Aviation Maintenance - Term Paper Example

and Number of the Teacher’s Aviation Maintenance Introduction Advances in aviation technology have taken place rapidly only in the last sixty years. “Before 1950, technical items were mostly simple, which made them reliable and easy to maintain” (Ahmadi, Soderholm & Kumar 1). The earlier concept of maintenance was based on the belief that failures were caused mostly by wear and tear, and the common maintenance strategy was Corrective Maintenance. With the increasing complexity and criticality of components, preventive maintenance program for failure management was emphasized. At the same time, one of today’s challenges is the determination of the success of such maintenance programs. The first systematic review of aircraft systems were the Maintenance Steering Group (MSG) methodologies known as MSG-1 and MSG-2. System level thinking led to the development of the Reliability-Centred Maintenance (RCM) methodology. The effect of RCM on the MCG methodology resulted in the publication of the MSG-3. Future possibilities and challenges include e-Maintenance for the surveillance of an aircraft maintenance program’s performance. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate aviation maintenance, and examine the requirement, and types of aviation maintenance, the industry procedures for developing an initial program, the goals and objectives of maintenance, and the maintenance activities required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Requirement for Aviation Maintenance Maintenance is defined by Lee, Ma, Thimm and Verstraeten (p.299) as “the process of ensuring that a system continually performs its intended function at its designed-in level of reliability and safety”. Thus, maintenance is the process by which a systems designed-in level of failure resistance is restored to the closest economically viable, adequate level of the design (Asp 2). Although aviation maintenance skills and techniques have improved tremendously over the 100-year history of flight, total perfection has not yet been achieved. The number of components on a modern aircraft make aviation maintenance a complex, ongoing process, requiring a systematic approach (Kinnison 3). Aviation maintenance is a highly skilled and specialized profession requiring training in institutions of higher learning. The main purpose of the maintenance program is “to restore safety to the designed-in level before the degradation reaches a level where a failure could occur” (Asp 2). Types of Aviation Maintenance The two main types of maintenance are scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. The former is a preventive form, conducted at planned intervals to ensure that the aircraft is air-worthy. Unscheduled maintenance is needed in case of a breakdown; and is “more definitive requiring extensive testing, adjusting and often replacement or overhaul of parts or subsystems” (Lee et al 299). Scheduled maintenance and inspections constitute a battery of checks depending on the number of flight hours elapsed. Transit checks are conducted at each transit stop of the aircraft, while 48 hour checks are done in greater detail. Similarly checks “A”, “B”, “C” and “D” are conducted after 600, 1200, 5000 and 25,000 flight hours respectively for a Boeing 747-400. Another classification of maintenance is as on- or off- aircraft. The former is performed on or in the aircraft itself, and can be done either by taking the aircraft out of service or without taking it out of service. The former is line maintenance and the latter is hangar maintenance. Line maintenance involves work related to for example, transit, 48-hour, “A” and “B” checks. Such inspections include “checking the brakes, oil levels, the condition of cargo door seals and the wing surfaces for obvious damage or oil leakage” (Lee et al 299). Hangar maintenance with the aircraft out of service, entails scheduled checks, modifications of the aircraft or aircraft systems by an airworthiness directive or engineering order, special inspections required by the airline, the FAA or other regulations, painting of the aircraft and aircraft interior modifications. “Off-aircraft maintenance entails the overhaul of systems removed from the aircraft which can be temporarily put out of service if substitute systems are not deployed” (Lee et al 299). Aircraft availability is measured as MTBF/ (MTBF + MTTR), with MTBF denoting mean time between failures and MTTR denoting mean time to repair. To increase the availability of the aircraft, either the MTBF should be increased or the MTTR decreased. This can be done in the product design phase. By improving the quality of the maintenance, the MTBF can be increased, and an improved turn-around-time is the same as a decrease of MTTR. More recently, due to high fuel cost, aviation operators have shifted the maintenance responsibility to companies such as Honeywell, for providing integrated service solutions and asset availability. Industry Procedures for Developing an Initial Maintenance Program It is important to develop a well-thought