Baines Simmons awarded European Defence Agency consultancy contract

Baines Simmons, the aviation safety consultancy arm of Air Partner, was awarded a four-year contract with the European Defence Agency (EDA).

“The EDA has contracted Baines Simmons a couple of times for consultancy support in the last few years,” said Henk Corporaal, the EDA project officer on airworthiness. “From our experience, we learned that the company is a very knowledgeable and capable partner to support the EDA and its participating Member States in the development of EMARs.”

Under the contract, Baines Simmons will provide consultant and training services to EDA, supporting the continued development of the full suite of the European Military Airworthiness Requirements (EMARs). These are a set of standards set by the EDA to maintain equal airworthiness among the multinational organization’s members.

“We are delighted that the EDA has, for the third time, chosen to engage Baines Simmons to provide specialist support in the continued development and implementation of the EMARs,” said Baines Simmons Director, Bob Simmons. “The award of this long-term framework agreement will bring a level of stability, consistency and cohesion to the requirements, maximizing the benefits to the participating Member States and European defense industries alike.”

Part of the contract means developing a program to implement advice, guidance and training to the EDA and its 27-member states. The program will continue to evolve the European Aviation Safety Agency baseline requirements, a safety management system implementation, guidelines for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems.

Baines Simmons has already worked with The Netherlands, Sweden and Australian on their own EMAR development. This year it was also awarded a contract to consult the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) to improve the airworthiness of all RAFO aircrafts.