Aircraft maintenance is a huge part of any operation dealing with aircraft and flying, whether it is military or commercial flying. On average there is between ten and fifteen man- hours of maintenance for each hour of flight time. Strict procedures and guidelines are set in place, and strictly enforced to ensure the safety of all involved, maintainers, aircrews and the aircraft. Aircraft maintenance is so important and throughout the years it has been becoming more efficient and reliable with more policies put in place.
Aircraft maintainers are highly skilled technicians that are required to go through specific training, which is required by the Federal Aviation Administration. For most commercial aircraft maintenance jobs it is required for each person to hold a mechanic’s certificate, also know as an airframe and power plant license. To obtain one of the licenses you must have at least eighteen months of either power plant or airframe practical experience, or at least thirty months working on each at the same time. Another acceptable requirement to work in the maintenance field is you could graduate from one of many approved maintenance technician schools such as Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. Whether the technician goes to college to get their training, or received hands on experienced and passes a number of tests we can be confident in their knowledge.
Maintenance departments are a huge part of any flying organization. They are responsible for scheduled and unscheduled inspections as well as the maintenance performed on all of the aircraft in their possession. The amount of stress placed on aircraft during each flight is great and with that come discrepancies that need to be repaired. During takeoffs and landings is usually when the most stress is placed on the airframe, because this stress is so high there are many scheduled inspections that need to happen to aircraft after a specified number of flight hours,
Aeronautical Science Perspective Paper 4 takeoffs, landings etc. These types of inspections are common, and usually do not require very many man-hours. They are set in place as a preventative measure to avoid more serious problems in the future. Also there are numerous types of unscheduled inspections, also known as special inspections that happen only under certain circumstances. Some of these circumstances would be hard landings, bird strikes, lightning strikes or even overweight landing inspections. These types of inspections are set in place to make sure no extreme damage was done to the aircraft during such unforeseen circumstances and no major repairs are needed.
Along with scheduled and unscheduled inspections, there are also pre-flight, post-flight, turnaround and daily inspections that maintainers perform on the aircraft to verify they are still in a flyable status. These types of checks tend to be the quickest of all inspections on the aircraft but also some of the most important. These inspections tend to specialize and focus on safety of flight components. Safety of flight components are main parts of the aircraft that are needed for the aircraft to stay in the air, and do so safely. Components of the aircraft that are considered safety of flight are things such as the airframe, landing gear, tires, flight controls, hydraulic systems, brakes, engines, engine fluids, lights and more; components that if there are major flaws could cause the aircraft to fall out of the sky. These are some of the most important inspections performed on an aircraft and during them is when most of the major discrepancies are found on an aircraft.
It doesn’t matter if the maintainer is performing one of the aforementioned inspections on the aircraft, or is performing major maintenance on an aircraft; he/she is required to do the maintenance “by the book”. When you here the words “by the book” it is referring to a specific maintenance instruction manual that will give the technician step by step instructions during the troubleshooting of an inoperative system, repairs to a system, or even the removal and
Aeronautical Science Perspective Paper 5 replacement of specific components that are considered bad and need to be replaced. Along with step by step instructions there are also certain people required to do the maintenance that hold certain qualifications and that is spelled out in each manual. For any maintenance action you will need at least one, if not two workers and somebody qualified to inspect the work that is watching the maintenance be done. On top of those minimum personnel if the component being replaced has to do with safety of flight, such as flight controls or an engine you will also need somebody qualified from Quality Assurance to verify torque values and other checks specified in the instruction manual.
Quality Assurance is a very important part of a safe and productive maintenance department in any organization, especially when dealing with aircraft. Quality Assurance’s main goal is to prevent the occurrence of defects by monitoring the day-to-day operations of a maintenance department to make sure things are happening correctly, safely and that people are doing things by the book. Quality assurance is also responsible for qualifying personnel as being inspectors that are able to do the particular repairs on the aircraft. Without high standards, and experienced personnel in quality assurance the inspectors being qualified by them will not be at the quality required to produce a safe aircraft for the aircrew.
As well as having a good quality assurance team, and qualified inspectors to inspect the maintenance that is being performed, having effective leaders is another important characteristic of a good maintenance department. If a worker is coming to work everyday and is having problems with co-workers, problems at home or just does not get along good with his/her supervisor their head will not be in the right mindset which can be very dangerous to the organization. Supervisors and leaders play a huge roll in the motivation and well being of the
Aeronautical Science Perspective Paper 6 maintenance team by keeping a positive work environment which in turn increases productivity and leads to a safer product.
As described, every piece of the maintenance department is very crucial in having a safe and productive flying organization. With a quality maintenance team, effective leaders and supervisors working alongside qualified inspectors and technicians the entire department can work together effectively and efficiently. As long as personnel get the required training, and are following the manuals line by line as they are supposed to the aircraft and crew will continue to be safe and successful and the organization will strive.