Aircraft maintainence mangement PDF

Preview

Summary

Aloha Airlines Flight 243 Case Study and Report...

Description

Aloha Airlines Flight 243 Case Study and Report Aircraft Maintenance Management

Table of Contents

Aloha Airlines Flight 243 Case Study and Report.............................................................1 Brief Introduction and Summary of the incident.......................................................................3 Human Factors and issues related to the incident......................................................................3 AA compliance with service bulletins and airworthiness directives..........................................4 Major Shortcomings that contributed to the incident.................................................................5 Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7 Reference List............................................................................................................................8 Appendices...............................................................................................................................10 Appendix 1...........................................................................................................................10 Appendix 2...........................................................................................................................11

1

Brief Introduction and Summary of the incident The following report is based on the analysis of the air accident of the scheduled Aloha Airlines flight between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. During the flight, the aircraft experienced explosive decompression(Al-Mukhtar 2019). The incident turned out to be a significant event in the history of aviation that involved a serious explosion, the damage inflicted from decompression, the loss of a crew member, and the safe landing in such a tense environment. The report here has highlighted the different elements that led to the incident and has efficiently analysed the same.

Human Factors and issues related to the incident Aviation Safety and maintenance is one of the most important and effective elements in the aviation industry and has a strong impact on the development of the industry in an efficacious manner. As said earlier maintenance of the aircraft is one of the major areas that need attention. Apart from that of the maintenance errors, the management of the aircraft organizations also needs to consider the human errors behind the development of the business in an efficient and effective manner. Human factors are an important factor in the development of aviation maintenance because issues caused by human errors can have a serious impact on the safety of the aircraft.

2

The most important element that can have a serious impact is complacency based on human errors. Complacency can be said to be an important part of human error that can lead to dangerous situations. One such example that can be cited as one of the worst and also one of the significant aviation accidents of the century is that of Aloha Airlines Flight 243. The airline company paid a high price for its complacency in getting rid of an aging aircraft. The Aloha Airlines flight that was scheduled to fly in between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii, suffered explosive decompression in the flight. The major factor was the failure of the company to detect the fatigue of the airlines that was behind the extensive damage of the aircraft. The failure of the management of the aircraft company to properly maintain the aircraft. Apart from this, the engineers and flight operators were also unable to assess the fact that the plane will be suffering corrosion from saltwater. Thus the theory of human errors become strong as the engineers completely failed at this juncture and should have carried out extra inspections in order to ensure success in the most efficient and an organized process.

3

AA compliance with service bulletins and airworthiness directives An official report on the accident of Aloha Airlines Flight number 243 was submitted by the Federal Bureau of Aircraft on 28th April 1988. The accident that involved a Boeing 737-200, N73711 suffered an explosive decompression and structural failure at an altitude of 24,000 feet. The accident resulted in a miraculous escape for 65 passengers, as approximately 18 feet of cabin skin and aircraft structure were ripped apart. The National Transportation Safety Board determined the cause of the accident to be the total failure of the maintenance program of the organization that led to the damage of the aircraft in such a manner. The board reported that the maintenance team of Aloha Airlines failed to determine the fatigue and the disbanding created in the aircraft after many years of service which led to the failure of the lap joint at S-10L and the separation of the fuselage upper lobe. Every aircraft company needs to maintain a proper and definitive process that can be said to be aircraft rules in the presence of the FAA required airworthiness import for the development of the business in an efficient and effective manner. Following all the rules and directives of the business along with the development of the FAA inspection process has been something that has helped to develop the management in an effective and efficient manner (Lee and Mitici 2020). On a thorough investigation of the incident, it was found out that the failure of the FAA to require Airworthiness Directive 87-21-08 was a major reason for the accident. This directive involves the inspection of all the joints proposed by the Boeing Alert service bulletin SB 737-53A1039. Apart from this, the absence of proper and effective terminating action of the FAA after the discovery of the different difficulties in the bonding process of the B-737 was a major issue that resulted in corrosion, fatigue cracking, durability issues, and many more as such.

4

Major Shortcomings that contributed to the incident As said earlier, there have been major issues that have been the primary as well as the secondary causes of the incident. The major cause that has been highlighted earlier in the following report is the total failure of the maintenance program of the organization that led to the damage of the aircraft in such a manner. Apart from this, the failure of the FAA to require Airworthiness Directive 87-21-08 was also a major reason for the accident. It is important for the management of an aircraft company to ensure the full safety and security of the passengers and the crew before and during the flight (Baghdasarin 2019). Therefore, the maintenance team of a company can have a strong impact on such a development process. Such a process can lead to the development of major issues that can have problems. The case of Aloha Airlines Flight Number 243 is a similar incident where the management had clearly failed to ensure the safety of the flight that led to the accident. Some of the major reasons behind the issues behind the accident are as follows; a.

