Glossary
Key terms around airport fire services, EASA and ICAO compliance.
The most important terms from our work — from regulations and training formats to technical vocabulary. Explained briefly and clearly.
- European Union Aviation Safety AgencyEASA
- The civil aviation authority of the European Union. It issues and oversees the binding rules for flight operations, aerodromes and their rescue and fire-fighting services, which all SATIS Aero training aligns with.
- International Civil Aviation OrganizationICAO
- A United Nations specialised agency that sets worldwide standards for civil aviation. Its Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) are documented in Annexes to the Chicago Convention.
- Airport Fire Service (Rescue and Fire Fighting Services)RFFS / ARFF
- The fire service of an airport, specialised in aircraft accidents and fires. It maintains defined response times, extinguishing-agent quantities and staffing levels and is a precondition for operating a commercial airport.
- EASA ADR.OPS.B.010ADR.OPS.B.010
- The EASA provision on rescue and fire fighting at aerodromes. Among other things it governs the training, recurrent training and record-keeping obligations of the airport fire service.
- Regulation (EU) No 139/2014(EU) 139/2014
- The EU implementing regulation laying down requirements for aerodromes and their operation, supplemented by Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) and Guidance Material (GM). It forms the regulatory frame for airport fire-service training.
- ICAO Annex 14 – AerodromesAnnex 14
- The ICAO Annex on aerodromes. Chapter 9 sets the requirements for rescue and fire fighting, including the aerodrome fire category and the periodic emergency exercises.
- ICAO Annex 19 – Safety ManagementAnnex 19
- The ICAO Annex on safety management. It anchors safety management systems and the principles of a Just Culture as the basis of effective safety reporting.
- Aerodrome Fire Category 9CAT 9
- One of the ten ICAO categories that set an aerodrome's fire-protection requirement based on the length and fuselage width of the aircraft handled. Category 9 covers large commercial aircraft; the SATIS Aero mock-up is sized against the Airbus A350 reference aircraft.
- Live-Fire Training / Mock-Up
- Hands-on training with real fire at an aircraft replica (mock-up). Crews practise interior attack, rescue and aircraft fires in a controlled, repeatable environment.
- Just Culture
- A safety culture in which staff can report errors and occurrences openly without fear of unfair sanctions, while gross negligence and wilful violations remain clearly delineated. Anchored in EU 376/2014 and ICAO Annex 19.
- Crew Resource ManagementCRM
- A training concept for making better use of all available resources — people, information and equipment — in normal and emergency situations. It strengthens communication, decision-making and teamwork under pressure.
- Recurrent Training
- The periodic repeat training at fixed intervals that keeps qualifications current. Not to be confused with refresher training.
- Refresher Training
- Refresher instruction after a longer absence from the workplace, to restore knowledge and skills. Event-driven, in contrast to interval-based recurrent training.
- Emergency Frequency 121.555 MHz121.555 MHz
- The radio frequency used for emergency communication between cockpit and airport fire service. Clear, standardised phraseology on this frequency is decisive in the most critical phase of an incident.
- ICAO Language Proficiency Level 4/5LP 4/5
- The ICAO language-proficiency levels for radio communication. Level 4 (Operational) is the minimum requirement for international radio work; Level 5 (Extended) is valid considerably longer. Six criteria are assessed, including pronunciation, structure and comprehension.
- BMV Decree
- A decree of the responsible German transport ministry that, among other things, mandates English language proficiency for airport fire-service incident commanders — the basis for the corresponding SATIS Aero training.
- ICAO Emergency Exercise
- The large-scale airport emergency exercise required every two years under ICAO Annex 14. It involves the fire service, EMS, police, authorities and airport staff, and is followed by a structured debrief.