ARP 4761 Functional Hazard Assessment (FHA) Online Training (AV-CERT-340)

Course overview

The Functional Hazard Assessment is the entry point to the entire safety process, and getting it right shapes everything downstream. AV-CERT-340 is a focused course on applying the FHA method at both aircraft and system levels.

It covers how to identify functions, postulate failure conditions, classify severity, and capture the assumptions and safety objectives that flow into PSSA and DAL assignment.

What you will learn

• The purpose and scope of the Functional Hazard Assessment
• How to apply FHA at the aircraft level and the system level
• Identifying failure conditions and classifying their severity
• Deriving safety objectives and assumptions from the FHA
• How FHA outputs feed PSSA and DAL assignment

Who should take this course

Safety and systems engineers who need to plan or perform Functional Hazard Assessments as part of an ARP 4761 program.

Recommended prerequisite: AV-CERT-300 — ARP 4761 Safety Assessment (FHA, PSSA, SSA, CCA)

Course outline

1. Purpose of the FHA — why it is the entry point to the whole safety process.
2. Aircraft-level and system-level FHA — applying the method at both levels.
3. Identifying failure conditions — postulating how functions can fail and combine.
4. Classifying severity — from no safety effect to catastrophic, and the objectives each implies.
5. Outputs that flow downstream — safety objectives and assumptions that feed PSSA and DAL assignment.

Why the FHA shapes the entire safety program

The Functional Hazard Assessment is the first analysis in ARP 4761, and its results set the agenda for everything that follows. By identifying each function, postulating its failure conditions and classifying their severity — minor, major, hazardous, catastrophic — the FHA establishes the safety objectives and the quantitative probability targets the rest of the program must meet, and it is those classifications that ultimately drive Development Assurance Level assignment. An FHA that misses a failure condition or misclassifies its severity does not just contain an error; it mis-scopes the whole safety and assurance effort.

That is why the FHA rewards care in exactly the places teams tend to rush: enumerating functions completely, considering combinations and external conditions, and capturing the assumptions behind each classification so they can be validated later. This focused course shows how to apply the method rigorously at both aircraft and system level and produce an FHA the downstream analyses can rely on.

What you will be able to do afterward

After AV-CERT-340 you will be able to perform a Functional Hazard Assessment at aircraft and system level, identify and classify failure conditions, derive safety objectives, and produce FHA outputs that feed PSSA and DAL assignment.

How this course fits your certification path

AV-CERT-340 is a focused follow-on to AV-CERT-300 (ARP 4761 safety assessment) and pairs with AV-CERT-350 (Fault Tree Analysis). For a deeper read, see our article on the role of Functional Hazard Assessment in avionics. Prefer instructor-led? Explore our full ARP 4754 & 4761 training courses.

How on-demand training works

Every ConsuNova module is delivered online and self-paced, so you can learn on your own schedule. Each purchase includes 30-day access with unlimited views and downloads for one user, and a certificate of completion is issued automatically when you finish the module.

Your instructors

This module is authored and delivered by ConsuNova’s senior certification authorities, giving you both FAA and EASA perspectives on compliance:

Reza Madjidi FAA DER Consultant

Provides FAA Designated Engineering Representative expertise on U.S. avionics certification.

Martin Beeby EASA CVE Authorized

Brings EASA Certification Verification Engineer authority on European avionics compliance.

Frequently asked questions