Aviation maintenance and management are probably among the most important actions within the transport industry today. Failure to provide adequate maintenance or indeed to manage this effectively can result in errors, accidents, and death. In the aviation industry, death is far more likely than in other modes of transport, since there is the factor of height added to speed and crashing that act as danger factors when accidents occur. Kinnison (2004, p. 13) notes that, in reality, all mechanical parts and engineered components, regardless of quality, will fail at some point during their lifetime. This is at the heart of the importance of maintenance. Management means that maintenance and inspection schedules are set up in such a way that the failures cause the least disruption in service while ensuring optimal safety for passengers and crew. Specifically, maintenance management includes a variety of components such as repair, inspection, and the upkeep of aging aircraft. All these components are bound by the human factor, which is the main factor that determines the level of safety and likelihood of error during and after repair and inspection events.
According to Kinnison (2004, p. 13), the manager needs to be aware of the lifetime to fail of the various components of their aircraft. Not all components will fail at the same time, so the repair component of maintenance can be fairly well predicted with investigation and experience. These repair times should be scheduled in such a way that personnel can give their full attention to this important work. Hence, managers must make decisions regarding optimal scheduling, human resources, and...
16) also notes that the Maintenance Steering Group (MSG) approach has proven to be far more effective than the initial process approach that was used for maintenance endeavors. This means that each group of aircraft components that needs to be repaired is assigned to a certain group of workers, who are experts at identifying maintenance concerns and repairing malfunctioning components. This approach is far more effective in terms of labor power and time than the other approaches, since it allows a certain group of workers to focus on a particular area of concern, allowing them to become experts, as it were, in their particular field. This is particularly important, especially in the light of the increasing complexity of flight technology developed today.
In addition to regular and necessary maintenance, regular inspections are also a necessary and important part of aircraft maintenance and management. Form a management point-of-view, inspections have a dual purpose: to determine any unforeseen malfunction in any of the aircraft's components, and to ensure that official flight regulations are met. It is important to schedule these exercises at times when repair intensity is low.
Inspections can occur on two levels: on the company level, maintenance employees can make regular inspections of the components that are assigned for their repair. These inspections should be thorough and ensure that all parts are in good working order. Check lists are a good way to ensure that…
References
AOPA. (2011). Best Practices Guide for Maintaining Aging General Aviation Airplanes. Retrieved from: http://www.vintageaircraft.org/informational_articles/Best%20Practices%20Guide%20for%20Maintaining%20Aging%20General%20Aviation%20Airplanes.pdf
Kinnison, H.A. (2004). Aviation Maintenance Management. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Xavier, A.J. (2005, March). Managing Human Factors in Aircraft Maintenance Through a Performance Excellence Framework. Retrieved from: http://www.system-safety.com/articles/Xavier%20Thesis.pdf
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