Maintenance centres and pricing

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MMattyK
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Maintenance centres and pricing

Post by MMattyK » Wed Feb 08, 2012 9:29 am

This has been briefly discussed as an idea in Manufacturer Hubs and other ideas in this forum area. It has been suggested that the current maintenance regime is somewhat unrealistic, and should possibly be based on families of MTOW with a modifier for engines and engine type, so that all Boeing 737 series would have the same maintenance costs, instead of differring costs as at present for the same checks.

Basically, I suggested that different aircraft have different man hours required to carry out servicing and that there could be a process put in place so that different airports have different maintenance capabillities/availability with hanger space and engineering team man hours, and that airlines could be given the opportunity to purchase their own maintenance centres to maintain their own fleets, or leased to other airlines to service other aircraft.

There are 2 points I'd like to be considered:

1. Airlines could maybe have a free maintenance centre at their home hub, with a certain number of maintenance man hours (shall we say 100 per month), but additional man hours can be bought, and pay to have a maintenance centres at their secondary hubs, and you pay for servicing man hours available per month in blocks of 50, with a fixed cost to per hour, and is renewable on a monthly basis, at which point you can change the hours purchased. These hours would also be avaialble to lease to other airlines.

2. Aircraft types are given specified hours for A, B, C check servicing, for example, a rapide may take 2 hours for an A check, but a 747 may take 48 hours. If you have the maintenance hours available in your servicing centre, then you get the servicing free, just the time out of service as a penalty, whereas if you don't have a maintenance centre, then you either pay an airline who has spare maintenance hours at a negotiated cost, or an enhanced rate per hour if you have to use the airports maintenance team which will also have limited maintenance hours, depending on the size of the airport. Once the airports allocated maintenance man hours have been used for that month, then maintenance at that airport will not be available untill the following month when the maintenace hours are reset.
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Re: Maintenance centres and pricing

Post by joefremont » Fri Feb 10, 2012 2:43 am

I still like the idea. But i don't think there should be automatic free maintenance at the airlines hub. Here are my thoughts.

- An airline should be able to build a maintenance center at any airport they choose.
- It would cost some about to setup and a some amount to maintain (rent to the airport) depending on size of the center.
- The size of the center would limit the size of the aircraft that could be worked on and how many could be worked on at any one time.
- The airline would get a discounted repair rate if the work is done in there center, partner airlines could get repair also at a lesser discount. Other airlines could be repaired at regular rate. The owning airline would pocket the difference between there rate and the rate paid by the other airlines. The owning airline could set the rate.
- A minimum amount of work would need to be performed at a center each month (say 25% of capacity) or the owning airline would have to pay the tech's for standing around.
- There would be FSA Aviation owned centers at most airports to repair aircraft so that airlines would not have to buy the centers if they don't have the funds.
- If there is no center in the airport that can handle the aircraft, or if the airline does not want to wait for space in a center to become available, the airline could pay a very high rate to have the work done outside of a center.

I am not sure about the time thing for different size aircraft. Maybe some of our members with connections to the aviation industry could comment.
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Re: Maintenance centres and pricing

Post by MMattyK » Fri Feb 10, 2012 2:10 pm

It's along the same lines as I was thinking, but I'm not sure about FSA having maintenance centres at every airport, and those they do set up, the maintenance should be at a higher premium, than those set up by VA's.
I also agree that airlines should be able to set up centres at any airport, but the designated airline home airport, the maintenance centre should be at a lesser expence (for the size of the centre built) than at other airports, the reasoning being that the airline selected it's main home base on set up.
I still think that mantenance times for smaller aircraft will take less time than larger aircraft for the same type of servicing.
As for the rest, I'm pretty much in agreement with.
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Re: Maintenance centres and pricing

Post by CAPFlyer » Fri Feb 10, 2012 5:58 pm

Okay, to weigh in -

1) I like the general outline.
2) I don't think airlines should get a "discount" for their home maintenance center. Real airlines don't get their first maintenance center "cheap" unless they buy an empty hangar. :)
3) Levels of maintenance take different amounts of time based on size simply because a bigger plane has more stuff to look at, but it's not as big for the A & B checks as it is for C & D checks. However, many airlines have gone away from C & D checks instead opting for "Phase" checks that accomplish the C & D check over time and allow the cost to be spread out and the plane to not be out of service quite as long.

Here's a general overview though -

"A" Check - done usually once a month. Can be done overnight for most aircraft on the ramp.
"B" Check - done about every 3-6 months. Takes 1-2 days in a hangar. If an airline is using Phase Checks, then a certain number of "B" Check items will be completed each time an "A" Check is done, thus there is no dedicated "B" Check period.
"C" Check - done every 1.5-2 years. Takes about a week on most birds, but a few older, larger aircraft like the Classic 747s and DC-10s might take 2 weeks. In this process, the aircraft is stripped of much of its removable components including its entire interior, a heavy check performed, and then reassembled. This is typically when they do scheduled/programmed engine changes and "renew" the interior putting in refurbished seats with new cloth and foam. This cycle must be done at a maintenance base.
"D" Check - done every 5-6 years. This one is the heaviest that involves not only everything on the "C" Check, but also usually incorporates repainting the aircraft and a dismounting of all flight surfaces (i.e. all the ailerons, flaps, elevators, rudder(s), etc), removal of the landing gear for inspection/overhaul, and basically makes the airplane a shell of just the non-removable parts. This can take up to 3 months to complete for large aircraft.

