LAA Engineering restructure

Firstly, a huge thank you for all your support since my arrival last August. In November’s magazine, I asked for feedback and I am pleased to say that you did not hold back. Such honest responses have made a huge difference to my understanding of what we do well, where we could improve, and it is helping us plan the changes which we are now putting in place.

These changes were precipitated by our former Chief Engineer, Francis Donaldson, moving into a part-time consultancy role at the end of 2021, with Jon Viner stepping into the breach as our Chief Technical Officer, to whom all the Engineering team now report.

Key areas of responsibility have been divided among our existing specialists, with Ben Syson taking over the role of Head of Design and Andy Draper becoming the Head of Flight Test. Jerry Parr has become Head of Airworthiness and has been joined by Andy O’Dell, supporting Jerry as Airworthiness Engineer. Fiona Storer is taking on a greater responsibility for the timely turnaround of mod applications through the department, while Adele Cooney will be taking on more of the day-to-day responsibility for the coordination of the Permit to Fly revalidation process.

In addition, Ken Craigie is shortly to retire as our Chief Inspector. Ken has been with the LAA / PFA in this role for 31 years, in which time we have benefitted from his encyclopedic knowledge of our aircraft fleet and, of course, the 350+ strong Inspector team – most of whom he has personally recruited and nurtured through the years. We are currently recruiting for Ken’s successor, who will be announced in due course.

Other members of the team to depart for pastures new this year have been Joe Hadley and Mike Roberts, who both joined us as graduate engineers in 2019. Again, a huge thank you for their support to the LAA and we wish them well with their new challenges.

As well as changes in personnel and roles, a number of our processes are under review, which include:

Airworthiness

The LAA’s paper-based system for the Permit revalidation process has, for the last three decades, been based on the famous LAA ‘blue form’ (green if you fly a gyro). While well known for its speedy turnaround, the mechanics and cost of sending forms through the post are looking decidedly tired these days, so we are planning to move the permit revalidation process online. This will be undertaken in two phases. The first (2022) will allow the option for the forms to be completed, scanned and emailed to us, which will make sending documents between all parties and storing / retrieving the information easier. We will also be providing more detailed guidance about the permit application process and taking stronger measures to help improve the quality of future permit applications. Phase 2 (2023) will aim to bring the system fully online.

Design

We have introduced a new process to prioritise mod applications. This assesses each application by the urgency from one (long term project) to five (aircraft on the ground), and the amount of engineering resource required, from one (a project needing a significant amount of research) to five (a repeat mod that identically replicates the original). Both figures are multiplied, giving a score, with 25 being the highest priority. In due course, scores will also have a time factor applied to ensure that they move up the list.

The main area of concern from our members is the lack of feedback and progress updates with applications and enquiries. To address this, as well as Fiona Storer’s progress chasing role, we are looking to expand the current online facility for members to track engineering first issues, mods and repairs. This will result in a quicker turnaround of applications and will ensure that the relevant communications flow in both directions, so it is clear to all where each request has got to.

New aircraft types

It is essential that we keep looking at new aircraft to bring onto our fleet to provide our members with the latest types and technology, to encourage new members to join and to support manufacturers and suppliers. We are actively working with several manufacturers and suppliers to bring new types, including 600kg microlights, onto the LAA fleet.

Night / IFR

The Night / IFR processes are currently being reviewed, with the aim of speeding up the application process. Watch out for the Night / IFR article in the July issue of Light Aviation

Performance

LAA Engineering’s top priority is, of course, safety and we continue to build upon our excellent record in this area. It is good to report not only that the LAA’s accident rate has remained at a low level so far this year, but also that our Engineering Team audit by the CAA in March resulted in ‘nil findings’… in other words, ‘top marks’.

While the Engineering team has generally achieved high satisfaction rates in our member surveys, I am sure there is still plenty of work to do to keep abreast of new developments, new technologies and customer expectations.

With such a strong team looking after a huge day-to-day throughput of engineering work, my prime task is to further improve the level of service and delivery to the LAA and its members, so please do continue to send me all of your feedback to this address: engineering@laa.uk.com ■