Before you book EWIS training you have to answer one question correctly: which of the eight EWIS target groups does this person belong to? Get it wrong and you have bought training that does not match the job, and an auditor looking at your training records will see the mismatch before you do.

AMC 20-22, published in AMC-20 Amendment 23 (Annex to ED Decision 2022/001/R), builds its entire training programme around eight target groups. This article sets out all eight in full, explains the rule that actually decides membership, and shows what each group is taught. For the wider regulatory picture, start with our pillar guide: EASA EWIS Training: The Complete Guide to AMC 20-22.

The fast decision aid

Work down this list and stop at the first line that describes what the person actually does. If more than one line applies, note every one that does — that matters, and we come back to it below.

• Do they perform EWIS maintenance? Group 1.
• Do they inspect wiring systems but not maintain them? Group 2.
• Are they authorised to design EWIS installations, modifications or repairs? Group 3.
• Do they perform general maintenance or inspections not involving wire maintenance? Group 4.
• Do they design mechanical or structural work, or plan maintenance tasks? Group 5.
• Do their duties simply bring them into contact with or view of aeroplane wiring? Group 6.
• Are they flight deck crew? Group 7.
• Are they cabin crew? Group 8.

The rule most operators get wrong: duties, not licence

This is the single most common error we see in EWIS training records. Organisations sort their people by licence category — B2 goes here, B1 goes there, A goes somewhere else — and treat the result as a target group allocation. It is not.

AMC 20-22 is explicit. Section 2 states: “This programme was developed for eight different target groups and may be used for the minimum requirements for initial and recurrent training (see training matrix). Depending on the duties, some may fall into more than one target group and, therefore, must fulfil all objectives of the associated target groups.”

Read that carefully. Membership depends on duties. And where the AMC mentions licence categories at all, it does so as illustration — every reference is prefixed “e.g.”. The Group 1 description says training “is based on their job description and the work being done by them (e.g. avionics skilled workers or technicians cat B2)”. The example is the B2; the criterion is the work being done.

The concrete consequence, and the one worth writing into your procedures: a B1 who performs wiring maintenance is doing Group 1 work. A B1 performing general maintenance that does not involve wire maintenance sits in Group 4 — and the AMC’s own Group 4 examples explicitly include “inspectors/technicians cat A or B1”. Same licence, two different target groups, decided entirely by the task. In our experience, this is where allocation by licence category quietly falls apart, and it is also where a competent auditor will start.

Note the second half of the rule as well. Where a person’s duties span groups, they must fulfil all objectives of every associated group. A supervising engineer who both designs modifications and performs hands-on wiring work is not “roughly Group 3” — they carry both sets of objectives.

The eight EWIS target groups in full

Two details in that table repay attention. First, Group 4’s parenthesis — “LRU change is not considered wire maintenance” — settles an argument that recurs in most Part-145 organisations (Part-145 sits in Regulation (EU) No 1321/2014). Removing and refitting a line replaceable unit does not by itself put someone in Group 1. Second, Group 5 covers planners. People who never touch an aeroplane are inside the AMC’s scope because, as Section 2 puts it, “Some people prepare paperwork that guides mechanics, training this target group in EWIS should help to ensure that proper attention is paid to EWIS issues.”

What each group is actually taught

The AMC’s syllabus runs to 41 numbered items in seven lettered blocks: A General EWIS Practices (1-7), B Wiring Practices Documentation (8-12), C Inspection (13-16), D Housekeeping (17-22), E Wire (23-31), F Connective Devices (32-36) and G Connective Device Repair (37-41). Appendix A allocates items to Groups 1 and 2; Appendix B to Groups 3 through 8.

Groups 1 and 2 — the full stack

Both groups take the great majority of the syllabus, with a deliberate split at the edges. Group 1 alone gets the hands-on and process items: tools, special tools and equipment (3); verifying calibration and certification of instruments, tools and equipment (4); required wiring checks using the troubleshooting procedures and charts (5); measurement and troubleshooting using meters (6); contamination protection planning (20); protection during aeroplane maintenance and repair (21); cleaning processes (22); and the whole of block G — circular connectors, rectangular connectors, modular and non-modular terminal blocks, and grounding modules (37-41).

Group 2 alone gets the items that belong to the inspector’s discipline: human factors in inspection (14), zonal areas of inspection (15), and inspection criteria and standards for wire and wire bundles (25).

Group 3 — the design population

Group 3 takes the documentation block (8-12), the entire Wire block (23-31), Connective Devices (32-36) and the housekeeping items 20-22. It does not take items 1, 2 or 7 — safety practices, ESDS device handling, and LRU replacement general practices. That is a coherent allocation for people who specify work rather than perform it, and it is worth checking against your own job descriptions before you assume Group 3 is a subset of Group 1.

Groups 4 and 5 — the largest populations in most organisations

Group 4 takes items 1, 2 and 7, general and detailed inspection (13), wiring system damage (16), contamination sources (17-19), the housekeeping items (20-22), typical damage and areas found (27) and item 31, marked “Bond”. Group 5 takes 13, 14, 15, 16, 17-19, 20-22, 27 and 31 — the inspection and contamination content, without the general practices items.

Groups 6, 7 and 8 — awareness

These three groups take a short, focused set: safety practices (1), contamination sources (17-19), and — for Group 6 only — cleaning processes (22). Items 16 (wiring system damage) and 27 (typical damage and areas found) are allocated at “Low level”, which is the phrase the AMC’s own matrix uses. This is awareness training with a purpose, not a formality: the AMC’s background section records regulators and accident investigators finding wiring contaminated with “dust, dirt, metal shavings, lavatory waste water, coffee, soft drinks, and napkins”.

Routing to the right course

Raven’s EWIS courses map each Waypoint 1:1 to a single AMC 20-22 syllabus line item, grouped into Lessons A-G that follow the AMC’s own blocks. Target-group courses are assembled from those Waypoints according to the Appendix A and B matrices, so a delegate covers the items their group is allocated and nothing they are not.

• EWIS Target Groups 1 & 2 — the full programme, for staff performing EWIS maintenance or wiring inspections.
• EWIS Target Group 3 — for electrical and avionic engineering staff authorised to design EWIS installations, modifications and repairs.
• EWIS Target Groups 4 & 5 — for general maintenance and inspection staff, other engineering staff and maintenance planners.
• EWIS Target Groups 6, 7 & 8 — for service staff working in proximity to EWIS, flight deck crew and cabin crew.

Before you allocate, settle two related questions: whether EWIS training is mandatory for the group in question, and how the two-year refresher expectation works. Unfamiliar terminology is covered in our EWIS glossary.

Frequently asked questions