tools should help. So should better flight
data recorders that can download data
in real time on exactly what pilots are
seeing on cockpit displays. “Knowing
the phase of flight when certain faults
appear would help,” Saltigerald says.
He also hopes the next revision of
Arinc 672, due out in 2015 or 2016, will
help by providing a common syllabus of
what everyone should know in dealing
with NFFs. Online training in NFF man-
agement might also help. And Saltiger-
ald would like to see innovators, design-
ers and engineers collaborate more
closely on preventing future NFFs.
Major airline-afliated MROs also
have extensive experience with NFFs,
and some have made dramatic prog-
ress. Arinc 672 is still the best guide
in principle for dealing with the prob-
lem, according to Taco Vingerhoed,
avionics and accessories director at
KLM Engineering and Maintenance.
“The challenge is putting principle into
practice,” Vingerhoed says.
The three steps urged by Arinc are
assembling complete data on all NFFs,
tracing their root causes and taking
corrective actions. The AFI-KLM exec
says the data are generally available;
for example, on part number, tail num-
ber, serial number, flight hours and
shop findings. And corrective actions
are usually straightforward after root
causes are identified. The hard part is
finding those root causes.
Vingerhoed manages avionics re-
pairs for Air France, KLM and all the
airlines whose components depend
on the MRO’s pool support. Avionics
NFFs are now below five percent of
all avionics components turned in for
repair, and this portion does not difer
much according to whether compo-
nents come from external or internal
customers. The NFF rate is down from
seven years ago, but is still well above
the 1-3% Vingerhoed is aiming at. “But
we are very confident we will reach that
figure in the near future.”
The top-three NFFs now are engine
control units (ECU), display electronics
units (DEU) and air data inertial refer-
ence units (ADIRU). To find root causes
for these NFFs, the MRO collaborates
with both internal and external cus-
AviationWeek.com/mro AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY MRO EDITION NOVEMBER 3/10, 2014 MRO25
The No Fault Found rate is about 5%
of avionics components turned in for
repair, but AFI KLM E&M hopes to
decrease that rate to 1-3%.
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