Engineering Drawing, Diagrams and Standards

The purpose of an engineering drawing is to record and convey the designer’s requirements to other interested people. The drawing must, therefore, include sufficient information to enable production planning, manufacture, assembly, testing, inspection and subsequent maintenance of the particular component or assembly to be achieved in the most cost-effective manner.

In order to prevent misrepresentation of drawings, it is essential that the person preparing the drawing and those using the drawing should have a knowledge of the methods of presentation symbols, terms and abbreviations that are used in the preparation of an engineering drawing.

This section is not intended as a standard for the production of drawings, but should be regarded as a general guide to drawing procedures and interpretation.

The reference for drawing practices in the UK is produced by the British Standards Institution (BSI) in their publication, BS 308. There are other standards available, which supplement BS 308 such as the Society of British Aerospace Companies’ (SBAC) Technical Specification (TS) 88.

Companies, that have design approval from the CAA or the JAA, can modify these standards to suit their own particular drawing requirements. They must, however, publish their preferred standards of drawing, to obtain the approval of their National Aviation Authority (NAA).