Resource person Ali Khalid

Department of Aviation Management & Technology Superior University, Lahore.

By the end of this session , you will be able to:

Understand the basics of aircraft engineering industry. Understand the roles of aircraft maintenance certifying staff.

Understand the aircraft certification.

A little bit dimag ki daii is going to start so be prepared

The global aircraft industry encompasses a vast network of companies working either as large international conglomerates or as individual national and regional organizations.
Conglomerates means: A number of different things or parts that are put or grouped together to form a whole but remain distinct entities.

The two biggest international aircraft manufacturers are the American owned Boeing Aircraft Company and the European conglomerate, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), which incorporates airbus industries.

These, together with the American giant Lockheed-Martin, BAE Systems and aerospace propulsion companies, such as Rolls-Royce and Pratt and Whitney, employ many thousands of people and have annual turnovers totalling billions of pounds.

For example, the recently won LockheedMartin contract for the American Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is estimated to be worth 200 billion dollars, over the next 10 years! A substantial part of this contract will involve BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and other UK companies.

The airlines and armed forces of the world who buy-in aircraft and services from aerospace manufacturers are themselves, very often, large organizations.
For example British Airways the national carrier of UK, even after recent down-sizing, employs around 50,000 personnel. UK airlines, in the year 2000, employed in total, just over 12,000 aircraft maintenance and overhaul personnel.

Even after the events that took place on 11th September 2001, the requirement for maintenance personnel is unlikely to fall.
Apart from the airlines, individuals with aircraft maintenance skills may be employed in general aviation (GA), third-party overhaul companies, component manufacturers or airframe and avionic repair organizations.

GA companies and spin-off industries employ large numbers of skilled aircraft fitters.
Aircraft maintenance certifying staff are recognized throughout Europe and indeed, throughout many parts of the world, thus opportunities for employment are truly global!

Added to this, the global and diverse nature of the aircraft maintenance industry, it can be seen that aircraft maintenance engineering offers an interesting and rewarding career, full of opportunity.

Individuals may enter the aircraft maintenance industry in a number of ways and perform a variety of maintenance activities on aircraft or on their associated equipments and components.
The nature of the job roles and responsibilities for licensed certifying mechanics, technicians and engineers can be classified as:

Since the aircraft maintenance industry is highly regulated, the opportunities to perform complex maintenance activities are dependent on the amount of time that individuals spend on their initial and aircrafttype training, the knowledge they get and their length of experience in post.
These maintenance activities require people with a sound basic education, who are able to demonstrate maturity and the ability to think logically and quickly when acting under time constraints and other operational limitations.

The activities of the certifying mechanic include the limited rectification of defects and the capability to perform and certify minor scheduled line maintenance inspections, such as daily checks.

These rectification activities might include tasks, such as a wheel change, replacement of a worn brake unit, navigation light replacement or a seat belt change

Scheduled maintenance activities might include: replenishment of essential oils and lubricants, lubrication of components and mechanisms, panel and cowling removal and fit, replacement of panel fasteners, etc., in addition to the inspection of components, control runs, fluid systems and aircraft structures for security of attachment, corrosion, damage, leakage, obstruction and general wear.

All these maintenance activities require a working knowledge of the systems and structures being rectified or inspected. For example, to replenish the hydraulic oil reservoirs on a modern transport aircraft requires knowledge of the particular system, the type of oil required. The replenishment equipment being used, all related safety considerations and knowledge of the correct positioning of the hydraulic services prior to the replenishment.

In addition, for this task, the mechanic must be able to recognize the symptoms for internal or external hydraulic oil leakage when carrying out these replenishment activities on a particular hydraulic system reservoir. For example, figure shows the hydraulic reservoir replenishing point for the Boeing 767.

The replenishment process requires the changeover valve to be selected and oil sucked into the reservoir, via the replenishment hose which is placed in the oil container.

The certifying mechanic then operates the hand pump to draw the hydraulic fluid up into the reservoir. When the reservoir is full, as indicated by the contents gauge, the hose is withdrawn from the container, blanked and stowed. The changeover valve is put back into the flight position, panel is secured and the appropriate documentation is completed by the certifying mechanic, who will have a company approval to perform this task.

For this job role, there is a statutory requirement for a particular period of training and experience before a maintenance mechanic is issued with limited certifying privileges.

The role of the category B certifying technician is subdivided into two major sectors: category B1 (mechanical) and category B2 (avionic).
B1 maintenance technicians will have an in dept knowledge of airframe, engine and electrical power systems and equipment in addition to a thorough knowledge of aircraft structures and materials.

