NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TRANSPORT

SCHOOL OF AVIATION

DEPARTMENT OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

BACHELORS DEGREE IN AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE ENGINEERING

COURSE : BAME.

MODULE NAME : AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE PLANNING AND MANAGEMEN

MODULE CODE : AMU 08103

LECTURE'S NAME : MR. JOSEPH MWAMPISHI

STUDENT’S NAME : MUSSA LUCAS MUSSA

REG NUMBER : NIT/BAME/2020/189.

ACADEMIC YEAR : 2022/2023.

TASK : INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT 2

SUBMISSION DATE : 20-12-2022.

Question; Explain different types of aircraft maintenance concepts

AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE
Aircraft maintenance can be defined in a number of ways and the following may help understand
the different aspects:

“Those actions required for restoring or maintaining an item in a serviceable condition including
servicing, repair, modification, overhaul, inspection and determination of condition”.

“Maintenance is the action necessary to sustain or restore the integrity and performance of the
airplane”

“Maintenance is the process of ensuring that a system continually performs its intended function
at its designed-in level of reliability and safety.”

Aircraft maintenance is that part of the process of aircraft technical activity which is conducted
on aircraft whilst it remains in the line maintenance or base maintenance environment. Aircraft
maintenance is intended to keep the aircraft in a state which will or has enabled a certificate of
release to service to be issued. A hangar environment may be available but is often not
necessary. The reasons for carrying out maintenance are;

i. Aircraft safety – airworthiness at its heart

ii. Keep aircraft in service – Availability, which is of key importance to an operator i.e. the
aircraft can meet its schedule.

iii. Maximise value of asset (airframe, engines and components) – of prime importance to the
owner or lessor.

Maintenance will consist of a mixture of preventive and corrective work,

including precautionary work to ensure that there have been no undetected chance
failures. There will be inspection to monitor the progress of wear out processes, in
addition to:

 Scheduled or preventive work to anticipate and prevent failures.

 Unscheduled work – Repair maintenance and On-condition maintenance

In general terms, for preventive work to be worthwhile, two conditions should be met:

i. The item must be restored to its original reliability after maintenance action, and

ii. The cost of maintenance action must be less than the failure it is intended to prevent.

Some of the key aspects to learn in aircraft maintenance are;

1. LIGHT/LINE MAINTENANCE
This would typically include Pre-flight checks, daily checks (before first flight),
failure rectification as well as minor, scheduled maintenance tasks as follows.
According to regulations, line maintenance should be understood as “any
maintenance that is carried out before flight to ensure that the aircraft is fit for the
intended flight.” This may include:

 Trouble shooting
 Defect rectification
 Component replacement, up to and including engines and propellers, with
use of external test equipment if required
 Scheduled maintenance and/or checks including visual inspections that
will detect obvious failures but do not require extensive in-depth
inspection. It may also include internal structure, systems and powerplant
items which are visible through quick opening access panels/doors
 Minor repairs and modifications which do not require extensive
disassembly and can be accomplished by simple means
For temporary or occasional cases (ADs, SBs) the Quality Manager may accept
base maintenance tasks to be performed by a line maintenance organisation
provided all requirements are fulfilled as defined by the competent authority. It is
also noted that maintenance tasks falling outside these criteria are considered to
be Base Maintenance.

2. BASE/HEAVY MAINTENANCE
Base maintenance may be referred to as heavy (or depth) maintenance, and
consists of tasks that are generally more in-depth and long-lasting than those
above, but are performed less frequently. An MRO (maintenance, repair and
overhaul) company will have to have large facilities and specialised equipment
and staff to undertake base maintenance, and many operators contract-out this
function. The different activities may include:

C and D Checks (block checks see Maintenance Programme) which will check for
deterioration of the airframe, engines and systems, e.g., corrosion, fatigue
Removal of defects – implementation of Service Bulletins (SB) and Airworthiness
Directives (AD), although this can also be done during Line maintenance.
Technology upgrade – fitting of Terrain Avoidance and Warning System
(TAWS), Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) etc
Cabin reconfiguration, painting etc.

3. HARD TIME
 Preventative process in which known deterioration of an Item is limited to an
acceptable level by the maintenance actions
Carried out at periods related to time in service (e.g., calendar time, number of
cycles, number of landings).

4. ON-CONDITION
Preventative process in which Item are inspected or tested, at specified periods, to
an appropriate standard to determine whether it can continue in service
Such an inspection / test may reveal a need for maintenance action.
Fundamental purpose of On-Condition is to remove an Item before its failure in
service.

5. CONDITION MONITORING
Information on Items gained from monitoring is collected, analysed and
interpreted on a continuing basis as a means deciding whether or not to implement
corrective procedures.
This process is normally automated and may form part of the aircraft’s on-board
health management system.

6. MAINTENANCE INTERVALS
The intervals of maintenance are parameters set within the Approved
Maintenance Schedule (AMS), which is in turn based on the Maintenance
Planning Document (MPD). These will be set according to different criteria,
mostly depending on how well damage can be detected and failure predicted
 Units for Maintenance Intervals
 Flight Hours (FH), for items that are in constant operation e.g., Fuel Pumps,
Electric Generators
 Flight Cycles (FC), for items operated once or twice per flight e.g., Landing
gear, air starter, brakes, hull pressurisations
 Calendar Time (Cal), for items exposed whether operated or not e.g., Fire
Extinguishers, Corrosion to Structure
 Operating hours, for items not operated every flight, or otherwise independent
of FH or FC e.g., APU operation.
 REFERENCES

www.skybraryaviation.com

EASA Module 10 (Aviation Legislation)