Systemic Safety Recommendations for Maintenance of Microlight Aircraft in the Czech Republic

Maintenance-related problems are one of the causal factors in microlight aircraft serious incidents and accidents. Maintenance of microlight aircraft in the Czech Republic is primarily the responsibility of the owner of the microlight aircraft and in the supervision of national regulator for microlight aircraft (a maximum weight of 600 kg) - the Light Aircraft Association (LAA) of the Czech Republic. The aim of this paper is to develop a set of systemic safety recommendations for the maintenance of microlight aircraft in the Czech Republic that could contribute to increase the level of aviation safety throughout the making of tailored safety constraints to deal with new microlight aircraft types or the transition of new users from general aviation to microlight aviation. For the definition of the safety recommendations, the STAMP model and the STPA methodology have been chosen as the most suitable for the complexity of the maintenance of the microlight aircraft. The STPA analysis was applied to the microlight aircraft maintenance system in the Czech Republic and unsafe control actions were identified. Based on the results of the analysis, a set of safety recommendations for this system was prepared. These recommendations were compared to the state of the art and to the regulations for the maintenance of microlight aircraft. The prepared safety recommendations for this system can improve the current maintenance system for microlight aircraft in the Czech Republic.