While category B2 maintenance technicians will have an in-depth integrated knowledge of aircraft electrical, instrument, autopilot, radio, radar, communication and navigation systems.
The knowledge and skills gained from their initial training, together with aircraft-type knowledge and a substantial period of practical experience, will enable category B technicians, once granted approvals, to undertake one or more of the following maintenance operations:

In-depth scheduled inspection activities. Complex rectification activities. Fault diagnosis on aircraft systems propulsion units, plant and equipments. Airframe and other aircraft repairs. Functional tests and checks on aircraft systems, propulsion units and sub-systems. Aircraft engine ground running activities. Supervise and certify the work of less experienced technicians and mechanics.

As can be seen from the above list of maintenance operations, the category B maintenance technician can be involved in a very wide and interesting range of possible activities.

The inspections, rectification and other associated maintenance activities which takes place on the aircraft, on the live side of an airfield are carried by line maintenance personnel's.
The depth of maintenance performed by line maintenance personnel is restricted to that accomplishable with the limited tools, equipment and test apparatus available on site. It will include first-line diagnostic maintenance, as required.

Base maintenance, as its name implies, takes place at a designated base away from the live aircraft movement areas.
The nature of the work undertaken on base maintenance sites will be more in-depth than that usually associated with line maintenance and may include: in-depth strip-down and inspection, the embodiment of complex modifications, major rectification activities, off-aircraft component overhaul and repairs.

These activities, by necessity, require the aircraft to be on the ground for longer periods of time and will require the maintenance technicians to be conversant with a variety of specialist inspection techniques, appropriate to the aircraft structure, system or components being worked-on.

The category C certifier acts primarily in a maintenance management role, controlling the progress of base maintenance inspections and overhauls.
The category C certifier will upon completion of all base maintenance activities sign-off the aircraft as serviceable and fit for flight. This is done using a special form known as a certificate of release to service (CRS).

Thus the category C certifying engineer has a very responsible job, which requires a sound all-round knowledge of aircraft and their associated systems and major components.

The CRS is ultimately the sole responsibility of the category C certifying engineer, who confirms by his/her signature that all required inspections, rectification, modifications, component changes, airworthiness directives, special instructions, repairs and aircraft rebuild activities have been carried out in accordance with the laid-down procedures and that all documentation have been completed satisfactorily, prior to releasing the aircraft for flight.

What is certification? Certification is the process of proving that a product meets the (safety or airworthiness standards) applicable to that product
No certification = no sales = no money = no company. Even if the product is perfect !!! So, even if you dont work in certification make sure you do everything possible to ensure that they succeed or you may not work anywhere.

JAR Joint Aviation Requirements - Prior to the creation of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) was responsible for publishing regulations governing the operations, maintenance, licensing an certification/design standards for aircrafts.
These regulations are known as Joint Aviation Requirements (JARs). JARs had no legal status until they were ratified by national governments, but many European countries adopted all or part of JARs as the basis for their own national regulations.

Qualifications structure

The licensing of aircraft maintenance engineers is covered by international standards that are published by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). In the UK, the Air Navigation Order (ANO) provides the legal framework to support these standards.

The purpose of the licence is not to permit the holder to perform maintenance but to enable the issue of certification for maintenance required under the ANO legislation.
This is why we refer to licensed maintenance personnel as certifiers. At present the CAA issue licences under two different requirements depending on the maximum take-off mass of the aircraft.

For aircraft that exceeds 5700 kg, licenses are issued under JAR 66.
The JAR 66 license is common to all European countries who are full members of the Joint Aviation Authority (JAA).

The idea being that the issue of a JAR 66 licence by any full member country is then recognized as having equal status in all other member countries throughout Europe

There are currently over 20 countries throughout Europe that go to make-up the JAA.
In US, the US Federal Aviation Administration (USFAA) is the equivalent of the JAA. These two organizations have been harmonized to the point where for example, licences issued under JAR 66 are equivalent to those licences issued under FAR 66.

The JAR 66 license is divided into categories A, B and C.

For clarity, all levels and categories of license that may be issued by the CAA/FAA are listed below:

Levels

Category A: Line maintenance certifying mechanic Category B1: Line maintenance certifying technician (mechanical) Category B2: Line maintenance certifying technician (avionic) Category C: Base maintenance certifying engineer

The JAR 66 syllabus may be taught and examined on a module-by-module basis. In all, there are currently 17* modules in the JAR 66 syllabus.
The JAR 66 examinations are modular and designed to reflect the nature of the JAR 66 syllabus content. These modular examinations may be taken on CAA premises, or on the premises of approved JAR 147 organizations.

Examinations and levels