Aircraft Maintenance Technology - 29

IF YOU'VE EVER SEEN A NASCAR OR
Formula 1 race, you'll know that the
unsung heroes are the pit crews. While
the driver may get all the glory for winning the race and go down in the record
books, ultimately they cannot win if
the pit crew isn't top-notch. Victory and
defeat can be decided by the smallest of
margins and times are measured down to
the nearest millisecond. Drivers rely on
their crews knowing their jobs, having
the materials they need at the ready and
ultimately executing the changes when
the opportunity comes - the airline
industry is no different.
With massive up-front costs to purchase aircraft, and earning relatively meager profits per passenger, airlines must
keep their aircraft in the air to maximize
ROI (Return On Investment). Any missed
flight may cost airlines hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in extreme cases,
as is the case with the grounded Boeing
737-Max fleets, can cost airlines tens or
even hundreds of millions of dollars a
year, which is projected to be the case
for American Airlines and Southwest.
While it's true that the Boeing Max has
been grounded due to a software issue,
rather than a logistical one, it's not hard to
envision mass groundings due to logistical troubles.

Airlines must invest in
the behind-the-scenes
logistics as much as they
are investing in passengerfacing features.
In January, the FAA considered a
recall on some 148 Boeing parts, that
would have impacted roughly 300 active
Boeing aircraft. The parts were suspected
to be "susceptible to premature failure
or cracks" and airlines were to be given
10 days to replace the parts should the
recall be called into effect. While this
time frame is no problem for a small scale
racing pit crew, who have all the materi-

als on hand, airline MRO (maintenance,
repair and overhaul) departments would
have a much harder time dealing with an
issue. Unlike racing crews, airlines function on a global scale and parts sourced

for a repair in one country may originate
halfway across the world.
Despite an industry valuation of $80
billion, current MRO largely relies on
antiquated systems. Out-of-date websites,

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Aircraft Maintenance Technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aircraft Maintenance Technology