Adapting Systems Engineering to the Commercial Aviation Domain Scott Jackson jackson@burnhamststems.net Abstract This paper presents some alternative ways that the systems engineering process can be adapted for the commercial aviation domain. In particular the paper addresses some of the more onerous tasks normally performed in the military and aerospace domains. Among these processes are the requirements process and the design review process. The unique aspects of regional jets are explained. Other areas addressed are the organizational responsibilities in the commercial domain in which many organizations traditionally perceived to be managerial and non-technical have important roles in the systems engineering process. A final area addressed is supply chain management in which systems engineering is seen to have an important roll in helping to reduce the risks often seen in this process. The paper also suggests that these reforms could also result in higher quality products in the military and aerospace domains. This paper is adapted from selected parts of the book Systems Engineering for Commercial Aircraft by Scott Jackson (Farnham: Ashgate, 2015) by permission of the publishers (Farnham: Ashgate, 2015). Copyright © 2015. Introduction In the past designers in the commercial aircraft industry would have considered systems engineering (SE) to be a foreign concept. If they knew about it, they would have considered it to be unique to the military and space domains where the government had the time and money to spend on what they considered onerous and costly. Yet the goals of SE were noble: It tried to assure that all stakeholder needs were incorporated into the product and that the product actually reflected these needs. In the aircraft industry the dominant philosophy was people-focused design, not process based design, and most of the designers were top-notch. Yet the demands on the designer were overwhelming. Can a single designer know all the hundreds of requirements necessary to build a single component? And how about design review? They were practically non-existent. In spite of these limitations many good airplanes were built. But many of them had problems, usually minor, sometimes major. The phrase “fly it and fix it” became common. Since those days SE has gained ground in the commercial aircraft industry, not without some pain. Many of the processes are still considered onerous, and often skipped. Sometimes SE is restricted to a single discipline, such as avionics.