APU – Considerations and Awareness

The APU or Auxiliary Power Unit will have its own history and it is commonly not shared with the aircraft as they are not always the original upon installation.

The APU can be completely removed from an aircraft and another one installed in its place at any stage.
The APU will have its own status reports including AD’s and SB’s along with its own history.

This ease of removal and installation for the APU is important to understand as if the APU installed does not meet return conditions it can simply be replaced.

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Aircraft Lease Considerations

Aircraft leasing when considered from a high level can help to put understanding around the different requirements and conditions that any lease agreement will put in place.

The lease agreement is there to protect the asset value and also the lessor exposure should the unexpected happen to the lessee such as financial difficulties.

Initially the lease will progress from interest from a potential lessee and this interest is then formalised by a LOI (letter of Intent) before moving on to execute the lease itself.

The discussions during this initial stage will look to address many different topics and areas, but some of the key conditions include:

–         Length of the lease
–         Rent payments for the lease
–         Maintenance Reserve Funds MRF (these are supplemental payments to the rent which essentially mean that as the aircraft is utilised an according percentage of the estimated maintenance cost for that utilisation is also paid)
–         Deposit structure for the lease
–         Return conditions for the end of the lease
–         Insurance
–         Termination Clause(s)

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OOPs, SRT, SSI’s, CMR when performing a LDND review

With a large number of aircraft due to be reactivated from storage programs in 2022 it will be important for the technical teams to evaluate the work performed during the storage, review the Airworthiness Directives (AD’s) for compliance, the Hard Time (HT) component lists and the Last-Done-Next-Due (LDND).

On a typical review of a LDND report the technical personnel will perform a line-by-line review of each task to see when they were last done and when they are next due.
The report will contain the following;
*Operator Specific Maintenance Tasks
*System Maintenance Tasks
*Zonal Maintenance Tasks
*Structure Maintenance Tasks
*Certification Maintenance Requirements
*Soft Life Items Listing
*Optionally – Structural repairs requiring repeat inspections

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Repair Evaluation – Revision Data

When an aircraft is damaged; this damage is evaluated and will either need a repair or could remain “as is” when assessed IAW (in accordance with) the SRM (structural Repair Manual).

We will consider SRM (structural Repair Manual) repairable damage for this example.

While many factors are very important, one piece of information is pivotal in your evaluation. This is the “Revision Status” of the documentation used.

The revision status on documentation for a repair carried out 5 years ago would be different to that the repair that we would carry out today.

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Modifications Status Review

Once the returning airline has provided a certified list of the Modification Status you are then able to look at the major and the minor modifications embodied as per the Modification Report.

The “Dirty Finger Print” (DFP) review of the technical records and in particular for any modification classed as Major will need to demonstrate details of an STC “Supplemental Type Certificate” along with all the data, manuals and very importantly a letter confirming that the modification has a “right to use” confirmation letter.

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