out program to address the diverse activities encountered in aviation maintenance. The various maintenance check packages include the 48-hour and transit check, the monthly “A” check, the yearly “C” check, etc. used to implement the maintenance tasks. Adjusting the program for the lifetime of the equipment is an ongoing process (Kinnison 3). For each new type of aircraft, it is essential to develop a maintenance program prior to its introduction into airline service. The development of the scheduled maintenance program will be outlined. Non-scheduled maintenance results from scheduled tasks, normal operation or data analysis. Maintenance programs are developed using a guided logic approach, towards a task-oriented program. The logic’s flow of analysis is oriented to failure-effect. After analysis, items that do not have scheduled tasks specified, may be monitored by an operator’s reliability program (MSG-3 3). The purpose of the maintenance program is to maintain the inherent safety and reliability levels of the equipment. The Regulatory Authority is assisted by the Maintenance Steering Group (MSG) – 3 Task Force rules in establishing an initial scheduled maintenance program for new types of aircraft as well as powerplants. This program forms the foundation for the first issue of each airline’s maintenance requirements governing its initial maintenance policy. At first adjustments may be required to address operational and environmental conditions specific to the operator. With increasing operator experience, additional adjustments may be made by the operator to maintain an efficient maintenance program. Industry procedures for developing and implementing an initial maintenance program include the objectives of an efficient maintenance program, the content of an efficient maintenance program, and the method by which an efficient maintenance program can be developed (MSG-3 2). According to Asp (p.2), there are three main actors involved in the initial development of the maintenance program: the manufacturer, the Industrial Steering Committee, and the Maintenance Review Board (MRB). The Policies and Procedures Handbook (PPH) is prepared by the manufacturer and presented to the Industrial Steering Committee (ISC) for review and approval. The ISC then forwards it to MRB chairpersons and other regulatory authorities for acceptance. The ISC must together with the aircraft Type Design Organization document and present a proposed MRB report in the form of a Maintenance Program Proposal to the MRB chairman for approval. The ISC is a joint venture between manufacturer and operator and its responsibilities lie against the regulatory agencies and airline industry to ensure that the Maintenance Review Board report is developed and evaluated according to the Policies and Procedures Handbook. The Goals and Objectives for an Airline Maintenance Program “The main objective of an aircraft maintenance program is to ensure that the aircraft meets and continues to meet the designed function to serve dependable and airworthy services” (Ahmadi et al 7). It is essential for operators to determine any deviation from this objective, and to evaluate the success of the program after operating the aircraft. Other major objectives of an aviation maintenance program include the following: Ensuring the achievement of the inherent safety and reliability levels of the equipment; restoring safety and reliability to their inherent levels when deterioration has occurred; obtaining the information necessary for design improvement of those items whose reliability is proven inadequate; and accomplishing these goals at a minimum cost including expenditure on maintenance as well as costs of resulting failures (MSG-3 2). The above objectives take into account the fact that maintenance programs in themselves cannot correct deficiencies in the inherent safety and reliability levels of the equipment. The maintenance program can only prevent deterioration in the levels of safety and reliability. “If the inherent levels are found to be unsatisfactory, design modification is necessary to obtain improvement” (MSG-3 2). Content of the Maintenance Program The content of the maintenance program consists of two groups of tasks: first, a group of scheduled tasks to be accomplished at specified intervals; these tasks aim to prevent deterioration of the inherent safety and reliability levels of the equipment. The tasks in a scheduled maintenance program may include: lubrication/ servicing; operational/ visual check; inspection/ functional check; restoration; and discard. A group of non-scheduled tasks result from the scheduled tasks accomplished at specified intervals; reports of malfunctions usually identified by operating crew; and data analysis. These non-scheduled tasks aim to restore the equipment to an acceptable condition. An efficient maintenance program schedules only those tasks necessary to meet the stated objectives. “It does not schedule additional tasks which will increase maintenance costs without a corresponding increase in reliability protection” (MSG-3 