AASSEP-01 aircraft jacking

What it is

A common jacking-pad interface

AASSEP-01 is a short NATO Allied Technical Publication, promulgated in May 2014, that standardises one narrow piece of an aircraft's design: the interface between an aircraft's jacking points and the jacks used to lift it. Its aim, at clause 1.2, is to ensure aircraft are provided, at every jacking point, with a jacking pad of common form and with enough clearance space to fit a jack around it. The document is thin by design - four requirements under clause 2.1 and one under clause 2.2 - because it works almost entirely by pointing at two civil standards, ISO 43 and ISO 1464, rather than restating their content.

What AASSEP-01 requires

Clause 2.1 sets four requirements for jacking pads. They must be hemispherical and conform to ISO 43, and a jack's socket - its jack head - must be a detachable, compatible fit for that pad, so a jack built to this standard seats on any aircraft built to it too. The pad's ball part may be a permanent fixture on the aircraft or a detachable fitting; where it is detachable, the fitting may be carried on the aircraft itself or pre-positioned at the bases that will service it. Pad strength is set from probable load conditions and normally accepted design safety factors, a calculation rather than a fixed figure in the document.

Clause 2.2 adds one further requirement: jacks used at an aircraft's primary jacking points must fit within the minimum space envelope ISO 1464 sets out. AASSEP-01 does not restate that envelope; the figure lives in ISO 1464, not here.

Who it addresses, and how it binds

Nothing in AASSEP-01 mentions an operator, a maintainer or an inspector. Its clauses of substance are addressed to whoever designs and builds a jacking pad or a jack: the requirement is that the hardware conforms to a named specification, which is an engineering check, not an operational one.

It binds the way most NATO Allied Publications do: through the agreement nations record. AASSEP-01's own promulgation letter states that nations' agreement to use the publication "is recorded in STANAG 3098", and NATO's own catalogue lists AASSEP-01 as covered by that STANAG. A nation carries the obligation into its own procurement once it has ratified; a supplier meets AASSEP-01 because a contract, a type specification or a tender calls it up, not because it exists in NATO's catalogue.

How it is assessed

AASSEP-01 names no certification body, no audit cycle and no inspection regime. It is an interface specification: a jacking pad or jack either matches the geometry ISO 43 and ISO 1464 set out, or it does not, and checking that is a design review against those two standards, not a scheme an organisation is certified against.

Standards it references

AASSEP-01 points to two civil standards for its actual technical content: ISO 43, which sets the jacking-pad geometry clause 2.1 requires, and ISO 1464, which sets the clearance envelope clause 2.2 requires. Both bind directly - AASSEP-01 adopts them by reference rather than citing them for background. Neither is in our catalogue at the time of writing. AASSEP-01 is itself carried by STANAG 3098, the NATO agreement recording nations' agreement to use it.