CASE STUDY

Air Seeker Airworthiness/Safety Certification

BACKGROUND

Air Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (Air ISTAR) is the RAF’s eyes and ears in the sky and provides British and NATO military commanders with critical information about activity on the ground, in the air and at sea. It runs a fleet of aircraft that all require ‘Release to Service’ certificates to prove airworthiness.

THE CHALLENGE

The client was experiencing major programme and process issues to obtain ‘Release to Service’ certificates. They wanted a small company of experts with no vested interest to find a different approach to the problem, get them certified, change the organisational culture and save money.

OUR SOLUTION

We drove and realigned resource, streamlined the process and prioritised data to deliver the key safety artefacts for certification. We set up a project management office to define and manage safety tasks throughout the supply chain and ensured success was defined and understood by all stakeholders. Once established, we managed the transition of process, culture and people across the whole air ISTAR fleet.

THE BENEFIT

The ‘Release to Service’ programme was brought back on track and ultimately all the Air ISTAR fleet was given the ok to fly. Hazard analysis and reporting was simplified and formalised, along with improved efficiencies for the Stakeholder Community. Focussed hazard reviews resulted in the review and sentencing of the complete hazard set.

Our work brought consistency across the three Air ISTAR platforms. It now supports the Defence, Equipment & Support Transformation Programme by enabling staff to transfer between projects and delivers significant cost savings in safety management activities.