Structural Repairs on aircraft are a complex topic with a large amount of variations regarding the types of repair (permanent or temporary), materials such as composite or metallic, classifications major or minor, repair categories, inspection impacts, instructions for continued airworthiness (ICA) and the list goes on.
When an aircraft is damaged then it will be “repaired” even if the repair is an assessment of the damage, and it is concluded to leave “as is” – this is still classed as a repair.
Often, we focus on the repair itself, especially in a live environment when you have an aircraft grounded, compensation claims, lease costs etc. All this aside, the repair itself is of paramount importance and depending on the damage the repair might be issued by an approved document such as a structural repair manual (SRM), it might be from the OEM such as Airbus or Boeing, or it can also come from a Part 21 approved company.
The instructions for the repair are important, steps such as NDT (non-destructive testing), heat treating parts, fabrication of material, alternative materials, and adherence to the specification of the repair are some of the considerations we face.
When the repair is carried out then the paperwork takes over as the important aspect – this is going to define the considerations we noted above, or at least it should! When we look at the paperwork we should know the exact location, the damage description, the assessment details, the corrective action process such as SRM or OEM repair, then we need to know the ICA and repair category.
The ICA are then built into the aircraft AMP (maintenance plan) and this ensures that all requirements are captured, so the repair paperwork is of paramount importance to convey this accurately and correctly.
Being airworthy is one thing and being lease compliant is another – repair assessments are always challenging. It is one of the most important considerations for a physical inspection to ensure the damage map is correct and accurate, but also to review the repair records and ensure that the correct steps were taken, the correct steps are evidenced (such as heat treatment or NDT).
How is this checked – commonly the data used for the repair is reviewed against the record for the repair and it should be able to evidence all steps. Incorrect repair paperwork is one of the most common aircraft lease redelivery finding – often the repair might be good, but no paperwork to back this up means it will be repeated.
Considerations such as damage assessments and permission to continue “as is” can cause issues when the initial report noted no damage around the area and for lease return the area now contains damage this in some cases making the approval for the noted damage no longer valid.
Structural reviews are complex, both physical inspections and paperwork, it is not an easy topic to review and requires a complex understanding – we have only noted a very rounded consideration in this appraisal and the specifics can really take time to analyse.
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