WHITE PAPER

Aircraft Safety Assessment (ARP 4761)

The aircraft System Safety Assessment (SSA) is a vital foundation for the certification of aircraft and engines along with the installations of systems and  equipment. The role of the safety assessment is to ensure the safety of the aircraft, its crew, and the occupants. Essentially, aircraft safety is ensured by performing careful analysis, architectural optimization, criticality level determination, highly reliable components, adequate redundancy of functions and items, adequate monitoring, and sound maintenance practices.

ConsuNova has the experienced engineers that can perform the SSA and the Designated Engineering Representatives (DERs) that are authorized by the FAA to approve or recommend approval on their behalf. This whitepaper provides an overview to understanding the System Safety Assessment process so that you can make informed decisions prior to hiring experts.

The safety assessment process primarily utilizes the following relevant industry and authority documents, to address the regulations 23.1309/2510, 25.1309, 27.1309, and 29.1309.

The safety assessment process utilizes experienced engineers (versed in the above documents and regulations) to proceed through a series of analyses pertaining to the system and aircraft. As the safety assessment proceeds, the following documentation typically accompanies the various analyses:

• Aircraft Functional Hazard Assessment (FHA)
• Aircraft Fault Tree Analyses (FTAs)
• System FHAs
• System FTAs
• System Failure Modes and Effects Analyses (FMEAs)
• Item FTAs
• Item FMEAs

A common misconception is that the safety assessment goal is to eradicate the potential for hazards; while lofty, such is impossible with complex asynchronous avionics systems. Instead, potential hazards must be effectively uncovered and quantified via the philosophy in this white-paper.