SofemaOnline (SOL) www.sofemaonline.com considers the challenges of Public Speaking and how we can benefit from a knowledge of nonverbal techniques

Realities of Non-Verbal Communication

Let us Consider a few of the realities we face related to Non Verbal Communication Techniques.

Our words only count for a small percentage of the actual success of our message the major part of our message is transmitted by our Body Language, Facial Expression as well as tone of our voice.

Our audience is generally looking for a positive experience – they are not expecting to be subjected to negative feelings and emotions.

SofemaOnline (www.sofemaonline.com) looks at the effective use of PowerPoint to support Presentations

PowerPoint slides are an excellent tool and aid to learning particularly if used effectively and can emphasise a point as well as provide humor and at the same time become an anchor for a message.

Consider some PowerPoint (PPT) challenges that we face as trainers:

a) It is possible to “hide” behind a PPT presentation

b) It can overload with information

c) The content may not be strong

SofemaOnline (SOL) www.sofemaonline.com looks at the role of icebreakers in Public Speaking

What is an Ice Breaker?

Ice breakers serve multiple purposes by helping to relax the participants as well as building an open relationship and fostering a team relationship.

Ice breakers that appear spontaneously travel better and can be more effective than those that appear to be mechanical in delivery. Always be non-judgmental with your communication to the delegates.

An Aviation Leadership and Management Skills Development Blog

Introduction

Let’s consider why are we making the presentation or speech, as well as to consider the reason the audience is in front of us.

Our first goal should be to get the message across to our audience that our objectives are in alignment - which means that “their goals” are “our goals”. If we achieve this we should find the audience receptive.

Win over your audience by sharing that you respect their time and you do not intend to waste it. That you are prepared and looking forward to sharing the information within your presentation.

Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com looks at the challenges to ensure we deliver the strongest possible presentation

Presentation is the Key to Success

The challenge is to maximize the effectiveness of the time we can commit to developing the presentation. Typically, you will be time-constrained with many obligations. Nevertheless, we must complete all the elements to prepare a presentation which:

a) We can be proud off

b) More importantly it is well received by the audience or delegates

Coming to Terms with Public Speaking

Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com looks at the challenges faced (and overcome) by successful public speakers.

As in all skill-based activities, practice makes if not perfect, for sure a better performance. We should therefore strive to connect with the audience in a personal way. If we can consider the audience as a collection of individuals rather than a group, we should generally feel more relaxed about speaking in public.

Connecting with the audience in such a way as you can demonstrate empathy and address their specific needs, concerns, and objections.

Whilst the ancestry of the FAA goes back to the 1920’s the “Modern” FAA essentially started with the Federal Aviation Act of 1958. A different level of aviation safety was to be found at this time with some accidents driving Congress to mandate a new independent regulatory body with authority to address safety issues through the power of rulemaking.

Today the FAA has a broad reach with authority for all aspects of aviation-related activity in the United States.

Meanwhile, over in Europe the Joint Aviation Authority (JAA) forerunner of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) can show its origins back to the early 1970s. 

The original purpose of the JAA was to provide oversight and guidance related to the design and certification of large Aircraft, Engines, and APUs. It was during these early days that an alignment started to take place between the FAA and the JAA to introduce common certification codes for large aircraft and aircraft engines. Such alignment contributed to the common acceptance of Aircraft Parts and Alliances by participating entities.

Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com looks at the challenges of maintaining an effective supply change compliant with EASA, Best Practices & Due Diligence.

What is it all about

Amongst other proposed changes EASA looked at enhancing the supplier evaluation procedure to provide clarity together with a robust process.

So what happened

Unfortunately, as is currently happening in many regulatory-related areas EASA steps back and several years pass. (This story is not a positive reflection on the role of EASA – however it is unlikely that this will change or improve in the near term!)

What is Production Planning?

So let's start by saying that production planning has nothing to do with the operator (so as not to confuse it with the maintenance planning activities that sit within the operator's remit).

Production Planning belongs to the Part 145 Production Organisation – To be effective it needs to interface with the PART M Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisation (CAMO) and ideally to be able to influence the CAMO positively.

Production Planning could be considered an art in that we need to effectively bring together several disparate elements to obtain the best possible result in the minimum time whilst recognising the importance of Safety, Human Performance, and Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS).

We usually overestimate our ability to communicate and this can even be magnified when the communication is with people who we know well. Often because we believe we have a deeper level of understanding than is the case.

We should try to speak to people as individuals even when they are in groups. Do not allow yourself to be distracted and focus on genuinely delivering your message with both enthusiasm and energy.

Knowing the Subject Matter is Essential

You really do need to know the subject, this is a fundamental part of establishing rapport and respect with your audience (both of which are essential for effective communication).

Pay particular attention to your audience and strive to build the connection, adjust your message so that it resonates with the audience, focus on getting your message across without overdoing it, and seek questions as a way of ensuring the message is received.

SofemaOnline – www.sofemaonline.com  considers the role of Dynamic Communication

Communication is a very dynamic process going far beyond the words we say. Whilst Communication essentially encompasses both language and speech it includes also the ability to share our thoughts and experiences in a meaningful way using other ways and means, for example, body language.

Another way to look at Communication is to accept that it is a broadband process that is essentially made up of many single-band processes. Consider that the actual speech used as well as each different type of non-verbal aspect can be considered as single elements that together make up the broadband process of communication.

We are able even without realizing that it is taking place to process multiple modes of communication is automatic, part of our problem is that we do not even need to hear all of what is being said before we have begun to formulate our response!

Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com considers an EASA Compliant Maintenance Planning Process. 

Maintenance has come a long way since the early days when maintenance programs owed more to the perception of the maintenance needs, as opposed to the analyzed and justified needs. In addition, the role of the regulator was also minimal, and in part developed as a result of events, incidents, and accidents. 

During the end of the first half of the 20th century regulations began to strengthen and the aircraft manufacturer was seen as the appropriate source of the maintenance program development. The early attempts at effective maintenance (in the 1960’s) saw time limits developed which resulted in aircraft being progressively dismantled, in what became known as hard-time primary maintenance.

All hard-time components were then routed through an overhaul process and after an appropriate restoration process were considered as zero timed. (Means they were considered as zero life and good to go again) - Following investigations into the effectiveness of the Aircraft Maintenance Process, by both the FAA and several airlines, several determinations were made.

Steve Bentley MD of Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com – explains

A type certificate holder (TCH) can produce parts for its airplanes through the process of the manufacturer's authorisation FAR Part 21 / EASA Part 21 Subpart G has the authorization to manufacture those parts based on its type certificate, and production certificate.

However, organisation who are authorised as PMA-holding manufacturers are permitted to make replacement parts for aircraft, even though they are not the original manufacturer of the aircraft. An applicant for a PMA applies for approval from the FAA.

An STC is a certificate. It defines the product design change, states how the modification affects the existing type design, and lists serial number effectivity. It also identifies the certification basis, listing specific regulatory compliance for the design change. Information contained in the certification basis is helpful for those applicants proposing subsequent product modifications and evaluating certification basis compatibility with other STC modifications.

Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com and SofemaOnline www.sofemaonline.com

Offering Regulatory Compliant Training for FAA Repair Stations In Classroom & Online

Concerning the FAA -EASA Bilateral Agreement

The FAA notes that some Part 145 repair stations have European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certifications. EASA part 145 contains licensing and training requirements for Approved Maintenance Organizations (AMO) that perform maintenance on articles of those operators under the regulatory control of European Union (EU) Member States.

These EASA part 145 requirements can affect FAA part 145-approved repair stations that also have EASA approvals; since EASA requires maintenance human factors training as part of the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) and Maintenance Implementation Procedures (MIP) with the United States.

The FAA training program may include the requirements of other civil aviation authorities as long as the part 145 requirements are also met.

It is not uncommon for the operator to require the CAMO to maintain the reliability program to essentially demonstrate the minimum compliance of the regulatory requirements. Missing the opportunity to foster a genuine desire to engage with a serious investigation process related to the understanding of negative trends and take efficient corrective measures.

Possibly a major reason for this behaviour is related to a lack of understanding by the operator regarding the philosophical reasons related to the effective implementation of a fully active statistical process control. Unfortunately, the focus is on “living and surviving from day to day” solving problems without spending sufficient time on dealing with the underlying causes.

The benefit of a fully integrated Reliability program is that it does not overreact to single events rather the focus moves to trends and system-related problems.

Complete your repair station training with SofemaOnline.com

SofemaOnline (SOL) – Virtual Aviation Academy - The “Go To” site for online training

SOL is supported by the European Aviation Institute (EAI) an EASA Part 147 approved Maintenance Training Organization (MTO) with Certificate of Approval No RO.147.0003.

Our trainings are designed to be effective and to help you reach the correct level of understanding in the comfort of your own home or office.

FAA 14 CFR Part 145 Detailed Initial Training has been developed for Quality Managers, Technicians, Mechanics, and Repairmen who are either currently involved in a repair station or intend in the future to establish a 14 CFR Part 145 repair station.

Considering the Fundamental EASA QA/ QC Relationship

The Quality Manager (Compliance Manager) is responsible for the independent assessment of compliance – not to lose sight that this process is additional and should be considered as a Safety Net rather than a primary method of ensuring compliance.

The Continuing Airworthiness Manager (CAM) is responsible for the QC Activities related to the compliances that are validated during the ACAM process.

Building on this understanding means that an effective oversight of an effective process will focus on the physical management, delivery, and maintenance of competence within the system of control.

The Regulatory Point of View

What does the FAA Say about the Limit of Validity?

The limit of validity (LOV) represents an operational limit based on fatigue test evidence that supports the maintenance program. The FAA defines the LOV as “the period (in flight cycles, flight hours, or both) up to which it has been demonstrated by test evidence, analysis and, if available, service experience and teardown inspections, that widespread fatigue damage will not occur in the airplane structure.” It is further defined as the point in the structural life of an airplane at which there is a significantly increased risk of uncertainties in structural performance and probable development of WFD.

Once the airworthiness limitations containing the LOV are approved by the FAA, an airplane may not operate beyond the LOV.

Whilst the Operator's CAMO is responsible for the delivery of an effective and viable maintenance planning process, it is the EASA part 145 Aircraft Maintenance Organisation (AMO) which has the responsibility to perform the maintenance by the work package.

EASA AMP Obligations

EASA requires Operator Reviews of Validity and Effectiveness of the AMP  - EASA Annex I – Part M - Subpart C - M.A. 302 Aircraft Maintenance Programme - (g) … The aircraft maintenance programme shall be subject to periodic reviews and amended accordingly when necessary. These reviews shall ensure that the programme continues to be valid in light of the operating experience.

Operators can strongly influence the success of continuous development of scheduled maintenance program data but providing a virtuous circle of feedback to the Type Certificate Holder (TCH), A continuous review of TCH and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) service bulletins, reliability data, service letters, airworthiness directives provides source material for optimisations.