EASA part 21 Design

3D design software

3D design software is used when planning aircraft interior modifications, cabin electrical system upgrades or certification for newly manufactured aircraft equipment.

Legislation and safety regulation in Europe is the responsibility of the European Aviation Safety Agency, EASA. An EASA Part 21 subpart J approved company approves non-structural changes to aircraft and liaises with EASA to obtain the necessary major change approvals.

No airline operator wants its aircraft out of service for longer than necessary, while EASA’s approval processes are exacting. Computer Aided Design CAD software is an extremely important tool and the right choice of design software will provide accuracy, flexibility and reliability.

Aircraft cabin reconfiguration. 

The installation, or removal, of seats, galleys, cabin dividers, wardrobes and stowage compartments, as well as revision of existing systems, would begin by designers planning a proposed layout of the cabin using models of the seats and other interior monuments. The 3d software's parametric capabilities enable the designers to rapidly generate new configurations, without having to redraw everything from scratch.

Because the designers have already modeled the critical dimensions for seats and aircraft monuments, they simply need to enter the equipment manufacturers’ specifications onto the system to parametrically create new models or interior mockups.

The process has to satisfy both the airline operators’ preferences and EASA stipulations on measurements, such as space required between seats and cabin monuments, space for passengers to get to the entry and exit points.

This is usually done by combining 3D models and 2D sketches positioned in the 3D environment using true aircraft coordinates within the layout. This can create the initial suggested layout in line with EASA requirements within a day. The next stage is customer consultations. The layout is provided as 2D drawings to the airline engineers and as 3D views to the flight operations staff, who are then able to visualize the area in which they will be working.

Airlines require the ability and flexibility to review options, so it is helpful to be able to make quick adjustments to a reconfiguration. CAD software allows the designers to work efficiently on models with large numbers of patterned parts. By reducing the level of detail, where detail is not needed, these features reduce the processing power required from the PC and allow the designers to move quickly around the model. Customers may require new aircraft monuments or parts to be designed and manufactured at the last minute.