The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and the European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE) recently signed a memorandum of understanding to begin developing aviation industry standards to address issues such as hybrid electric propulsion, VTOL, cybersecurity and speed up the implementation of these new technologies. According to a news release, EUROCAE “develops standards for the industry that build upon the state of the art expertise of its members and addresses global aviation challenges to be adopted internationally and support the operational, development and regulatory processes.” As a first step to this synchronization GAMA joined EUROCAE as a full member earlier this year and is already actively involved in the EUROCAE Working Group on VTOL.

This collaboration is not intended to replac the individual contributions of EUROCAE and GAMA member organizations, but rather to encourage their respective members to strengthen their engagement in the work of EUROCAE and GAMA. The new MOU provides a cooperative framework between the two organizations that includes exchanging information, sharing expertise and best practices, and cross-participation in working groups.

EUROCAE Secretary General, Christian Schleifer-Heingärtner, said, “We see a great opportunity to work with GAMA, to complement each other’s working structure and to collaborate on the many areas of common interest. GAMA, as the voice of the general aviation community, will be able to raise the perspective of the general aviation manufacturers in the standards development process. Strengthening the cooperation with associations like GAMA is a key objective of EUROCAE to further enhance the spectrum and quality of the EUROCAE activities and resulting standards, wher we see many more opportunities the GA community can benefit from.”