As we operate our aircraft, we need to maintain oversight of the reliability of the aircraft – the reliability can indicate areas where we might want to improve such as reducing intervals between tasks being carried out or not problems that occur regularly.
Once we have decided the sources for data, we will use in the aircraft reliability programme and the considerations detailing what we will and will not include regarding maintenance actions taken – then comes the analysis of the data to allow us to create some information that has meaning or value to us.
Certain task analysis can be challenging as it is not always a simple analysis such as for repetitive
defects.
A defect that perhaps occurs intermittently or only under a set of conditions are typically much harder to diagnose and isolate; often when tested or procedures are applied to assess the defect it will pass the test and checks then fail again in normal service – the failure is tied to a specific set of conditions.
Such defects should be carefully monitored, analysed, and acted upon on a continuous basis. Another consideration is the aircraft capability; by this we can consider RVSM (Reduced Vertical Separation Minima) or ETOPS (Extended Twin Operations) is another consideration based on the fleet and scope of operation we employ.
Special attention regarding capabilities such as if you operate ETOPS aircraft then should be considered where you would collate findings that have or can influence ETOPS capability.
Here you note that now we do not just want to analyse one defect, but the effect of multiple defects. The analysis of the data can become very complex and has as much thought in its design as does the data sources we use and the specific’s that we include for consideration Vs those we do not.
Why not look at some of our courses such as aircraft reliability HERE