CAT.GEN.MPA.210 Location of an aircraft in distress — Aeroplanes

PERFORMANCE OF THE AIRBORNE SYSTEM, TRANSMISSION SERVICE, AND OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES

(a)Performance of the airborne system The airborne system used to comply with point CAT.GEN.MPA.210 (‘airborne system’) should:

(1)be approved in accordance with the applicable airworthiness requirements; and

(2)comply with the Certification Specifications for Airborne Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CS-ACNS) issued by EASA, or equivalent.

(b)Transmission service If the airborne system relies on other equipment than ELTs for transmitting the information needed to comply with point CAT.GEN.MPA.210, the provider of the transmission service should be a surveillance service provider that is certified in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/373 (the ‘ATM/ANS Regulation’).

(c)Flight crew procedures The operator should establish flight crew procedures for using the airborne system, including manual activation and manual deactivation of that system. These procedures should ensure that the flight crew manually activate the airborne system only if a search and rescue (SAR) response is needed or anticipated, and that they inform the relevant ATS unit in a timely manner when they manually deactivate or disable the airborne system to stop data transmission.

(d)Operator’s procedures The operator should establish procedures:

(1)for assessing whether an aircraft is likely to be in a state of emergency and

(2)for informing the competent ATS unit (ATS unit responsible for providing the alerting service in the airspace where the aircraft is believed to be):

(i)when a state of emergency is identified, and

(ii)when a state of emergency no longer exists.

(e)Limiting the effects of false alerts To reduce the frequency and effects of false alerts that are caused by the airborne system, the operator should:

(1)establish procedures for disabling any of the required functions of the airborne system;

(2)consider the airborne system inoperative if, during a flight, there were several occurrences of undesirable automatic activation of the airborne system; and

(3)analyse occurrences of undesirable (manual and automatic) activation of the airborne system to determine their probable cause; the records of such analyses should be retained for at least 12 months and provided to the competent authority on request.

OBJECTIVES AND IMPLEMENTATION

(a)The purpose of point CAT.GEN.MPA.210 is to have a high probability of timely and accurately locating the accident site after an accident during which the aircraft is severely damaged, irrespective of the accident location and survivability (hence, the terms ‘automatic’, ‘robust’, and ‘accurately’ are used in CAT.GEN.MPA.210). The scope of point CAT.GEN.MPA.210 includes non-survivable accidents. Means compliant with point CAT.GEN.MPA.210 are expected to:

(1)quickly inform the SAR authority concerned that an accident occurred or is about to occur and provide them with information that can easily be used for locating the accident site; and

(2)help the safety investigation authority concerned to locate the accident site and the aircraft wreckage so that they can collect evidence in a reasonable time frame. Therefore, if an aircraft in the scope of CAT.IDE.A.280 complies with CAT.GEN.MPA.210, this aircraft is not required to be equipped with an automatic emergency locator transmitter (ELT). Similarly, if an aircraft in the scope of CAT.IDE.A.285 complies with CAT.GEN.MPA.210, this aircraft is not required to be equipped with a 8.8-kHz underwater locating device (ULD).

(b)The airborne system used to comply with point CAT.GEN.MPA.210 could rely, for example, on an emergency locator transmitter of a distress tracking type (ELT(DT)), on an automatic deployable flight recorder (ADFR), or on the transmission of position reports at short time intervals (high-rate tracking (HRT)).

(c)Subpart A of the Certification Specifications for Airborne Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CS-ACNS) contains general conditions applicable to the airborne system. Subpart E of CS-ACNS contains specific conditions for meeting the purpose of point CAT.GEN.MPA.210.

(d)If other transmitting equipment than an ELT is used by the airborne system for complying with CAT.GEN.MPA.210, AMC1 CNS.OR.100 to Part-CNS of the ATM/ANS Regulation contains conditions applicable to the provider of the transmission service that is used by that equipment.

(e)While AMC1 CNS.OR.100 only addresses the transmission of information to the SAR authorities, the capability to also transmit that information to the operator is advisable.

EXPLANATION OF TERMS The terms used in point CAT.GEN.MPA.210 and AMC1 CAT.GEN.MPA.210 are explained below for better understanding: — ‘accident during which the aeroplane is severely damaged’ refers to an accident during which the aeroplane sustains damage or structural failure that adversely affects its structural strength, performance, or flight characteristics, and would normally require a major repair or replacement of the affected component, except for: — an engine failure or damage to the engine, when the damage is limited to a single engine (including its cowlings or accessories); — damage limited to propellers, wing tips, antennas, probes, vanes, tyres, brakes, wheels, fairings, panels, landing gear doors, windscreens, the aeroplane skin (such as small dents or puncture holes); — minor damage to the landing gear; and — damage resulting from hail or bird strike (including holes in the radome); — ‘accurately determine the location of the point of end of flight’ means locating the point of end of flight with a position accuracy that is sufficient for safety investigation purposes, and when the accident conditions are survivable, also for SAR purposes; — ‘activation of the airborne system’ means the transition of the airborne system from another state to the activated state; — ‘airborne system’ means the organised set of airborne applications and airborne equipment that comply with CAT.GEN.MPA.210; — ‘ATM/ANS Regulation’ refers to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/373 of 1 March 2017 or any later EU regulation laying down common requirements for providers of air traffic management/air navigation services. — ‘automatic means’ refers to means that do not require any human action to perform their intended function; — ‘automatic activation of the airborne system’ means activation of the airborne system that is automatically triggered by airborne equipment; — ‘deactivation of the airborne system’ means the transition of that system from the activated state to another state; — ‘point of end of flight’ means, depending on the nature of the accident, the point where the aircraft crashed into land or water, or landed on land or water, or was destroyed; — ‘required functions of the airborne system’ refers to the ‘functions of the system’, which are defined in the CS-ACNS that are applicable to locating an aircraft in distress; — ‘robust means’ refers to means designed to work properly under the circumstances of survivable accidents, and under the circumstances of most non-survivable accidents; — ‘the airborne system is activated’ means that the airborne system transmits signals to enable the determination of the location of the point of end of flight without sending mobile SAR facilities to the area of the transmitter; and — ‘transmission service’ refers to the service that makes the information sent by the airborne system available to the relevant stakeholders.