AvBuyer Magazine - July 2018

Support’ (ILS). This is important because it

highlights, within its title, three components of a

successful sustainment program.

Initially, for the aircraft, there will be a period of

Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and

vendor warranty, supported via a Maintenance

Management Program (MMP), later transitioning to

the current owner’s responsibility for service and

tracking.

All warranty programs are limited in their

coverage and may be extended in part, or

replaced with a non-OEM program. The current

owner may, at the time of warranty expiration,

remain with the OEM for continued airworthiness

services, or utilize an independent Maintenance

Repair Organization (MRO).

Crucially, but not always obvious, is that the

sustainment of an aircraft always remains with the

aircraft and not with the owner(s). Figure B (below)

shows how the owners come and go, but the

records of sustainment remain with the aircraft.

For aircraft out of warranty, understanding this

simple fact is key to the ease of a future aircraft

transaction. Ensuring the data and records for the

aircraft remain physically as close to it (at the

hangar, for example), remain current, accessible

and above all, secure, will pay significant

dividends at the time of a Pre-Purchase

Inspection (PPI).

Continued Airworthiness

As with any transport that needs to operate safely

and reliably, preventative maintenance is essential

for aircraft. This implies proactive inspection and

monitoring.

• Inspections are designed to catch issues
  before they mature enough to cause a failure
  or an event.


• Monitoring is designed to assess common
  data from multiple aircraft or events, to look
  for trends and provide corrective action.

An outcome of monitoring can lead to an

Airworthiness Directive (AD) being issued. Across

the world, airworthiness authorities look for

common safety-related failures, events and trends.

As a rule, an AD backs-up corrective action

already initiated by OEMs, as they monitor their

fleets of aircraft. Mandated safety directives

provide the action to take and a time limit within

which to comply.

Inspection findings and equipment failures

during aircraft operations lead to repairs. In some

cases, repeated repairs of the same component or

system can lead to modifications or bulletins

(service bulletins, notices or letters).

Continued airworthiness also includes regular

servicing. This is not the same as a repair and may

involve the removal of a major or minor

component for a check and subsequent service.

Anything serviced is not considered faulty. The act

of servicing is preventative maintenance, adding

specific work tasks to an inspection.

Inspections and servicing are routine items that

fall under calendar, flight time, or gear cycle

elapsed periods of time between requirements.

Repairs and modifications are non-recurrent events

(hopefully) and, apart from the need to record the

event, are not tracked for next due.

The industry calls trackable events ’due items’

Ken Elliott is a highly-respected industry

authority on avionics as a member of the

NextGen Advisory Council sub-committee

and Technical Director, Avionics at

Jetcraft. Contact him via

[email protected] or

http://www.jetcraft.com

Advertising Enquiries see Page 12 http://www.AVBUYER.com July 2018 – AVBUYERMAGAZINE 85



AIRCRAFT

OWNER

2

OEM

AIRCRAFT

DELIVERY

OEM OR

MRO

CAW

OWNER

1

TYPICAL 5 YEAR WARRANTY EXTENDED WARRANTY OR MMP

Figure B: Sustainment stays with the aircraft

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