Avionics News May 2020 - 12

In this monthly column, Ric Peri of the AEA's Washington, D.C., office, informs members of the latest regulatory updates.

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R I C

P E R I
A EA V I C E P R ES I D E N T O F G OV E R N M E N T & I N D U ST RY A F FA I RS

SITREP One
A

s I write this month's View from Washington
column in early April, this situation report - or
SITREP - ranges from complete shutdown of
recreational flying (and their support industries) in New Zealand and Germany to a slowing industry in North America
where general aviation is part of the overall essential air
transportation sector. In addition, the essential cessation of
travel and tourism has shuttered businesses that support air
tours and sightseeing. Shops with a backlog are completing
the work with little work being contracted as a backfill.
These are unusual times, and we arguably must look
back at history a century ago to find anything close to the
widespread global illness and isolation of society. The
1918 influenza pandemic is still considered the most-severe
pandemic in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus
with genes of avian origin. It is estimated that about 500
million people, one-third of the world's population at the
time, became infected with this virus. With no vaccine to
protect against influenza infections and no antibiotics to
treat secondary bacterial infections that can be associated
with influenza infections, control efforts worldwide, just
as today, were limited to non-pharmaceutical interventions
such as isolation, quarantine, good personal hygiene, use of
disinfectants, and limitations of public gatherings.
While we are in uncharted times, one item that seems
to be predictable is that there is more information
available daily, along with the rampant "Monday morning
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avionics news

may

2020

quarterbacking" of what should or should not have been
done to manage the situation. Although there is nothing
any of us can do to mitigate the inevitable, so-called
"experts" come out after the game to tell us how it should
have been played. To help manage the constant flow of
information, the Aircraft Electronics Association team is

T h i s i s a g re a t t i m e t o d o s o m e
re f re s h e r t ra i n i n g a s w e l l a s s o m e
i n i t i a l t ra i n i n g o n n e w p ro d u c t s ,
e q u i p m e n t a n d p ro c e s s e s .
actively researching and identifying resources to support
your business and your employees. To access this constantly
renewed data, the membership can visit the AEA COVID19 resource page at AEA.net/Resources.
If history is any indicator, we know our industry will trail
the local economies anywhere from three to six months.
This means that as the pandemic is deemed manageable and
the travel and tourism industries return, revenue-generating
tasks for the avionics industry will range from nonexistent
to very few with a gradual increase in contracts and work.
While we may not have planned for this, there are some
nonrevenue-generating tasks that are still fundamental to
repair stations and maintenance repair organizations.
As we look at the business of maintenance, we can

http://AEA.net/Resources

Avionics News May 2020

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