Preface

The Quality Assurance Manual for Flight Procedure Design (Doc 9906) consists of four volumes:

Volume 1 — Flight Procedure Design Quality Assurance System;

Volume 2 — Flight Procedure Designer Training;

Volume 3 — Flight Procedure Design Software Validation; and

Volume 4 — Flight Procedure Design Construction.

Instrument flight procedures based on conventional ground-based navigational aids have always demanded a high level of quality control. The implementation of area navigation and associated airborne database navigation systems, however, means that even small errors in data can lead to catastrophic results. This significant change in data quality requirements (accuracy, resolution and integrity) has led to the need for a systemic quality assurance process (often part of a State Safety Management System). The Procedures for Air Navigation Services — Aircraft Operations (PANS-OPS, Doc 8168) Volume II, Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 4, Quality Assurance refers to this manual and requires that a State take measures to "control" the quality of the processes associated with the construction of instrument flight procedures. To this end, this manual has been assembled to provide guidance in attaining these stringent requirements for quality assurance in the procedure design process. All four volumes address crucial areas related to the attainment, maintenance and continual improvement of procedure design quality. Data quality management, procedure designer training, and validation of software are all integral elements of a quality assurance programme.

Volume 1 — Flight Procedure Design Quality Assurance System provides guidance for quality assurance in the elements of procedure design, such as procedure design documentation, verification and validation methods, and guidelines about the acquisition/processing of source information/data. It also provides a generic process flow diagram for the design and implementation of flight procedures.

Volume 2 — Flight Procedure Designer Training provides guidance for the establishment of flight procedure designer training. Training is the starting point for any quality assurance programme. This volume provides guidance for the establishment of a training programme.

Volume 3 — Flight Procedure Design Software Validation provides guidance for the validation (not certification) of procedure design tools, notably with regard to criteria.

Volume 4 — Flight Procedures Design Construction (to be incorporated later).

Note.— In the independent volumes, when a reference is made to the term "manual" in the context of this document, without any further specification, it is presumed to refer to this volume of the Quality Assurance Manual for Flight Procedure Design.