IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU-SAFA PROGRAM IN ROMANIA
Between January 1 and May 31, 2014, Romania's contribution to the European program EU-SAFA on safety assessment of aircraft from third countries using EU airports, coordinated by the SAFA Department of the Security Directorate of the R.A. AACR materialized in carrying out the following specific activities:
Carrying out SAFA inspections
In the first 5 months of 2014, 72 SAFA inspections were performed, totaling 81.01 points (according to the EASA scoring criteria), which represents an 80% increase in the number of SAFA inspections compared to the same periods of the last 2 years.
The platform inspection activity of foreign aircraft carried out by inspectors R.A. AACR consisted of preparing and conducting SAFA inspections, monitoring the resolution of inspected non-compliances by inspected air operators, communicating with national supervisory authorities and transmitting the resulting data to EASA, in accordance with the provisions of RACR-SAFA and PIAC-SAFA procedures.
Meeting of the European SAFA Program Steering Group (ESSG-21)
The active contribution of the Safety Directorate of the R.A. AACR to the activities of the EU-SAFA Program materialized by providing the framework for the development in Bucharest, between March 11-12, 2014, of the 21st meeting of the SAFA Program Coordination Group (ESSG 21), technical body of the Commission European.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the European Commission, EASA, EUROCONTROL, national SAFA coordinators and experts from the member countries participating in the Program.
The agenda of the ESSG-21 meeting included analyzes of the work carried out during 2013 by both EASA and the states participating in the program, debates on issues related to European standardization of SAFA inspection procedures and practices, the stage of implementation of the Commission Regulation (EU) no. 965/2012 (part ARO.RAMP) in the current SAFA inspection activity, the analysis of the results obtained by the air operators as a result of the SAFA inspections, the foreshadowing of the methods to improve the safety level of the air operations carried out on the EU airports.
IMPROVING THE RESULTS OF SAFA INSPECTIONS ON THE AIRCRAFT OF ROMANIAN AIR OPERATORS
SAFA working group
At the initiative of the SAFA Department of the Security Department, on 08.04.2014, at the headquarters of R.A. AACR held the 5th meeting of the SAFA working group, consisting of R.A. specialists. AACR and representatives of air operators, whose activity aims to improve the results of SAFA inspections performed by foreign aeronautical authorities on aircraft of Romanian air operators.
The main items on the agenda of the meeting were: the implementation by air operators of the provisions of Regulation (EU) No. 965/2012, Part ARO-RAMP and related guidance materials developed by EASA (still in the design stage) and analysis of SAFA inspection results, grouped by categories: cockpit, passenger cabin, aircraft exterior and cargo compartment, as well as and their weight on the inspection elements within a category.
As a result of all the activities carried out in this regard by R.A. AACR and the measures taken by the Romanian air operators, the country rate calculated by EASA based on the results of SAFA inspections (non-compliance rate), has substantially improved, decreasing compared to previous periods.