New Wyvern Guidance Addresses Return-to-service Risks

Wyvern has released a post-maintenance flight check guidance document to help operators improve return-to-service decision-making and reduce risk associated with post-maintenance flights. The guidance provides a framework for evaluating return-to-service requirements, assessing residual risk, and determining the appropriate level of verification based on what maintenance was performed.

It distinguishes three categories of post-maintenance flight operations: confidence flights, lower-risk shakedown flights that confirm normal system operation; functional check flights, medium-risk flights prescribed for certain maintenance activities to validate affected systems; and test flights, higher-risk flights designed to test specific aircraft systems that can approach or exceed the normal operating envelope.

Crew qualification and readiness; operational recommendations for flight execution; and the importance of collaboration among maintenance, flight operations, safety, and leadership personnel are also addressed in the document. It includes sample checklists covering maintenance release authorization, flight crew qualifications, pre-flight risk assessment, in-flight execution, and post-flight disposition.

“Developed by Wyvern’s passionate team of safety professionals, our motivation for this guidance document was simple—to prevent the next fatal accident,” said Wyvern COO Andrew Day.