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State of the Industry vs. Forecast

The FAA released its annual forecast for the aviation industry in March. This report takes a look back at the previous year (2012) and then makes some predictions for the long range. I find predictions something to be leery of and that is one reason we don’t ask our “State of the Industry” responders to [...]

Lufthansa Technik Reports Significantly Improved Result Even with Stagnating Revenues

Lufthansa Technik Group was able to increase its result in 2012 in spite of a decline in revenues to 4.01 billion euros as announced at their annual press meeting in Hamburg on March 19, 2013. The annual report of the 23 consolidated Lufthansa Technik Group companies showed an operating result of 318 million euros. “Considering [...]

Airframers Push the Envelope in Aftermarket Support

When we hear that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are expanding in the aftermarket, we typically think of the engine makers, with their large share, or the component OEMs, with their rapidly growing share. But the airframers are busily scooping up business, as well, especially through packages that combine component maintenance and management at a fixed [...]

The Parts Traceability Puzzle

I get a lot of questions about the FAA’s requirements for aircraft parts traceability. And one of the first things I remind people of, when they ask, is that there is no general requirement under FAA regulations for aircraft parts traceability. None. Yes, there are requirements for certain parties to prepare or maintain certain documents [...]

Rosetta Stone Partners with IATA to Provide Language Training

Rosetta Stone has announced a new agreement with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that means employees in the aviation industry will have the opportunity to learn a new language and develop their communication skills as part of a wide-ranging career development program administered by the IATA Training and Development Institute (ITDI). The program gives [...]

Exterior finish fix-ups.

Tips on how to make minor repairs to new basecoat/clearcoat paint finishes. As you read in Dave Jensen’s story New Promise in Paint, which appeared in our (see Aviation Maintenance, April/May 2012) issue, the aviation industry has pretty much switched from the old lead-based primers and single-stage top coats to a much more environmentally-friendly generation [...]

Ultrasonics

Ultrasonics Keeps  Aviation Airbound by Mark Robins Nondestructive ultrasonic testing uses beams of high-frequency sound waves to detect subsurface flaws, measure thickness and evaluate material properties. When used to inspect aerospace components, ultrasonic testing is an essential facet of any maintenance and manufacturing program influencing safety, quality assurance and cost. “In those facilities which manufacture [...]

Tool Control

Brainy Boxes: Hand Tool Control Automation by Charlotte Adams Every aviation maintenance and production facility knows the importance of controlling hand tools. In the stress of meeting deadlines it’s easy to leave small wrenches and screwdrivers behind. But if the tools have been left in an electrical panel or engine cowling, the result could be [...]

Star Fleet Maintenance

How Helicopter Fleet Mx is Done at Bristow Academy Back in the mid-‘70s, I was taking basic helicopter training in bubble-front Bell 47. I can still hear the school’s chief mechanic saying that it took three-hours of maintenance for every hour the old Bell flew: four after I’d flown it. I wasn’t that bad. Really, [...]

Remember The Titans

MRO Titans: Changing Landscape by Charlotte Adams Hammered by global economic problems and fuel prices, the MRO industry is becoming more challenging by the day. Competition is intensifying, cost pressures rising, regulation expanding, and barriers to entry in engine and component work are becoming steeper with the advent of new-generation aircraft. Only the strongest players—by [...]

Monarch Expanding at Birmingham Airport

On Tuesday, November 20, Mick Adams, managing director at Monarch Aircraft Engineering Ltd (MAEL) announced at a press conference in Birmingham, UK, plans to expand its operations by building a state-of-the-art maintenance facility at Birmingham Airport in the Midlands. The new MAEL maintenance facility at Birmingham Airport will break ground in January 2013 and will [...]

Legal Spin

by Jason Dickstein Contract Maintenance NPRM Over the past several years, the amount of maintenance contracted by certificate holders to outside repair stations and other contract maintenance providers, has increased. Efforts to reduce costs have led certificate holders to seek out companies with specialized expertise to perform significant portions of maintenance, rather than the air [...]

