DO-160 Section 14 is one of the environmental qualification tests defined in RTCA DO-160.
What DO-160 Section 14 Covers, and Why It Exists
Section 14, properly Salt Fog rather than the commonly used “salt spray,” determines how equipment holds up under prolonged exposure to a salt atmosphere. The concern is corrosion, binding of moving parts from salt deposits, insulation faults, and damage to contacts and uncoated wiring. Category S applies to equipment in a corrosive atmosphere in normal operation; Category T to severe exposure, such as equipment directly exposed to external unfiltered air on hovering aircraft operating near the sea. The standard specifies this test should not be run before fungus resistance testing.
How Real the Risk Is
An FAA advisory circular on avionics corrosion has quantified this: it attributes roughly 20 percent of commercial and general-aviation avionics failures to corrosion, rising to 30 to 40 percent in military fleets. The documented failure signatures, deteriorated wire and connector insulation, intermittent electrical and mechanical faults, match the mechanism Section 14 screens for. The risk is real, the question for any given program is whether the equipment is actually exposed to it.
Why This Rarely Applies to Galley Equipment
Most galley equipment, sealed inside the pressurized cabin, isn’t directly exposed to the external salt atmosphere that an externally mounted antenna or sensor faces. For typical galley programs this is a low-relevance section. The honest framing is “usually low relevance, worth a deliberate check rather than an assumption,” equipment with any direct ventilation path to unfiltered exterior air, or programs operating heavily out of coastal airports, deserve a closer look before dismissal.
How to Mitigate or Document This
- Don’t assume automatic non-applicability without checking for any unfiltered exterior-air path into the installation zone
- Sequence salt fog testing before fungus resistance testing if both apply to the same unit
Further reading: NTSB accident report archive.
How Eminent Helps: Deciding whether a section like salt fog genuinely applies, and documenting the basis either way, is the kind of call that keeps a certification program efficient without leaving gaps a reviewer can challenge. See how we support certification programs.
