Composites Maintenance Workshop
Dates: November 30–December 2, 2004 Time: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Location: Boeing Longacres Training Facility Renton, WA
Message from the FAA
To Workshop Participants:
Thank you for your participation in the Composite Maintenance Workshop, which was hosted by the FAA Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials in Transport Aircraft Structures (AMTAS) and The Boeing Company. The workshop proceedings and results are posted on this AMTAS website and we invite further feedback. Please send your comments to Charlie Seaton at charles.seaton@edcc.edu. Our goal is to finalize the course objectives by the end of March 2005.
As you know, the focus of this workshop was on composite maintenance training. I was very pleased by the large amount of data collected at this workshop. Those in attendance provided insights and direction for FAA AMTAS research on this subject in 2005.
We hope to use information collected at the workshop to standardize an initial basis in composite maintenance training that is appropriate for engineers, technicians and inspectors entering the field. Such a basis could be expanded in the future to include additional training standards that meet the needs of individuals, which require advanced skills and specialization for specific composite maintenance and repair tasks. The interest and enthusiasm expressed by workshop participants, as well as the willingness to share information makes me believe that we will achieve our goals in this effort.
The expanding use of composite materials in aircraft structures justifies the joint efforts of industry, academia and regulatory agencies to ensure safe applications and an educated workforce. Many engineers in the field will need training on damage characteristics, inspection, disposition procedures, material handling, repair methods (processes, tooling & equipment), finishing and documentation for composite maintenance. In order to meet industry needs, the training must balance some basic understanding of composites with practical insights and a realization of differences with maintenance technologies used for metal aircraft structures. The training must also be available in forms that can be adopted throughout the world. Finally, it is desired to work together in establishing training standards, which ensure consistent and efficient industry practice.
The FAA is committed to working with industry and academia in this important area of composite safety, continued airworthiness and standardization. In the future, we will periodically update the status of AMTAS work on composite maintenance training development. We look forward to the support of workshop participants, who expressed an interest in providing additional inputs and actively reviewing AMTAS progress in the coming year. Others that were not present at the workshop are also encouraged to take an active role.
We will complete our first year’s efforts and conduct a workshop to review progress in the late summer of 2005. Related policy and guidance materials will be created in future years to further support safety standards that are acceptable to industry.
Larry Ilcewicz
Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor, Composites
Federal Aviation Administration