BTW, from "Aerosphere" here's a description of a D-Check -
What a D Check Involves

Once the aircraft is parked inside the hangar—a huge complex of aircraft service areas, support shops, and warehouses—the maintenance team goes to work. Worktables, platforms, and scaffolds are rolled into position for access to otherwise unreachable areas of the plane. Seats, floors, walls, ceiling panels, galleys, lavatories, and other equipment are opened or removed from the aircraft to permit close inspection. The aircraft is essentially gutted. Following step-by-step instructions, workers examine the aircraft for signs of metal cracks and corrosion. Whole sections of the aircraft's landing gear, hydraulic system, and engines may be replaced. The D check requires the skills of engineers, technical writers, quality control inspectors, avionics technicians, * sheet-metal workers, and airframe and power-plant mechanics, ** most of whom are government licensed. When cabin equipment mechanics, painters, and cleaners are added, the number of personnel swells to well over 100 per day. Scores of others provide essential equipment, parts, and logistics support.747tail

* "Avionics" is an abbreviation for aviation electronics.

**The airframe and power-plant certificate allows mechanics to approve flight work that he or she has performed on airplane structures, systems and engines.

Over time, inflight vibrations, fuselage pressurization cycles, and the jolts of thousands of takeoffs and landings cause cracks in the metal structure of the aircraft. To address this problem, aviation employs diagnostic principles similar to those used in the field of medicine. Both use such tools as radiology, ultrasonics, and endoscopy to detect what the human eye cannot see.

For a conventional medical X ray, the patient is placed between a sheet of film and an Xray beam. To Xray the landing gear, wings, and engines, maintenance inspectors use similar methods. For example, a sheet of Xray film is placed at a desired point on the engine exterior. Next, a long metal tube is placed inside the hollow shaft that runs the length of the engine. Finally, a pill of radioactive iridium 192—a powerful isotope—no bigger than a pencil eraser, is cranked into the tube to expose the Xray film. The developed film helps to reveal cracks and other flaws that may require that the engine be repaired or replaced.

During the D check, samples of the aircraft's fuel and its hydraulic fluids are sent for laboratory analysis. If microorganisms are found in the fuel sample, antibiotics are prescribed. To kill jetfuel bugs—fungi and bacteria that can get into fuel tanks through the air, water, and fuel—the tanks are treated with a biocide, a form of antibiotic. This treatment is important because the byproducts of microbial growth can corrode the protective coatings on the surface of the tanks. Fuel probes in the tanks can also be affected and thus cause the pilots to receive inaccurate fuel gauge readings.

As a result of normal wear, vibrations, and internal seal damage, fuel tanks can develop leaks. A supervisor asks his assembled Dcheck crew, "Does anyone want to be a 'frogman'?" The joyless but necessary chore falls to John. Looking somewhat like a scuba diver without flippers, he dons special cotton coveralls, puts on a respirator connected to a freshair supply, and takes tools, sealant, and a safety light with him. Through a small opening in the bottom of the wing, he squeezes his way into the defueled wing tank, locates the source of the fueltank leak, and seals it.

Built into the wings of the plane, the fuel tanks of a 747 are a maze of walled compartments connected by small openings. Fuel tanks are no place for the claustrophobic. A 747-400 can hold more than 57,000 gallons of fuel. This fuel capacity makes it possible to fly extremely long routes nonstop, such as from San Francisco, California, U.S.A., to Sydney, Australia—a distance of 7,400 miles.

Three stories above the ground on the flight deck, an avionics technician inspects a builtin testpattern display on the TVlike weather radar indicator screen. Pilots use this instrument to detect and avoid thunderstorms and turbulence that may be as far as 300 miles ahead of the airplane. So when the pilot turns on the "Fasten Seat Belt" sign, he may have seen turbulence on his radar screen. However, to prevent injuries, many airlines request that when seated, passengers keep their seat belts fastened at all times, even if the captain turns off the sign. Atmospheric changes in the form of clearair turbulence are often encountered before pilots have time to turn it on.747nosegrear

During the D check, safety equipment, such as life vests and emergency lighting, is checked or replaced. When a check of the passenger emergency oxygen system is under way, oxygen masks dangle like oranges on branches. Jet airplanes routinely cruise at altitudes of four to seven miles above the earth, where the oxygen content and the atmospheric pressure are insufficient to sustain life. How is this problem solved? The aircraft's pressurization system draws in outside air and then compresses it. This air is finally supplied to the cabin at an acceptable temperature. If the air pressure in the cabin falls below safe levels, oxygen masks automatically drop from overhead compartments. The emergency oxygen is supplied to the passengers until the aircraft descends to an altitude where the emergency oxygen is no longer needed. On some airplanes, oxygen masks are stowed in passenger seatback compartments, not in overhead compartments. That is why it is important to pay attention to preflight passenger briefings, which identify the location of the oxygen masks.

A heavy maintenance check is also the time to install new cabin walls and ceiling panels as well as to replace carpets, curtains, and seat cushion covers. Galley equipment is disassembled, cleaned, and sanitized.

Ready to Fly

After 56 days of inspections, checks, repairs, and maintenance, the aircraft is ready to leave the hangar and resume flying passengers and cargo. Only a small fraction of the maintenance operations have been mentioned here. But before flying again, the aircraft may be testflown by a special crew to ensure that all systems function properly. It is reassuring to consider briefly how much expertise and technology go into keeping the aircraft that you fly in mechanically sound.

However, the best single tool in aircraft maintenance is said to be the human element —sharp eyes and alert minds. The trained personnel take their jobs very seriously. They know that poor maintenance can cause big problems. Their goal is to provide reliable aircraft that will speed you to your destination safely and comfortably--contributed by a U.S. aviation safety inspector.
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Re: Maintenance centres and pricing

Post by joefremont » Tue May 31, 2016 6:14 pm

Been thinking about this again so though I would reply to it and bring it back to the top of the list.
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