The cause of the deadly plane crashes in South Korea last month, but highlighted a topic that the general public only understands: how to maintain aircraft.
Gigo Airlines, the airline that operated the flight in which 179 people died, said that the tests before the flight did not raise any fears and that the plane, which is Boeing 737-800 and was about 15 years old, had no history of accidents .
While there is no evidence that poor maintenance played a role in the accident, experts say the date of the plane repair, which includes the work carried out by maintenance companies in other countries, will be an important part of the investigation of the accident, as usually.
Here is what you should know about how to maintain aircraft.
Basics
Executive officials of airlines, pilots, mechanics, organizers and others play vital and intertwined roles in the care of commercial aircraft.
In the front line, there is a familiar practice of many travelers even if they do not know what is called: the lineage of the line, which includes regular inspections and repairs between flights. Before the plane takes off, the pilots perform visual inspections and other inspections in search of any damage or other problems. Airlines mechanics also performs periodic checks. Often, the mechanic can explore the problem and fix it quickly, fix it or correct it safely so that the problem can be addressed later. Serious problems can lead to a long delay or cancellation.
In addition, each part of the plane, up to the nuts and nails, is subject to routine, repair or replacement examination. These examination operations are usually scheduled based on the number of hours of using the plane, the number of flights, time, or a group of these factors. The aviation authorities around the world supervise these inspections, many of which follow the footsteps of the organizational bodies in the Federal Aviation Administration or its counterpart in the European Union.
When it comes to the intensive maintenance that the plane may go out of service for days or weeks, the world’s largest airlines perform a lot of this work on its own. Indeed, some companies, including Lufthansza and Delta Airlines, sell these services to others. But every airline uses at least external sources in some businesses that make spare parts and aircraft, such as Boeing and Airbus, or to third parties. Small transport companies, in particular, depend on this practice.
“If you look at a long tail of aircraft operators, you will find that the majority of them are very small, so it was never logical for them to invest the capital,” said Jonathan Berger, the founding partner of Alton Aviation Consulting. “The use of external sources has been going on since the dawn of history.”
The rise of the use of external sources
Although she has always played a role in the field of aviation, the use of external sources has accelerated in recent decades. In the United States, the share of spending on the maintenance of airlines whose external sources have been used from 1990 to 2011, as it increased from about 20% to more than 44%. According to the 2012 Congress Research Service report. Airlines usually do not reveal such spending, and only a few outside the industry followed or appreciated.
Throughout the world, airlines are still almost all their maintenance operations. But they often send more comprehensive businesses to companies specialized in maintenance, repair and renovation of aircraft. This work is usually divided into three categories, covering the structure of the plane – or the body, wings, tail of the plane – and the engine and other different ingredients.
Employment bear most of the costs of maintenance of aircraft structures, so the airlines in the richer countries often send this work to countries where wages are less. For example, some American airlines send aircraft to El Salvador, and they are sent by airlines in Western Europe to Eastern Europe.
In the case of engines, the materials are the largest part of the cost of repairs, so the use of external sources in low -income countries does not provide a lot of airlines. It is still, External sources are also used in many of this work, often for engines manufacturers, because fixing these large machines is costly and complex, according to Mr. Berger. Most of the jet engines of large commercial aircraft are manufactured by many American and European companies.
The global network of maintenance service providers is a growing market Its value is more than $ 100 billion. Supporters say they allow airlines, especially budget -limited airlines, to plan costs and focus on what they do better: planning, selling and operating flights efficiently. Airlines also benefit from the possibility of resorting to specialists who may focus on certain types of maintenance or aircraft.
Is the use of safe external sources?
Many aviation experts say that the use of external sources is safe and necessary, and they point out that the Federal Aviation Administration still oversees the maintenance of American aircraft wherever that happens. However, some consumer groups and trade unions representing American mechanics have raised concerns about this.
“There is a problem related to quality, and the denying the industry for this matter is just a lie,” said William McGgy, who spent decades for a defender of passengers in front of legislators and organizers, a prominent colleague of the American Economic Freedoms project, and a progressive project. group.
In the first decade of the twenty -first century and the early first decade of the twenty -first century, he was the Inspector General of the Ministry of Transport I looked at the supervision of the Federal Aviation Administration on foreign and local reform stations I found it deficient. The airline mechanics reported that clear errors were found in the aircraft returning from foreign repair workshops. Their unions, including the international Muslim Brotherhood and the Transport Workers Syndicate, have raised fears that workers abroad are not subject to the same strict standards that workers are subject to in the United States.
The Federal Aviation Administration recently dealt with some of these concerns. This month, a new rule for the agency will start to claim foreign reform sites to conduct drug and alcohol tests for employees who do some safety maintenance work, affecting up to 977 sites in 65 countries.
“This rule will guarantee the commitment of these employees to the high level equivalent to safety standards, regardless of their actual location,” said Mike Whitker, Director of the outgoing Federal Aviation Department. He said in a statement last month.
Defenders of the use of external sources say that control by airlines and federal aviation administration have become strict today, noting that despite some shocking accidents and accidents, flying on board commercial aircraft is much safer than other common travel means, including cars or Buses or trains.
Maintenance needs are high
Despite the great slowdown in the early epidemic, air travel has returned much more quickly than the industry expected. Airlines are now keen to expand and update their fleets.
But Boeing and Airbus, two large companies for making aircraft, are rewarded for the production of aircraft. Boeing has been forced to slow production in recent years, first after two dead accidents in 2018 and 2019 for its most popular plane, 737 Max. Last year, she had to do this again after a committee detonated a Max plane while flying, and in autumn largely stopped the MAX plane production during a seven -week strike.
The airlines also had to withdraw Airbus aircraft from the service to perform unexpected checkpoints for the Prat & Whitney engines after the engine manufacturer discovered a defect in quality. The Airbus and Boeing also also suffered from the problems of the epidemic, including the lack of spare parts and skilled workers.
The slow delivery of new aircraft has been forced to use old aircraft for a longer period, which is safe but it often requires more maintenance. The latest engines, full of new technology that make them more efficient, also require more repairs and maintenance more than expected.
However, the number of people who are following functions in the field of aircraft maintenance may fail to demand.
“Not only the airlines are employing, but the general aircraft is employing, and companies are employing,” said Chuck Horning, a flying professor at Embry Ridel Aviation University, referring to the aircraft used by many companies to transport people and goods. “Then there are industries that were not already present when they graduated in 1986, such as space industry and drone.”
