Page 3 - Forum-2021-JanToMarch

PRESIDENT’S VIEW

REHABILITATING PARKED AIRCRAFT FOR FLIGHT

IT’S GOING TO TAKE A LOT OF PEOPLE AND A LOT OF TIME TO GET THINGS GOING AGAIN. AND IF
YOU'VE GOT LESS PEOPLE, IT’S GOING TO TAKE MORE TIME. — STEPH SMITH

I runs in accordance with the aircraft maintenance manual.
wish everyone a good and safe new year. As 2021 began,
“These are done to ensure the engines are still performing as
we’re still facing individual and air safety professional diffi-
culties throughout the world—both trying to stay healthy
expected and that the long-term storage hasn’t caused any det-
during the pandemic and surviving the resulting economic
just by looking at them,” said Smith. But Scott stressed that
turmoil that’s wrecked national economies and left many rimental effects to any of the systems that wouldn’t be obvious
people permanently unemployed or temporarily furloughed. it will take a considerable amount of time to get everything
There’s hope now for a better future as vaccines and improved flying again given the volume of maintenance work that needs
medical treatments move from their development stage to ini- to be done and the number of engineers who’ve been laid off
tial distribution and eventually become widespread. Recovery during the pandemic. “It’s going to take a lot of people and a
for global health and the revival of the aviation industry will lot of time to get things going again,” Smith remarked. “And if
still require years of coordination, cooperation, and careful you’e got less people, it’s going to take more time.”
observation. “With some of the newer aircraft, these tests need to be fol-
In my last “President’s View” and in my video on ISASI’s lowed in the exact order and to the exact second, otherwise it
website, I mentioned remaining vigilant about safety issues can fail the test and set you back a few hours,” she observed.
as mothballed aircraft are returned to service. Last Decem- “Once the maintenance work packs are cleared and certified,
ber, Kathy Scott, a CNN reporter, provided some interesting the engineer can then sign the aircraft off as airworthy. They’re
interviews with a manager of a site in Alice Springs, Austral- the final signature that says, ‘I'm happy that everything has
ia, where unused aircraft are stored, and a certified aircraft been done correctly. I’m now releasing the aircraft to service.’
engineer and the commercial director of an aviation services That final signature is what the captain will see to then sign
company. Scott observed that more than two-thirds of the the logbook for the aircraft,” noted Smith.
world’s commercial aircraft were grounded in 2020, and some Mike Cone, commercial director of eCube, an aviation
31 percent are still in storage. The Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage services company, told Scott that engineers must religiously
follow procedure when reactivating an aircraft. Cone also
(APAS) facility still has twice its usual number of jets, now observed that only companies approved by national airwor-
about 150, and has increased its capacity to more than 200, thiness authorites can perform this maintenance. He said
said APAS managing director Tom Vincent, who expects de- no aircraft stored at eCube facitities in Spain and the United
mand to rise in 2021. Vincent observed that getting these air- Kingdom have returned to the flightline (at the time of this
craft back on the line requires an extensive program prescribed CNN interview).
by the maintenance manual provided by each manufacturer Cone speculated that the
before a certificate of release to service can be signed. “more marketable” aircraft such
Scott also learned there are a myriad of usual problems that as the Airbus A320 and the
must be resolved in these rehabilitation programs. There’s B-737 will return to passenger
more than just removing engine protectors and tape covering flight and that other aircraft
every hole, port, or probe, according to Licensed B1 aircraft may undergo passenger to cargo
engineer Steph Smith. For example, bugs (wasps have a way of conversions. Vincent suggested
nesting in hard-to-reach places), water, or debris can invade that newer aircraft will leave his
aircraft systems. Smith estimated that getting a widebody facility first as demand returns.
aircraft ready for flight takes about 100 staff-hours, and a nar- Smith commented that the
rowbody aircraft takes about 40—depending on the size of the “greener” more sustainable
aircraft and the length of storage time. aircraft types will survive this Frank Del Gandio
She commented that engineers have to do a series of engine downturn. ISASI President
January-March 2021 ISASI Forum • 3