The B-52 Turns 60

The B-52 Turns 60

Tool Safety & Control

Tool Safety & Control Aviation technicians can attest that the last thing you want happening when working on a fastener is to have the tool slip. The result can be detrimental not only to the work, but painful for your hands. Using the right tool can make a substantial difference in getting a job done [...]

Hangar Safety: Fall Protection 2012

Hangar Safety: Fall Protection 2012 As the aircraft we maintain get taller, so does the challenge of providing technicians with effective fall prevention and arrest systems. If you ever forget just how dangerous an aircraft hangar can be, take a minute and think about your insurance agent the last time he dropped by. Nobody should [...]

SMS

Sorting Through the U.S. SMS Muddle Safety Management System (SMS): Three words — and an acronym — that are striking dread in the hearts of MROs serving the U.S. market. To understand where the dread about SMS comes from, you have to plunge into the murky, muddled world of U.S. aviation rule-making, the actions of [...]

Overcoming Resistance to (Oil) Change

By Peter Taylor In a conservative industry, where safety is paramount, aircraft operators may be inclined to stick with what they know. Is this the same industry that is a model for the rigorous development, testing and implementation of numerous incremental changes that continually move it forward? Glass cockpits were introduced to reduce pilots’ workload [...]

The Aircraft Composites Revolution

By James Careless There is a revolution underway in commercial aircraft manufacturing today and it can be summed up in one word: Composites. Abaris Training is one of the premier composite repair training companies in the world. Above a training group is shown during a bagging exercise The mainline aircraft of years past were primarily [...]

An Awakening to MX Personnel Fatigue

Maintenance professionals often work long hours and, combined with other factors, become fatigued. How large of problem does it pose? Scientific study sheds light on the subject. By David Jensen A human factor too long overlooked in aircraft maintenance has become a growing concern in the industry—fatigue. It has prompted scientific study and fatigue risk [...]

Lean Engine Maintenance

By Charlotte Adams Industrial processes are like bodies—they get flabby with age. Lean is like a trainer for these processes. It finds the flab and makes the process more effective by decreasing turn-around time (TAT) or work in progress (WIP), while improving quality, financial performance and other metrics. According to the AFI KLM Engineering & [...]

Borescope Upgrading

By Douglas Nelms New borescope technology is producing smaller, lighter and less expensive borescope systems without a compromise on image quality Borescope manufacturers have introduced smaller, lighter and…in some cases…less expensive systems with smaller diameter probes over the past few years, meeting the need to get into ever smaller spaces. More importantly, these advances in [...]

Inventory and Supply Chain Management Software Roundup

by James Careless Inventory and supply chain management software (MRO software) is one of the most effective ways for an MRO to run its business. The reason: well-designed MRO software tracks every aspect of the enterprise; from parts ordered, received and inventoried to parts used, work done, and invoices issued. Add in regulatory compliance-tracking and [...]

Clean Engines Are Efficient Engines

When it comes to engine washing, a clean machine runs green and saves green. Back in the days when airlines probably spent more on in-flight meals than on Jet-A, turbine engine washing was pretty much relegated to being part of an engine’s major overhaul program. When the engine was removed from the wing, it was [...]

Large diameter Fans Put a New Spin on Air Movement

Hangars are among the most difficult spaces to keep at a consistent temperature due to tall ceilings and large bay doors opening and closing all day long, all year round. Large diameter, low speed fans can help make hangars more comfortable year-round. Big Ass Fans, which range in size from 6- to 24-feet in diameter, [...]

FAA Tries to Modernize the Industry, one ICA at a Time

By Jason Dickstein In the February/March 2012 issue of this magazine, we reported that the FAA would soon publish a Policy Statement on Instructions for Continuous Airworthiness (ICAs). That policy statement has been published and it takes a significant first step in modernizing the FAA’s approach to these instructions. I have been listening to people [...]

State of the Industry

We asked some of the top leaders in the aviation maintenance, service and support industry to give us their expert opinions on the state of the aviation maintenance industry. These executives were from the commercial sector, the business aviation sector, maintenance training and the associations. The insights they shared are both candid and enlightening. They [...]

