Improving Aircraft Safety (1980) / Chapter Skim
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Production and Maintenance
Production and Maintenance
Pages 49-72
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From page 49... ...
In hangars the size of several football fields, work crews tow the airplanes through a dozen or more positions on the production line, until each finished airplane eases from the hangar ready for testing and approval for flights. Once an airplane is in service, the airline performs myriad maintenance operations on it -- daily checks, periodically scheduled maintenance, major overhauls, repairs of unexpected damage and replacement of failed components.
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From page 50... ...
The review is intended to make sure that each aircraft produced conforms to the design specifications of the Type Certificate. Once the Production Certificate is awarded, government oversight of production is maintained by a system that couples direct FAA review by assigned inspectors with the work of delegated companyemployed Designated Manufacturing Inspection Representatives (DMIRs)
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From page 51... ...
issuance of Aitrworthiness Certificates (a certificate that the individual aircraft meets the design specifications of the Type Certificate and has been flown, either by FAA or company test pilots on behalf of the FAA, and has been found in compliance with applicable standards) and export approvals; and (iii)
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From page 52... ...
Most of the FAA staff had other assignments. Accordingly, the routine surveillance of the manufacturers' production and quality assurance systems by FAA inspectors is augmented by special FAA teams who periodically perform a Quality Assurance Systems Analysis Review (QASAR)
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From page 53... ...
Considering all of these matters, the committee recommends that the FAA increase its emphasis on quality ossuronoe in aZZ phoses of the production process by inoreasing the frequency of Quality Assurance Systems Analysis and Review team visits to aZZ Production Certificote holders, and by expanding the responsibilities of FAA inspectors and quality ossuranoe teams to inoZude the observation of aotuaZ hardcore. Maintenance Surveillance Once a new aircraft leaves the manufacturerls plant for use in service by a carrier, the responsibility for maintaining it in compliance with applicable FAA regulations devolves upon the airline.
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From page 54... ...
In the normal course of events, each carrier modifies the initial maintenance program, subject to review and approval by the FAA's assigned maintenance or avionics inspectors, in light of the carrier's particular maintenance practices and the experience gained from maintaining the aircraft in service. The maintenance program is also changed in response to Airworthiness Directives (FAA regulations prescribing mandatory inspection and/or repair)
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From page 55... ...
FAA inspectors at other airport facilities along the carrier's route perform ramp checks to evaluate the apparent condition and routine servicing of the aircraft; (ii) audit-type inspections, called situation monitorings -- analogous to the system of audits performed for manufacturing by quality assurance teams, though not so regular -- are conducted in limited cases, especially where the regional office becomes aware of specific safety problems; and, (iii)
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From page 56... ...
Service bulletins may or may not be reviewed by the FAA maintenance inspector as part of the examination of the airline's maintenance documents. However, the project engineer in the regional office often considers the Alert Bulletins for possible issuance of a mandatory Airworthiness Directive.
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From page 57... ...
Cues are to be found in Airworthiness Directives, individual aircraft maintenance records, manufacturers' service bulletins, government and industry trend analyses, and statistical data. The manufacturer's issuance of an Alert Service Bulletin, for instance, provides an opportunity for the FAA inspector to gain insights on how the carrier perceives a particular safety problem.
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From page 58... ...
Because of the importance of maintenance to the continued airworthiness of the carriers' aircraft, the committee recommends that the FAA inoreose its surveiZZanoe of airline mointenonoe operations, making use of team approach for frequent and unannounced inspections, and encouraging its air carrier inspectors to give higher priority to strategioaZZy selected on-site visits and hardware observation, both random by during aZZ shifts, and for specific maintenance procedures that they deem espeoiaZZy oritioaZ or important. Licensing of Maintenance Personnel With the exception of the flight crew, no group has a greater effect on aircraft safety than the maintenance workers at the airlines.
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From page 59... ...
27 In the committee's judgment, the FAA's current licensing and training requirements for airline maintenance personnel are, unhappily, of limited effectiveness. There is no stringent standard, comparable, for instance, to that for flight crews, for initially establishing or periodically upgrading the skills of mechanics who repair or service commercial aircraft.
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From page 60... ...
~ At Pre sent, there is no policy requiring such personnel to be reassigned from responsibility for one manufacturer or carrier to another within the regional offices or to move to an assignment in a different region. As a result, FAA personnel may and generally do remain assigned to the same carrier or manufacturer for many years.
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From page 61... ...
Furthermore, personnel assigned to the two principal manufacturers in the Western Region, as well as air carrier inspectors employed in district offices having responsibility for more than one operator, could easily be reassigned within their present locations. The Manufacturer's Continuing Role Product services departments of the major manufacturers have been previously described as fulfilling two functions: assistance to customers in the operation of the aircraft, and transmittal of service experience information back to the manufacturer.
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From page 62... ...
In some cases, particularly as an aircraft puts on many flight hours in operation and major component replacements are necessary, or as an airplane is modified, the air carriers purchase parts and assemblies from vendors other than the original manufacturer and either make their own alterations or have the work done at a Designated Alteration Station (DAS) , a repair facility whose work procedures have been approved by a regional office of the FAA.
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From page 63... ...
With such considerations in mind, the committee recommends that the FAA assure that the manufacturer (type Certificate holder) have Continuing knowledge of an operator's mointenonoe procedures by obtaining the monufaoturer's formoZ review prior to authorizing any significant deviation from the approved mointenanoe program.
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From page 64... ...
The carriers collect data on maintenance and reliability characteristics from a number of internal information systems-e.g., unusual flight incident reports, flight log reports of malfunctions, aircraft maintenance information systems, daily operations reports, flight log monitoring systems pertaining to engine reports, monthly summaries of flight delays and cancellations, monthly premature removal reports, and shop cost records.
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From page 65... ...
to their assigned FAA maintenance inspectors concerning the occurrence of 16 specified types of aircraft failure, malfunction, or defect. Thirteen of these involve events occurring in flight-defined as "the period from the moment the aircraft leaves the surface of the earth on takeoff until it touches down on landing,"31 and widely interpreted to exclude from the reporting requirements any incident occurring while the plane is taxiing or otherwise on the ground, including during maintenance.
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From page 66... ...
Additionally, the FAA can request special computer runs of the Safety Board's accident data bank to identify problems and failure trends in aircraft. The information-gathering mechanisms presently used by the FAA are a collection of individual systems that have come into being at different times in response to the identification of particular problems.
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From page 67... ...
The users of the system must be disciplined to determine the cause of every incident, failure, or accident, to require that corrective action be taken, and to provide feedback to all concerned parties. An example of a potentially effective information system is the experimental Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS)
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From page 68... ...
FAA regulations, however, are ambiguous in distinguishing major and minor. The regulations call for reporting the condition of the aircraft's structure.
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From page 69... ...
For instance, the damage to the aft pylon bulkhead, caused by a faulty maintenance procedure by Continental Airlines prior to the American ..
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From page 70... ...
This recommendation requires a commonly accepted definition of primary structures, which are the principal load-carrying members, as known by the designer. Identification of primary structures by maintenance personnel would be made easier by requiring the manufacturer to include sketches of the aircraft structural skeleton, which are normally produced during the aircraft design stage, in the maintenance manual.
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