24-June, EASA issued Amendment 18 of AMC-20. Document downloadable from this post.
AMC stands for Acceptable Means of Compliance
AMC-20 is a generic acceptable means of compliance document for several issues in aeronautical product certification and operational approvals.
The envisioned consumers are Part 21 Design organisations, Aircraft type certificate holders TCH), Part-145 Maintenance Organisations, Part-M Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisations and commercial operators of aircraft.
To name a few subjects that may be interesting:
Some airworthiness related sections helpful for operators, maintenance and design organisations:
Section AMC 20-6; Extended range operation with twin engined aeroplanes. This contains design approval considerations which has normally be complied with by Type Certificate Holders if the aircraft type has been ETOPS certified from delivery. For such types, the ETOPS approval and continuing requirements are contained in the CMP document. If a non ETOPS aircraft is to be made ETOPS compliant, this section would be useful to refer to and assist in attaining that objective.
Section 20-8; Occurrence reporting. This is an extremely important link in the chain of product safety management and operator safety management, both for Type Certificate Holders and operators. The scope of control for operators is their fleet and for type certificate holders, the global fleet safety and for regulators it helps their oversight. The section provides excellent guidance to all aspects of reporting and ensures accurate and complete data to be submitted to the relevant stakeholders
Section 20-15; Airworthiness Certification for ACAS II with optional Hybrid Surveillance. This section describes ways to obtain alternative means of compliance to comply with ADS-B requirements, using a combination of ACAS II and the Mode S transponder. This section is also usable for Part-21 organisations.
Section 20-21; Programme to enhance Electrical Wire Interconnect System (EWIS) Manintenance. This particularly useful for non OEM retrofits designed and approved by Part-21 organisations and operators having installed those on their aircraft.
Section 20-22; EWIS Training program. Useful for Part-147 Training organisations and Part-145 Maintenance Organisations which are often related to operators.
Section 20-23; Development of Electrical Standard Wiring Practices documentation. Again, an important section for Part-147 and Part-145 training and maintenance organisations.
Section 20-25A; Airworthiness consideration for Electronic Flight Bags (EFB). This section provides excellent guidance for the design certification, installation and operation of ever popular EFB's
Section 20-29; Composite Aircraft Structure. This AMC piggybacks on existing Certification codes for different product categories of large aircraft, regional aircraft, helicopters etc. These not only apply to Type Certificate Holders (TCH) but also to Part-21 organisations developing STC's containing composite structures. The section is harmonised with FAA Advisory Circular (AC) 20-107B addressing the same subject
Section 20-42; Airworthiness Information security risk assessment, in other words hacking risk assessment. This section is not mandatory but will gain importance in the future for operators and product design organisations alike.
Section 20-170; Intergrated Modular Avionics. This section is not mandatory but addresses a very popular and widespread development in most predominantly legacy Part 23 (General Aviation) aircraft. These aircraft are still airworthy, and have years of life in them but contain expensive to maintain, heavy, outdated instrumentation and avionics equipment and are eligible for an avionics retrofit to bring them up to today's standards of ergonomy and economy. There is very advanced TSO'd equipment on the market for a very competitive price that would replace the entire instrument installation of an aircraft. This section provides useful guidelines for certification for such installation.
This is a limited number of subjects from AMC 20. It provides many more useful subjects.
Document attached for download; enjoy the read!