This
week the discussion was to be over maintenance programs and find a recent event
dealing with maintenance programs. As I have already discussed the ten elements
of a maintenance program in a previous entry, I will focus mainly on the current
event. Back in September of 2014, Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAI) underwent their first
C check of one of their Airbus A380 aircraft ("Technical Issues," n.d.). This inspection
is one of the largest inspection the aircraft can undergo.
The
C check on the A380 is done every other year as a required inspection ("Technical
Issues," n.d). Although SAI does not exactly follow FAA standards in regards to
AC 120-16F, an attempt will be made to try to relate this large inspection to a
few of the elements required for a maintenance program in the United States. The
program elements to be related will be the maintenance schedule, required inspection
items, and maintenance recordkeeping system (FAA, 2012a). The aircraft that
underwent the C check had over 8,000 hours and 1,000 cycles prior to the
inspection ("Technical Issues," n.d.).
An effective
maintenance program would be fully prepared to conduct this inspection when the
time came because of one of the ten required elements is to have a maintenance schedule.
It is through this schedule that all planned maintenance is planned to help
reduce the down time of an aircraft. During the normal operation of the
aircraft, there will be times that discrepancies will be found throughout the
year that are not worked off until the aircraft undergoes a major inspection,
such as the C check. This is also to reduce down time, and with proper
planning, will not impact the length of the inspection being done. The schedule
will also ensure proper parts and the appropriate people are in place when the
aircraft down undergo the planned inspection. Personnel planning is important,
as the C check on this A380 had over 100 trained people to comply with the
inspection requirements and also required over 1,600 parts ("Technical Issues," n.d.).
The purpose of
conducting the C check is to inspect. The required inspection items should
be spelled out so that the inspection is able to flow from one inspection
requirement to the next. If the airlines have meet the requirements of another
required element, the air carrier maintenance manual, then this should already
done. What should be inspected is
generally put together by the airlines with the assistance of maintenance
manuals from the OEM.
In the end it is
the air carrier responsibility to ensure compliance with OEM inspection
requirements, and anything found through the use of yet another of the ten
element required of a maintenance program, the CASS. In the event that the
airframe or powerplant is new and does not exactly have all the data required
to build an effective inspection requirements, AC 121-22C will assist with
outlining temporary inspection requirements as the program matures (FAA, 2012b).
The final
element is the maintenance recordkeeping system. This is where all the work
that was done will be documented. There will also be times that some discrepancies
will be found and are not exactly required to be fixed at the time. If this
occurs, then proper documentation will ensure that the discrepancies found are documented
to be fixed at later time.
To conduct an
inspection of this size requires proper planning and preparation. This inspection
had over 100 people that worked for 55 days to ensure this aircraft was
returned to service and was airworthy ("Technical Issues," n.d.). 55 days is a
long time for an aircraft, and without proper scheduling, having inspection
requirements laid out correctly, or poor documentation, this aircraft could
easily has been down longer. The longer an aircraft is not flying, the more
money an airline looses and we all know that the reason the airlines exist are to
make money. Below is a time lapsed video of the C check, only in less than 2
minutes.
Federal Aviation
Administration. (2012a). Air carrier maintenance programs. Advisory
Circular (120-16F)
Federal Aviation
Administration. (2012b). Maintenance review boards, maintenance type
boards, and OEN/TCH recommended procedures. Advisory Circular (121-22C)
Flightglobal/A380. (n.d.). Technical issues. Retrieved from http://www.flightglobal.com/page/A380-In-Service-Report/Airbus-A380-In-Service-Technical-issues/
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