New Promise in Paint

A coating process taken from the automotive industry is being developed for all-around use in aerospace. Paint manufacturers say its efficient, long lasting and will reduce weight. By David Jensen  Some may think that to unearth new technology in today’s aircraft, you must look beneath the surface—under the engine cowling or in the avionics bay [...]

The Challenges of Maintaining Aging Aircraft

by James Careless The earliest Boeing 737 aircraft (now known as the 737 Classic) entered service in 1968. The first 747 started commercial flights in 1970; the first 757 in 1983 and the 767 in 1982. Meanwhile, the Airbus A-300 started flying commercially in 1974, the A-310 in 1983 and the A-320 in 1988. To [...]

Skin in the Game

NASA-sponsored research of skin on aircraft that are built of composites may expose unique benefits. It also could impact significantly aircraft maintenance. By David Jensen Imagine aircraft being covered with applicable “skins” that protect fuselage and wing surfaces, improve airflow with their smoothness and negate the need for paint thus shedding weight on planes and [...]

Tools for Electronic Maintenance Tracking

By Dale Smith “Flying is so many parts skill, so many parts planning, so many parts maintenance, and so many parts luck. The trick is to reduce the luck by increasing the others.” — David L. Baker In today’s economy, service diversification is key to any maintenance organization’s survival and possible growth. But diversification is [...]

Maintenance Departmental Metrics: Creating Value for Your Organization

When it comes to your maintenance department, “What gets measured gets improved.”  While this is a seemingly simple statement, the big questions to ask are: What should we measure? Why measure it? And how should we do it? To help your maintenance team start measuring the value it needs to create for your host organization, [...]

Why Won’t My DAR Issue An 8130-3 For My Part?

In Mid-March, the FAA held a meeting in South Florida. Attendees were enticed to attend with the promise of an answer to the question “Why won’t my DAR issue an 8130-3 for my part?” Not long before the FAA meeting, I had published an article in the Aviation Suppliers Association newsletter that reminded the aviation community that [...]

How Hawker Beechcraft Built Up Its Product Support

There’s been a flurry of activity at this OEM that has generated new facilities, product-wide aircraft-upgrade programs and enhanced technician training. The manufacturer has placed its after-market business front and center. By David Jensen A lot has transpired at Hawker Beechcraft Corp. (HBC) over the past 18 to 24 months. Under chairman and CEO Bill [...]

Preventative and Predictive Maintenance

By Dale Smith As the saying goes: When it comes to airplanes an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of money. They’re old and they’re getting older. And that’s a true statement no matter which classification of aircraft you’re talking about. Even with the backlogs of thousands of new aircraft reported by Airbus and [...]

Project Management Technology Keeps Critical Chain Bright

By Charlotte Adams What do Delta TechOps, Lufthansa Technik, the Navy’s Cherry Point Fleet Readiness Center (FRC) and the Air Force’s Ogden Air Logistics Center (ALC) have in common? They have adopted critical chain business rules and use Realization’s critical chain project management (CCPM) software. For an MRO running behind schedule, critical chain might mean [...]

VIP Cabin Design Gets French Touch at Airbus’ Completion Center

Airbus is banking on the flair of the French fashion industry to lure corporate jet completions to its Toulouse outfitting center. The Airbus Corporate Jet Center (ACJC) in Toulouse may be young in the business of VVIP cabin outfitting and not as famous as some of its Swiss or U.S. competitors. Yet, its senior executives [...]

Staying Evergreen

By Neal Davis, Sr. Driving south from Phoenix to Tucson on Interstate 10, just past Picacho Peak, you will see some colorful spires aiming at the sky, and on closer examination, you can identify them as aircraft tails. So what are these doing in this land of sage, cactus and creosote bushes? My curiosity has [...]

Irish Ways

Maintaining quality maintenance is never easy. A little MRO company in Ireland is showing how it can be done, as Roy Allen reports. He had other things on his mind, but if one Barak Obama had been able to look across Dublin Airport to a particular group of hangars on his Presidential trip back in [...]

