Story ID: 506
EASA Proposal Seeks EFB “Level Playing Field”
By: Gordon Gilbert
Caption: Europe’s regulator is developing new rules for electronic flight bag usage.
Word Count: 345

A Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) from the European Aviation Safety Agency aims to establish a “level playing field” for both commercial and non-commercial operators applying for approval to use electronic flight bags (EFBs). EASA said, “This level playing field issue is linked with the following current conditions: there are currently no provisions for the use of EFBs in non-commercial aircraft operations and the current ICAO provisions for EFBs, applicable since November 2014, have not yet been codified into the European regulatory framework.”

 The specific objectives of this proposal are to ensure compliance with the ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices; provide specific requirements on the use of EFBs in the air operations regulations for commercial air transport operations; provide requirements proportionate to the complexity of the operations and/or propose safety promotion actions related to the use of EFBs for non-commercial operations and specialized operations; and conduct a first review of AMC 20-25 25 based on the experience gained so far by authorities since its publication.  Published in 2014, AMC-20-25 provides an acceptable means of compliance to obtain airworthiness approval for use of EFBs.

 Included in the NPA is the introduction of a new implementing regulation (IR) related to the use of EFBs. This IR is mostly focused on the hardware part of the EFB, but also specifies that an approval in accordance with specific operations is mandated. The introduction of new AMC to go with the new IR is also proposed. According to EASA, the new AMC is a “transposition with only minor changes to the related content of AMC 20-25.”

 Other changes proposed deal with airport moving map displays, the proper mounting placement for the EFB, power source, data connectivity, external connecting cables, EMI negativity demonstrations, batteries, viewable stowage, crashworthiness, software applications, user application process, display characteristics, environmental testing, database updating and operational testing.

Comments on the NPA are due by Jan. 6, 2017. A regulatory opinion is scheduled to be rendered by the second quarter of 2018 and a final rule published by the second quarter of 2019.