Aviation maintenance practices and procedures

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 the ability of the workforce to handle its responsibilities, especially during high maintenance and repair times.

Kinnison (2004, p. 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 all components are thoroughly inspected for their level of repair and function. Another level of inspection is at the official level, where official representatives from entities such as the FAA inspect aircraft for their compliance to official regulations. In such cases, managers must ensure that they are fully aware of the requirements of the particular type of aircraft that they house. Managers can delegate investigation duties to researchers in order to ensure that they maintain a full list of up-to-date requirements.

Aging aircraft could also present particular dangers to personnel and passengers. Some aircraft remain in use far beyond the lifetimes initially envisioned when they were manufactured (AOPA, 2011). Aircraft managers, therefore, should have a thorough plan in place for the maintenance of aircraft that are aging. In such a case, particular teams of people could also be assigned to the regular inspection and repair of such aircraft. The AOPA (2011) provides a list of sources that should be inherent in a maintenance plan for aging aircraft. A complete list of logbook entries, for example, could provide valuable information relating to maintenance trends and the probably current level of repair. Major repairs should also be listed in such a logbook. Aircraft records from the FAA are also an important component of this investigation and can provide information such as bills-of-sale, repair, and alterations to the aircraft. Having such information on hand will make it much easier to investigate the state of repair of aging aircraft and also to plan for future inspection and repair efforts. It is vital that aging aircraft be kept in good working condition to minimize breakdown and accidents.