New Guide for Soft-Skills Competencies for Aircraft Electronics Personnel
1. Scope
This guide defines the foundational soft-skills knowledge, skills, and abilities expected of personnel who perform or support aircraft electronics maintenance, modification, and installation. It specifies competency outcomes, performance contexts, and evaluation guidance suitable for employers, training providers, and credentialing bodies. It is intended to complement, not replace, task-specific technical standards and regulatory requirements.
Keywords
aircraft electronics; avionics; Part 145; human factors; communication; teamwork; leadership; professionalism; documentation; customer service; safety culture; troubleshooting; time management; continuous improvement; SMS; maintenance training; competency
Rationale
Avionics shops are losing time and quality to failures that aren’t technical: unclear write-ups, handoff misses, incomplete logbook entries, poor customer communication, and weak safety reporting. FAA and ICAO guidance talk about human factors, but they don’t give repair stations a measurable, aviation-specific soft-skills baseline tied to actual roles. Schools and employers are improvising, which leads to uneven onboarding and rework. This standard closes that gap for Part 145 environments by defining observable, assessable soft-skills competencies for technicians, leads, and service coordinators. It gives shops and training providers a common reference for hiring, initial indoctrination, progression, and recurrent training, and it aligns cleanly beside technical standards and regulatory training without duplicating them. If a shop adopts this, you will see fewer documentation errors, cleaner turnovers, faster troubleshooting, and better customer outcomes.
The title and scope are in draft form and are under development within this ASTM Committee.
Work Item Status
Date Initiated: 10-14-2025
Technical Contact: Nicholas Brown
Item: 001
Ballot: F46.01 (25-01)
Status: In Balloting