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Regulatory Article 5401
►This RA has been substantially rewritten; for clarity no change marks are presented –
please read the RA in its entirety◄
RA 5401 - Provision of Technical Information
Rationale
Technical Information (TI) supports the maintenance and operation of an Air System
and associated equipment. Over the life of a project the design is likely to change and
with it, the TI. It is important to ensure that related TI is coherent with the design to
assure its accuracy and the timeliness of any subsequent amendments.
Contents
5401(1): Provision of Technical Information
5401(2): Validation of Technical Information
5401(3): Verification of Technical Information
5401(4): Amendments to Technical Information
Regulation
5401(1)
Provision of Technical Information
5401(1) The Type Airworthiness Authority (TAA) or Commodity
Project Team Leader (PTL) shall ensure that quality assured
TI is supplied.
Acceptable
Means of
Compliance
5401(1)
Provision of Technical Information
1.
The following TI, as a minimum, should be provided (the document references
in brackets are to be used for military designs for consistency; equivalent references
are to be used for documents of non-military origin):
a.
A Maintenance Manual containing all procedures required by
maintenance organizations to maintain the Air System or equipment in a
serviceable condition and to diagnose typical faults (Topic 1).
b.
Modification Instructions (Topic 2).
c.
Orders and Instructions Issued by the Project Team (Topic 2(N/A/R)1).
d.
Illustrated Parts Catalogue (Topic 3).
e.
Maintenance Schedules containing all necessary servicing procedures
and detailing all preventative maintenance requirements through-life, including
associated safety warnings and cautions necessary to minimize the risk-to-life
for maintenance personnel (Topic 5).
f.
Loading procedures for weapons (Topic 5A6), if appropriate.
g.
Repair Schemes (Topic 6).
h.
Weight & Balance Data Manual (Topic 9) - transport aircraft only.
i.
Sub-system Diagrams required to support maintenance, fault diagnosis
and repairs (Topic 10).
j.
Ground Handling Instructions (Topic 12A).
k.
Statement of Operating Intent (pre-Release to Service (RTS)) or
Statement of Operating Intent and Usage (post-RTS) (Topic 15S).
2.
The layout and technical content of Information Sets for new material should be
as defined in specification ASD/AIA S1000D. For Aircrew Publications the preferred
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layout and technical content described in RA 5406 should be followed.
3.
The Contractor should produce a plan covering his quality arrangements for TI
if such arrangements are not already covered in his existing contract quality plan.
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RA 5406 - Aircrew Publications – Contractor Responsibilities.
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Guidance
Material
5401(1)
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Provision of Technical Information
4.
For Air Systems, the following TI may also be required by the TAA:
a.
Preservation, Packing, Transport and Storage Instructions (Topic 7).
b.
Air Transport Operations Manual (Topic 11).
c.
Cross-servicing Guide (Topic 12B).
d.
Engine Ground Running Reference Cards (Topic 12C).
5.
The term TI may denote Logistic Supportability Analysis (LSA) data; Data
Modules (DMs); draft text or illustrations; reproducible Master Material (MM);
Interactive Electronic Technical Publications (IETPs) and any output derived from
such regardless of the media.
6.
The provision of TI for new materiel is normally developed as an element within
the project Integrated Logistic Support (ILS) plan.
7.
Where the Contractor is in doubt whether TI prepared by a subcontractor meets
the requirements he is to consult the TAA or Commodity PTL or his appointed
Publication Organization (PO); this is particularly important when a subcontractor
offers existing TI.
8.
PO responsibilities and activities may be undertaken by the Project Team.
9.
The Contractor is responsible for obtaining and supplying the required copies of
current MOD technical publications to his subcontractors. He is to ensure that these
documents are properly maintained during the period of the sub-contract and withdraw
them on completion of the sub-contract.
10. The Design Organization (DO) or subcontractor is responsible for the safe
custody of all TI master material that he has prepared until that responsibility is
transferred or terminated.
11. The layout and technical content of legacy material may be different to that
detailed in this RA and may reflect the extant regulations at the time of issue.
12. Where an item, which forms part of a larger assembly, requires in-situ
maintenance, the supplier of the item is to provide TI for incorporation in the
maintenance publication for the assembly.
13. The TAA or Commodity PTL is to provide maintenance information on
Government Furnished Assets (GFA).
14. The Contractor must ensure that the copyright of all TI supplied in satisfaction of
a contract is vested in him or that he has written permission from any other copyright
holder to make use of such material. The Crown requires free licence to reproduce the
TI in whole or in part for any UK Government purpose in accordance with DefCon 90.
Regulation
5401(2)
Validation of Technical Information
5401(2) The TAA or Commodity PTL shall ensure, through DO
validation, that all the information contained within a TI suite
is accurate, safe in application and suitable for its intended
purpose as contracted.
Acceptable
Means of
Compliance
5401(2)
Validation of Technical Information
15. For new projects, and amendments that, in the TAA’s view, justify it, the DO
should submit to the TAA or Commodity PTL his proposed validation programme.
16. When practical validation trials are deemed necessary by the TAA, they should
be conducted under conditions that provide reasonable assurance that the procedure
can be accomplished under normal Service conditions.
17.
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There are two basic types of information contained in TI; descriptive and
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Acceptable
Means of
Compliance
5401(2)
Regulatory Article 5401
procedural. Both types should be validated.
18. Descriptive material should be validated by means of a comparative check
against design source material to ensure its accuracy. Procedural material should be
validated in one or more of three ways:
a.