3). Certification is required for the original design of the vehicle, for its operation, and maintenance. “The aviation industry is the most heavily regulated of all the transportation modes” (Kinnison 45). For full certification of the airplane, the three certificates required are: the aircraft design, the manufacturing process and the aircraft itself. Further, the documentation for maintenance has to be updated and in order, to ensure regular and effective aviation maintenance. Activities Required by the FAA to Accomplish Maintenance “Current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification of aviation maintenance technicians still centers on mechanical procedures involving the airframes and power plants” (Garland, Wise & Hopkin 282). Technicians are required to possess knowledge and skills on electricity; aircraft drawings; weight and balance in aircraft; aviation materials and processes; ground operations; servicing; cleaning and corrosion control; maintenance publications; forms, and records. Aviation maintenance also includes airframe wood structures; coverings; finishes; sheet metal and nonmetallic structures; welding; assembly and rigging; airframe inspection; hydraulic and pneumatic power systems; cabin atmosphere control systems; aircraft instrument systems, fuel systems; position and warning systems; ice and rain systems; and fire protection systems. An aircraft’s reliability and safety will be extensively impacted by its operating context, for example, operator organization, humidity, temperature, utilization load, and other factors. Hence, it is likely that the original assumption of effectiveness criteria made while designing the initial maintenance program will change; therefore the surveillance of the aircraft maintenance program will be important (Ahmadi et al 7). The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) “Continuing Analysis and Surveillance System” (CASS) is an effective continuous airworthiness maintenance program to identify and correct any deficiencies before they become systemic problems. Hence, the operators should develop indicators to determine possible deviations from defined objectives and to measure the effectiveness of an aircraft maintenance program. These objectives might be based on “risks related to health, business, safety, environment, property, and on-time services” (Ahmadi et al 7). E-maintenance is the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for remote maintenance. The physical world is represented in a digital model supplying tailored information such as decision support regarding appropriate maintenance activities for all stakeholders independent of time, geographical location or their organization. Therefore, according to Candell et al (2007), the e-maintenance approach overcomes the limitations experienced in the management of condition monitoring data, specific technologies, or any particular support service solution. Also, additional requirements deemed necessary by operators to coordinate and implement an effective maintenance and engineering program. Conclusion This paper has highlighted aviation maintenance, and examined its requirement, the types, the industry procedures for developing an initial program, the goals and objectives, the content of the program, and the maintenance activities mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration. Aviation being a high-risk field, necessitates adherence to strict and specific maintenance programs and the need for updated certification of different types. The new field of e-Maintenance increases the reliability of maintenance programs by digitally checking their effectiveness. Thus, future research should focus on developing advanced technology for ensuring one hundred percent reliability of aviation maintenance programs, towards achieving optimal aviation safety. Works Cited Ahmadi, A., Soderholm, P. & Kumar, U. An overview of trends in aircraft maintenance program development: Past, present, and future. (2008). Retrieved on 6th June, 2011 from: http://pure.ltu.se/portal/files/1275884/Article.pdf Asp, Bjorn. Maintenance program development and the definition of the maintenance program process. Bachelor Thesis in Aeronautical Engineering. School of Innovation Design and Engineering. (2007). Candell, O., Karim, R. & Soderholm, P. e-Maintenance 24-7: Theoretical framework, research, and applications. Technical Report, Lulea University of Technology. (2007). Garland, Daniel J., Wise, John A. & Hopkin, David (Eds). Handbook of aviation human factors. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (1999). Kinnison, Harry A. Aviation maintenance management. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. (2004). Lee, S.G, Ma, Y.-S., Thimm, G.L. & Verstraeten, J. Product lifecycle management in aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul. Computers in Industry, 59 (2008): pp.296-303. MSG 3. Airline/ Manufacturer: Maintenance program development document. Maintenance Steering Group (MSG) – 3. Revision 2. Air Transportation Association of America. (September 1993). Read More