Implementation of an integrated safety-program: the MD-90 antiskid system

At Douglas Aircraft Company (DAC), an integrated safety program is comprised of four major analyses, each of which is intended to provide design requirements and results that satisfy DAC, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Joint Aviation Administration (JAA) requirements to maximize safety for the airplane, the flying public, and the public-at-large. These four analyses are: functional hazard analysis; system failure mode and effects analysis; fault tree analysis; zonal analysis. Every new or major-modified system designed for DAC´s latest airplane, the MD-90, incorporates an integrated safety program. One such system, the antiskid system, has repeatedly used the integrated safety program as a primary design tool and is a particularly satisfying example of what DAC calls “design for safety.”