours or 2 years. The practical skills are obtained by the various practical jobs done during the course.

If you are familiar with the earlier Section L BCAR license, the assessment of the practical competencies were assessed by the CAA surveyors. However that practice has stopped. The task is now being outsourced to the training school.

As such, the school, like my school, has to prepare for the assessment. Some of the questions being raised are: ...
a. Assessment kits - what are the areas to be assessed and how.
b. Assessment plan - when to assess it.


The whole process remind me of the DCA oral exam under BCAR section L where the authority was responsible for the assessors and the assessment.

Monday, May 7, 2012

easa module 7

We are conducting easa module 7, as an approved part 147 school, we have to comply to the guidelines given.  This is my thought on how the course to be designed...



MODULE 7 PART 3 for B1 – COURSE DESIGN DOCUMENT

1 REQUIREMENTS
a.       AN 1201 6.1 (part 147 approved training organisation)
                                                               i.      The training shall cover the use of common tooling/equipments, the assembly and disassembly of aircraft parts relevant to module 7.
                                                             ii.      Assessments by approved assessors in compliance to DCAM in the use of common tools and equipments    as per MM, and situation awareness.
b.      AN 1101 appendix 1 Module 7 (part 66 of EASA)
                                                               i.      7.1 – precaution working with electricity. L3
                                                             ii.      Meter calibration L3
                                                            iii.      7.4 Avionic General Test Equipment –L2
Operation, Function and Usage.
                                                           iv.      7.5 Wiring diagram, and schematic diagram L2 – working knowledge of wiring diagram. 
                                                             v.      7.7 Electrical wiring interconnect (EWIS) L3
-           continuity, insulation and bonding techniques and test.
-           Use of crimping tools , hand operated and hydraulic.
-          Connector, pin removal and insertion, pin crimping
-          - Co-axial cable testing and installation
-           Identification of wires, inspection and damage tolerance
-           Wiring Protection Techniques, wire looming, support, protection, sleeving, heat shrink, wrapping shield.
-           wirings installation, inspection, and maintenance standard.
                                                           vi.      7.15 Soldering methods, inspection and test – L2
                                                          vii.      7.18 Trouble shooting technique L2

2  TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT
a.       Measuring equipment
                                                               i.      Avometer  or   general electrical meter
                                                             ii.      Insulation Tester.
                                                            iii.      Bonding Tester
b.      Components and aircraft parts
                                                               i.      Aircraft wires. Single, twisted and co-axial.
                                                             ii.      Sleeve, terminal lugs preferred red (20 gauge)
                                                            iii.      Aircraft connectors, in set
                                                           iv.      Pins and sockets.
c.       Other tools
                                                               i.      Crimping tools for lugs and splices
                                                             ii.      Crimping tools for pins and sockets
                                                            iii.      Sample of aircraft wires.
                                                           iv.       Sample of wire tie
                                                             v.      Sample of wire wrap

3DOCUMENTS REQUIRED
a.       Wiring Diagram
b.      Course note – currently not available
c.       Practical guide – with validators certification – not available.

4 TIMING
a.       Currently 1 week is allotted. I will review, and most likely, we need to increase it to 2 weeks. 

5 MANPOWER
                                                               i.      An experience LAE or mechanic, however the CAA requirement is a licensed personnel or experienced instructor.

This are much more to be done in the easa module 7 design. The above is only a skeleton, the contents have to be created. 

Qualifying Programs for Aviation School

As we are getting a few new instructors, I have to come up with a program to qualify them.
Basically, I have to refer to the part 147 and part 66 requirements to draw the program. The other important input is the CAA standard document 46.


Elements
Description (linked to the ITC Course)
Experiences/Knowledge


date
Describe (understand/ identify/ demonstrate)
certified
Part 1 General/
Managing
Training

-AN1101 and 1201
-Basic of Bloom taxonomy of learning
-APR processes
-communication theory/barrier to communication.

-Basic understanding of cognitive/skill/affective domain
-6 levels of cognitive
-ATA 104 and Level  of skills as per AN
-able to differentiate with descriptive words for different level.

Part 1
Presentation
Skill


-  Adult Learning
-Gagne's 9 general steps of instruction for learning


1-familiar with pedagogy and andragogy (Knowles). 
2-Describe features of adult learning
3-Identify the principle of learning used by an instructor.
4-Utilise the andragogy and Gagnes principle.

Part 2

Module
Development

-research process
- Link to requirements AN/Industry
- write module/APR formatting
- pictures/ images
-aware of copy right issues



Part 2
Presentation
Material


-Develop powerpoint
- Presentation Guide



Part 3
Questions
And
Test

-Kirkpatrick levels of assessment
-formative assessment
-Summative assessment
-Open and close questions
-elements of good multiple choice Questions

1-Attend the course on question development.
2-research/EASA Guide
3-Review 3 different real exams papers/students responds
4-Create 20 questions /assessed by senior instructors
5.Qualifying- Able to contrast the good/bad questions, and provide 2 examples each.



Others



To be defined.





The above are the initial thought of the qualifying program for our new trainers.
My target is 6 months..

Friday, April 27, 2012

Recruitment Drive

aircraft maintenance license
Most of the aviation school survive on the fees from the students.Various methods were used to get students to sign in for the course.The school I am work is offering courses leading to 'Licensed aircraft engineer' in Cat B1.1 and B1.3.  The following marketing drives were used...

a. newspaper advertisement - This can be the most effective method of getting the new students. The timing is critical, and our experience shows that the best result is obtained when the ads was made 2 weeks after the release of the result.

b. Trade fare - we had some not-so-encouraging experience. In one case, the management sent 4 persons for the fare, and the result is zero. It is good to be an awareness drive to introduce the company to the public.

c. Web, blogs and facebook - This is certainly the way of the younger generation. They tend to rely on the web and "google" for the information.

Last Saturday we had a marathon of interview, for the new intakes of students.We want to make sure that we select the correct students. The effect of getting a wrong group can be negative for the school. From experience, we can forecast the students ability to complete the course. We dont want to get students that will bring down the name of the school, as the selection is often based on trust. The trust is built with good students performance.