Who needs EWIS training? Deciding scope for your Part-145 organisation

Who actually needs EWIS training?

Two answers, and the regulation gives both. Staff who perform EWIS maintenance or carry out inspections on wiring systems — Target Groups 1 and 2 of AMC 20-22 — need it with a direct regulatory basis and the Appendix A syllabus. For everyone else, from engineers and planners to cleaners and cabin crew, there is no direct requirement: the organisation decides, because 145.A.30(e) works through a needs assessment, not a staff list. This guide walks through how that decision is made and what to write down. EWIS beside the other Part-145 duties is mapped by clause in our hub on the training duties under Part-145.

EWIS training scope at a glance

Figure	What it is
2 target groups with a direct regulatory basis	Groups 1 and 2, the staff who perform EWIS maintenance or carry out inspections on wiring systems, on the Appendix A syllabus
6 groups by choice	Groups 3 to 8, from design engineers to cabin crew, trained against Appendix B where the organisation’s own assessment says so
3 questions	The needs assessment: does your scope put wiring in front of anyone; who performs or inspects wire maintenance; who else works on, plans around, or near wiring
4 things to record	The conclusion per role, the syllabus that follows, the interval, and where the records live
2 years	Section 8(b)’s continuation interval, rolling from the last course and independent of the human factors cycle

Where does the obligation come from?

Not from AMC 20-22 itself. For a maintenance organisation the chain starts at 145.A.30(e), whose acceptable means of compliance for trainings beyond safety training is AMC5 145.A.30(e), “Other trainings”:

“(a) The organisation should assess the need for particular trainings, for example with regard to the ‘Electrical Wiring Interconnection System’ (EWIS) or ‘Critical Design Configuration Control Limitations’ (CDCCL). (b) Guidance on EWIS training programme for maintenance organisation personnel is provided in AMC 20-22.” — AMC5 145.A.30(e)

The verb is assess. EWIS training is not a blanket obligation the way safety training including human factors is under 145.A.30(e) — it is the worked example of a training whose need the organisation must evaluate against its own scope of work. Where the assessment says yes, AMC 20-22 is the acceptable means of meeting the need, and it says so about its own purpose:

“This AMC has been published in order to provide the approved organisations with acceptable means of compliance to comply with their training obligations as required in paragraphs 21.A.145 and 21.A.245 of Part-21, 145.A.30 and 145.A.35 of Part-145 and M.A.706 of Part-M with respect to EWIS.” — AMC 20-22, section 2

Note the reach of that sentence: production and design organisations under Part-21 and continuing airworthiness organisations under Part-M are addressed by the same AMC, so a CAMO asking whether its airworthiness review staff need wiring awareness is reading the same document as a Part-145 hangar.

How do you run the needs assessment?

Three questions sort almost every organisation.

First: does your scope of approval put wiring in front of anyone? An organisation maintaining transport aeroplanes — base, line or workshop — has electrical wiring interconnection systems in nearly every zone its staff open. A component shop is not exempt by class: if rated work includes wire harnesses, connective devices or units whose maintenance data calls up wiring repairs, the wiring is on the bench. Only an organisation whose scope never involves touching, inspecting or working near aircraft wiring can conclude that AMC 20-22 training is not needed — and that conclusion belongs in a recorded assessment, because “we assessed and concluded no” survives an audit where “we never thought about it” does not.

Second: who performs or inspects wire maintenance? These are the people the regulation is firm about. AMC 20-22 gives Target Groups 1 and 2 — qualified staff performing EWIS maintenance, and qualified staff performing maintenance inspections on wiring systems — the Appendix A syllabus, and separates them from everyone else in as many words:

“The training syllabus and curriculum for those personnel directly involved in the maintenance and inspection of EWIS, identified as Target Group 1 and 2, are in Appendix A and C to this AMC. […] Although there is no direct regulatory requirement for EWIS training of these personnel, operators may choose to provide EWIS training. The training syllabus and curriculum for these personnel, identified as Target Groups 3 through 8, are in Appendix B and C to this AMC.” — AMC 20-22, section 2

The sorting is by work, not by licence. The AMC’s own example for Target Group 4 makes the point: category A or B1 inspectors and technicians doing general maintenance sit outside the wire-maintenance groups, and an LRU change is not considered wire maintenance. The same B2 engineer can be in Group 1 for repairs and Group 2 for the inspections they sign, and section 2 then requires all objectives of both groups.

Third: who else works on, plans around, or near wiring? This is where the optional groups earn their place. Design and electrical engineering staff are Target Group 3; planners and other engineers Group 5; cleaners, fuellers, cargo loaders and de-icing staff Group 6; flight deck and cabin crew Groups 7 and 8 — each with the lighter Appendix B syllabus, described group by group in our target groups guide. Training them is the organisation’s choice, but GM2 145.A.30(e) leans on the answer: in its table of competency assessment elements, “Knowledge of EWIS when relevant” appears in every job-function column, managers and planners included. An organisation that trains only Groups 1 and 2 should be able to say why EWIS knowledge is not relevant to the rest — which is the needs assessment again, written from the other end.

What should the assessment record?

Four things, and none of them is onerous.

1. The conclusion per role, not per person. Map each job function in your organisation to a target group or to “out of scope”, using the section 2 definitions as written. Roles change less often than names, and the mapping is what an auditor traces from the MOE training chapter to the records.
2. The syllabus that follows. Appendix A for Groups 1 and 2, Appendix B for any of Groups 3 to 8 you choose to train. A certificate that names the appendix and the group can be mapped to objectives; “EWIS awareness” on its own cannot.
3. The interval. Section 8(b) of AMC 20-22 sets continuation training at a period not exceeding two years, following the same appendix as the initial course for that target group — the continuation due-date tool does the date arithmetic, and the two-year window rolls from the last course, independent of the human factors cycle.
4. Where the records live. EWIS training records are personnel training records under 145.A.55, kept with the same retention as the rest — our training records guide covers the mechanics.

Can the training itself be delivered online?

For most groups, largely yes. Section 8(a) names classroom discussion, computer-based training and hands-on practical training as acceptable ways to meet the Appendix C lesson-plan objectives, and leaves the assessment method to the training organisation. The hard edge is Module G, connective device repair — a Target Group 1 module that Appendix C describes as primarily a hands-on class — so a Group 1 programme finishes on a bench even when its theory runs on a screen. The full argument, including what UK CAA acceptance looks like, is in our guide on whether online HF, FTS and EWIS training is accepted.

The short version

If your people repair or inspect aircraft wiring, they need AMC 20-22 training against Appendix A — that pair of groups carries the regulatory basis. Everyone else is a decision you must be able to show you made: assess the need under AMC5 145.A.30(e), map roles to target groups, train the groups the assessment selects with Appendix B, and repeat within two years. The document trail — assessment, mapping, appendix, dates — is most of what an audit will ask to see.

Related courses. MOST.AERO does not yet run an EWIS course: EWIS Target Group 1 & 2 – Initial and EWIS Target Group 1 & 2 – Continuation are coming soon, and we will tell you when they go live. Meanwhile Part-145 Safety Training including Human Factors — Initial covers the separate safety training obligation the same staff carry under 145.A.30(e), and the continuation due-date tool tracks the two-year interval for both.