Knowing Where You Rank in the “Best Of” Category – A simple guide to performance benchmarking

No doubt you’ve heard the buzzwords “best in class” hundreds of times. It often sounds a bit over-the-top to hear a company or organization call itself the best at something. Unless, of course, it really is. But how do you know if your maintenance organization is really a top performer? And how would you go [...]

Mechanics, Technicians, or Engineers- The results are in!

There is an ongoing debate about what professionals in our industry should be called. When I first joined the ranks of the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association  (PAMA) in the mid 80′s, I was a believer that we were technicians. Some 30 years later we still have not agreed on what we would like to be [...]

Spotlight on FAA Efforts to Promote Aircraft Parts Safety

There is a lot of policy work going on right now in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that affects aircraft parts safety.  These are the sort of efforts that yield real safety results, but that seldom see the headlines.  The FAA is constantly developing policies to promote safe practices, to discourage unsafe practices, and also [...]

Myths and Misconceptions

Somewhere along the way, a myth about the maintenance industry has been perpetuated. The myth is that the maintenance industry, and the people who work in it, are technology-averse. While I have been covering maintenance during the last 10 years, I have heard it repeated so many times, that if I didn’t know better from [...]

How the Giants of MRO Survived 2011′s Economic Storm – and Prospered

by James Careless By all accounts, 2011 was a tough year for the Giants of MRO; those large companies who dominate the world market. As 2012 gets underway, Aviation Maintenance magazine has asked the Giants about the challenges they faced in the past 12 months, how they responded, and what they expect to happen next. [...]

Avionics Maintenance Heats Up

By Charlotte Adams The temperature’s rising in airline avionics shops. The weak economy is pushing carriers to cut repair and maintenance costs but spurring original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to maximize returns in the aftermarket. These tensions have created a more adversarial relationship whose latest symptom is the struggle over data access. “We have seen a [...]

FADEC. The future of piston engine management.

There have been a lot of discussions recently about pilots becoming over dependent on automated systems. While there is still much to be said about the reliance on digital displays and autopilots, when you’re talking about piston engine aircraft, there is one emerging automated system that will have nothing but positive impact on both reducing [...]

PMA Summit Drills Deep Into PMA Use

On November 3 and 4, 2011, Aviation Maintenance, in conjunction with their sponsor, the Manufacturer Replacement Parts Association (MARPA), held the International PMA Summit in London at the Earl’s Court Conference Center. The two–day event centered around educating potential European users of parts manufacturing approval (PMA) parts about the truths, myths, challenges and benefits of [...]

New Rules for 8130-3 Tags – Are Rebuilds Really Better?

The FAA recently released Draft Order 8130.21H for public comment.  The most recent revision to Order 8130.21—the FAA guidance on how to complete an 8130-3 tag—will mean a number of changes for Repair Stations.  The majority of these changes are straight forward.  Some changes, however, will warrant a closer look; and some changes threaten to [...]

Mechanics, Technicians, or Engineers? PAMA

In a previous article I wrote about professionalism and what makes us professionals.  Two key points were that we are paid to perform our work and we conform to technical and ethical standards of our profession. Recently a new twist on a continued debate was presented to me. Are we as A&Ps; mechanics, technicians, or [...]

Boeing delivered its first 787 Dreamliner

Worth the Wait by Joy Finnegan As we went to press for this issue, Boeing delivered its first 787 Dreamliner to launch customer, All Nippon Airways (ANA). Boeing deserves huge congratulations now that the first 787 aircraft has been delivered in spite of the challenges experienced in making the aircraft service-ready. The dramatic story of [...]

The Need for Aviation-Specific NDT Training for In-Service Inspections

By Timothy Kinsella, Dassault Falcon NDT Program Manager  DECK Currently, training of in-service NDT technicians relies on commercially available courses. While a few of these programs cover aviation manufacturing processes and flaws few, if any, cover them as they relate to in-service aviation issues. The world of in-service aviation inspection requires skills and knowledge that [...]