Quality of air carrier maintenance programs and the FAA based surveillance programs

b.

Certification of engineering division and continuing airworthiness certificate was also

not present for the specific flight that was a serious breach of the major protocols c.

The human factors were also a part of the accident as major human factors led to the

accident.

5

The service bulletins issued by Boeing Company is an important process as following the process can ensure success in the most efficient process. The neglect of the service bulletin by Aloha Airlines has been a serious issue and has been behind the cause of the accident. These include the likes of the development of the business in an effective and efficient manner as such a process can be problematic for the success of the business. Thus the case of Aloha Aircraft suggests the importance of considering the different issues related to the phasing out of the aging aircraft from service. An aircraft begins to age out as soon as it first flies and thus such a process needs to be recorded and maintained efficiently to ensure success. The process of aircraft design and the subsequent establishment of business principles for an approved maintenance program is important for the development of a proper and structured aircraft maintenance process. The use of old aircraft in airworthy conditions is something that requires a lot of maintenance, care, and extra cost due to the major issues created in such a process. Unscientific management and maintenance of the aircraft can lead to major issues like that of the Aloha incident that can be quite problematic for aircraft organizations. The maintenance issues which have particularly arisen with aging aircraft structural failure have generally been seen as arising from fatigue or corrosion, with corrosion sometimes initiating fatigue effect. This kind of process needs special care from the part of the management of these companies in order to develop the process. Different corrosion avoidance strategies, maintenance of extra engineers, maintenance of specialized expertise can help the aircraft companies to address the issues efficiently and ensure success. Some of the major recommendations that can help to avoid incidents like that of Aloha includes; a. Development of effective and organized policies that can be beneficial for success b. Development of organizational goals that are important for the success of the management efficiently 6

c. Organization of business processes in an efficient manner d. A strong and efficient expertise team can be important for success.

Conclusion The report here presented an effective and ideal development process for the issues that led to the accident of Aloha Airlines Flight no 243. The process of aircraft design and the subsequent establishment of business principles for an approved maintenance program is important for the development of a proper and structured aircraft maintenance process. The use of old aircraft in airworthy conditions is something that requires a lot of maintenance, care, and extra cost due to the major issues created in such a process. The proper implementation of rules and maintenance of the plane is the only way to ensure safety and security effectively. The major cause that has been highlighted earlier in the following report is the total failure of the maintenance program of the organization that led to the damage of the aircraft in such a manner. Apart from this, the failure of the FAA to require Airworthiness Directive 87-21-08 was also a major reason for the accident.

Reference List Al-Mukhtar, A.M., 2019. Case Studies of Aircraft Fuselage Cracking. In Advanced Engineering Forum (Vol. 33, pp. 11-18). Trans Tech Publications Ltd. Bağan, H. and Gerede, E., 2019. Use of a nominal group technique in the exploration of safety hazards arising from the outsourcing of aircraft maintenance. Safety science, 118, pp.795-804. Lee, J. and Mitici, M., 2020. An integrated assessment of safety and efficiency of 7

aircraft maintenance strategies using agent-based modelling and stochastic Petri nets. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 202, p.107052. Baghdasarin, D., 2019. The Role of Stakeholders After Development of the Baseline Scheduled Maintenance Program. International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace, 6(4), p.16. Gharib, S., Martin, B. and Neitzel, R.L., 2021. Pilot assessment of occupational safety and health of workers in an aircraft maintenance facility. Safety Science, 141, p.105299. Jones, R., Matthews, N., Peng, D., Phan, N. and Nguyen, T., 2018. Applications of SPD to enhance the structural integrity of corroded airframes. In Aircraft Sustainment and Repair (pp. 863-905). Butterworth-Heinemann. Ostrom, L.T. and Wilhelmsen, C.A., 2020, September. Remote Inspection. In International Conference on Human Systems Engineering and Design: Future Trends and Applications (pp. 271-276). Springer, Cham. Pytlik, R. and Van Baars, S., 2017, November. Fatigue of Rocks. In ISRM 3rd Nordic Rock Mechanics Symposium-NRMS 2017. International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering. Saraçyakupoğlu, T., 2020. Fatigue Studies in Aviation in Light of the 1988 Aloha Airlines Incident. Staley, J.T., 2017. Corrosion of Aluminium Aerospace Alloys. In Materials Science Forum (Vol. 877, pp. 485-491). Trans Tech Publications Ltd.

8

Appendices Appendix 1

Figure No 1: Damaged Aloha Airlines Flight no 243 Source: (Saraçyakupoğlu 2020)

Appendix 2

9

Figure No 2: Passengers being rescued from Damaged Aloha Airlines Flight no 243 Source: (Staley 2017)

10...