Avionics News February 2022 - 53

you have to articulate it to the FAA to
sign off on it.
For starters, you have to find out
what other programs are approved
and the length of those programs.
For example, if you have an aircraft
that's on 100 hours and gets
approved for maybe 125 hours, the
most that aircraft can fly is 1,600
hours. As far as I know, the highest
that's ever been approved is 1,600
hours, which is with 12 inspections.
I broke the inspections down to
eight. And, this is the hard part,
you have to be able to transition
from that inspection directly to an
annual and directly into another
Approved Aircraft Inspection
Program for that aircraft. I had to
rearrange the whole inspection
program and break it down to
eight inspections that meet all
FAA criteria. I got it approved.
Eventually, I was able to get it up
to 250 hours before I left. That
was for the PC-12 some 18 months
before Pilatus moved to 300-hour
inspections. I did something similar
for the Beechcraft King Air 300.
What are some of the
things that people should
consider when writing
maintenance programs?
In aircraft operations and
maintenance, you have capabilities
and processes you're approved
for and can be audited on by the
FAA. But, sometimes, the business
operates in a different way than
it's approved for, which causes a
conflict. It usually boils down to
how the manuals and programs
were written. They need to be
revised so everything matches up.
But revisions can be hard to
write. Even if you can envision a
wonderful process working perfectly,
articulating it can be challenging.
Plus, you have to remember that
people from different backgrounds,
different ethnicities and different
thinking abilities have to be able
to accomplish it. So, you have to
write that process and present in a
manner that can be executed at a
high level on a consistent basis by
everyone.
What other issues
have you tackled
in maintenance
departments?
Once you have all the regulatory
issues tackled and everybody
operating per the regulatory
guidelines, you know what changes
need to be made and you can
look for other ways to improve
the department. At the regional
airline for instance, we had a CAMP
maintenance tracking system that
wasn't being utilized because
no one knew how use it. I built
processes and procedures to use
the system.
Have you considered
consulting to help other
aviation businesses
become more efficient?
I do consult a lot. In fact, we
just started offering consulting
services through Qmulus Aviation,
helping existing as well as brandnew
aviation businesses with
the regulations and maximizing
their efficiency and their profits.
I'm helping a startup airline in
California right now. Also, I've had
flight departments send me their
people. I help them get organized.
I help them transition from one
maintenance program to another.
My philosophy and thought
process leans more to the business
side. Sometimes when dealing with
another maintenance professional,
they may not want to work with a
consultant like me because they're
concerned about exposing certain
elements of their maintenance
program.
A lot of times when I consult,
I'll work with the CFO, COO or
whoever runs the business. I
explain that although I might
discover some things, it's not
a knock on their maintenance
person. It's just another way to
look at the situation. If everyone is
willing to learn and adapt, they can
improve the bottom line and fix
their compliance issues.
I come in and look at what they
have approved by the FAA as an
operation and, from there, get
everything organized and working.
Then through the revision process,
I'll make the necessary changes.
That's how you stay regulatory.
On the business side, I examine
what they want to do, how they
want to operate and how many
hours they want to fly a year. Once
you know those elements, you can
cater a maintenance program to
suit that. It's a rare opportunity to
create programs from the ground
up, but it's a very good one to help
the business save on the bottom
line. I like helping maintenance
departments get off the ground.
I've done it five times now. q
To learn more about Qmulus
Aviation, visit qmulusaviation.com.
avionics news * february 2022 53
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Avionics News February 2022

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