A practical trial of the procedure;
b.
A simulated practical trial whereby the text is taken to the materiel
concerned and the procedure is ‘talked through’;
c.
A ‘table-top’ comparison with a similar procedure that has been subject to
practical trial.
19. In exercising engineering judgement for procedural material the DO, in
conjunction with the TAA or Commodity PTL, should pay due regard to the following
guideline:
a.
Flight or safety-critical procedures should be validated by practical trial,
except where it can be shown that such have already been accomplished on
identical installations in, say, civil aeroplanes/equipment adopted for Service
use.
20. At the conclusion of validation, all work delivered to the TAA or Commodity PTL
for acceptance should be accompanied by certification of validation by the DO.
Guidance
Material
5401(2)
Validation of Technical Information
21. In certain circumstances the TAA or Commodity PTL, or members of his team
with appropriate delegation, may validate and certify the TI.
22. To amplify the requirements of this RA, more detailed specific requirements for
first validation may be called up in the contract that covers the preparation of the TI.
Regulation
5401(3)
Verification of Technical Information
5401(3) The TAA or Commodity PTL shall ensure that the relevant
quality checks are carried out to verify the TI to be supplied
under the contract.
Acceptable Verification of Technical Information
Means of
23. The extent of the facilities to be provided to carry out relevant quality checks
Compliance should be agreed between the Contractor and the TAA or Commodity PTL.
5401(3)
Guidance
Material
5401(3)
Verification of Technical Information
Regulation
5401(4)
Amendments to Technical Information
5401(4) The TAA or Commodity PTL shall ensure the timely
management of amendments to TI.
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24. Although the Contractor is responsible for the quality of the TI that he provides,
the TAA or Commodity PTL, or his appointed PO, reserves the right to carry out
quality checks during preparation and for final inspection and authorization of the TI
submitted for printing and distribution.
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Acceptable
Means of
Compliance
5401(4)
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Amendments to Technical Information
25. The DO should prepare and validate amendments to all TI affected by the
modification/conversion and change requests, ie Unsatisfactory Feature Reports
(UFR), together with any interfaces with the existing systems/equipment.
26. The TAA or Commodity PTL should ensure that amendments to TI resulting
from modifications/conversions and change requests are produced, validated and
correctly promulgated.
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27. When a Service Modification (SM) is introduced (refer to RA 5308 ) and there is
no cover modification under which changes to TI are to be authorized, the TAA or
Commodity PTL may decide to issue a Service Amendment Leaflet (SAL). In this case
the instructions for compilation and format of the SAL should be followed. The
instructions are contained in MAP-01 Chap 8.2.2.
28. The DO should provide a continuing TI amendment service to reflect changes
to the equipment, special instructions, or changes in the operating or servicing
procedures. These amendments should be made available to Service users by the inservice date of the first modified equipment.
29. The DO should establish procedures whereby TI amendment requirements are
routinely notified to his staff as soon as they are approved for implementation.
30. Amendments to parts catalogues should reflect all those changes listed on
modification spares provisioning lists or on other general amendments (refer to
RA 5300 series) which affect spares.
31. The information applicable to a part’s pre-modification state should be retained
until it is known that all affected items are modified.
TI Amendment States
32. The TAA or Commodity PTL should produce and promulgate the up-to-date
amendment state of the TI under his control.
Service or NATO Stock Numbers
33. Where Service and/or NATO Stock Numbers are required to be included in a
parts catalogue the DO should obtain details of the numbers and update the
appropriate areas of the TI.
Guidance
Material
5401(4)
Amendments to Technical Information
34.
Amendments are to be produced in the form of either:
a.
Stand-alone supplements to an existing information set, topic or category
of the TI; or
b.
Routine amendments to an existing information set, topic or category of
the TI, identified as an amendment produced by a DO other than the original
equipment DO, where appropriate.
35. Requests for changes may be made by means of a MOD Form 765 UFR. UFRs
are routed via the TAA or Commodity PTL and PO, if appropriate, to the DO.
36. Although it may be expedient to cross-refer to a Service Bulletin or modification
leaflet in other parts of a publication, this is to be an interim action only. The crossreference is to be subsequently replaced by independent information.
37. Amendments to TI resulting from an important modification are to be issued
under an amendment relating to that modification only.
Advance Information Leaflets (AIL)
38. An AIL provides for the rapid issue of a temporary amendment to TI in advance
of formal amendment. Instructions for production and format of AIL are contained in
MAP-01 Chap 8.2.2.
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RA 5308 – Service Modifications.
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Guidance
Material
5401(4)
Regulatory Article 5401
Special Instructions (Technical)
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39. A Special Instruction (Technical) (SI(T)) (refer to RA 5405 ) may contain
information which supersedes that contained in the TI and may call for a publication
amendment.
40. When a SI(T) is to be followed by modification of the materiel; specific
publications will normally be amended as part of the modification process.
41.
SI(T) normally contain a note indicating whether or not TI is to be amended.
42. Spares affected by modifications introduced other than by the original system
DO, are not to be entered into the catalogue without a covering modification except
where the PO may request a cross-reference to the SI(T). In cases where the TAA or
Commodity PTL requires details of spares introduced by SM to be entered in the
catalogue, a SAL may be issued.
Design Organization Modifications
43.
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For amendments to TI resulting from DO modifications, see RA 5313 .
RA 5405 – Special Instructions (Technical).
RA 5313 – Design Modifications.
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