ETOPS Procjenjivanje pouzdanosti i performance sustava za Extanded range operations s dvomotornim mlaznim zrakoplovima

ETOPS – APPRAISAL OF RELIABILITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SYSTEM FOR EXTENDED RANGE OPERATIONS BY TWIN-ENGINED JET AIRCRAFT

Introduction of twin-engined aircraft (for long-haul services) in airline fleets the requirement of additional trainings of operators/technical services personnel with the aim of granting an adequate level of safety. Since we deal with specific aircraft of between 2,500 and 6,000 kilometer range and capacity of 200 to 350 seats, and given size of the cargo hold, the airline must, in order to include them in services, following the appropriate preliminary activities in individual service aspects, necessarily define the reliability of certain systems, complete the appraisal of defects and other malfunctions based upon the available utilization histories and methods for their prevention.

Every operator, requiring the ETOPS approval, must possess adequate experience stated in the report filed with the competent aviation authorities, additional level of safety in provision of air transport, required training/qualifications of air crews and appropriate aircraft maintenance programs.

The required experience (service period) cannot be less than 12 months in case of approval for the extension of maximum 120 minutes, unless the airline cooperates with other operators.

This paper deals with defining the required aircraft characteristics for obtaining the ETOPS permit in conformance with the regulations for twin-engined aircraft on the service (routes) with corresponding threshold time approved by national aviation authorities.