If you take a look at any aeroplane, be it military or civilian, apart from the airframe and the engines it requires a lot of controlling systems. These are most often electronic and look after navigation, communications, engine and fuel management to name a few systems. Unfortunately with this technology sometimes it does malfunction, and this gives rise to the need for avionic repairs.
In the commercial sector any aircraft withdrawn from service can cause problems. These might be delays or even cancellations. Neither is a pleasant option for the operator or the customer. Ideally flight disruptions will be kept to a minimum.
The vast majority of these control units are all housed in the same bay within the aircraft. Whenever there is a fault the engineer will diagnose the most likely cause, and replace the problem item. He will then test the system to ensure that it is once again working, before releasing the aircraft back into the schedule. This makes sure that the disruption has been as small as possible.
With the plane now back into the flight schedule the engineer now has the faulty piece of equipment to deal with. If it has happened at a major airport the airline might have their own maintenance facilities there. Although in most cases the piece of equipment will be sent for rectification work at a specialist company, who have the necessary licenses from the manufacturer.
The airline's engineer fills out the necessary paperwork, giving as much information as possible. This will save time at the specialist engineering company as the problem can be narrowed down, and not so much time wasted on diagnostic checks. Once they have confirmed that there is a fault, their next step is to find the cause.
These rectification facilities have to meet certain standards to maintain their licenses. With these control units mainly being of an electronic nature, the facilities have to be environmentally clean. Temperature and humidity levels are controlled, and dust levels are minimized. All of the technicians are highly trained, and you would see that they all employ various methods to ensure the possibilities of static electricity are minimized.
During their diagnostic testing they will be looking for certain laid down responses or measurements, these will be checked against the accepted operating parameters. Some faults are easier to trace than others. For instance a heavier than normal landing might have caused a cable to disconnect or even a PCB to partially disconnect. It could just as easily be a component on the PCB which has failed.
Actual faults are easier to deal with and rectify than intermittent ones. As soon as the fault is found it can then be sorted out, on completion the technician will conduct further testing. This is to prove that no further faults have occurred, or have been missed. The equipment piece is then deemed as being serviceable once it passes all of these final tests.
Once the technician is happy that everything is operating as it should he will sign off these avionic repairs. The equipment is then dispatched back to the originating company or airline. There it will remain until the next time this equipment is called into service to help rectify another fault.
In the commercial sector any aircraft withdrawn from service can cause problems. These might be delays or even cancellations. Neither is a pleasant option for the operator or the customer. Ideally flight disruptions will be kept to a minimum.
The vast majority of these control units are all housed in the same bay within the aircraft. Whenever there is a fault the engineer will diagnose the most likely cause, and replace the problem item. He will then test the system to ensure that it is once again working, before releasing the aircraft back into the schedule. This makes sure that the disruption has been as small as possible.
With the plane now back into the flight schedule the engineer now has the faulty piece of equipment to deal with. If it has happened at a major airport the airline might have their own maintenance facilities there. Although in most cases the piece of equipment will be sent for rectification work at a specialist company, who have the necessary licenses from the manufacturer.
The airline's engineer fills out the necessary paperwork, giving as much information as possible. This will save time at the specialist engineering company as the problem can be narrowed down, and not so much time wasted on diagnostic checks. Once they have confirmed that there is a fault, their next step is to find the cause.
These rectification facilities have to meet certain standards to maintain their licenses. With these control units mainly being of an electronic nature, the facilities have to be environmentally clean. Temperature and humidity levels are controlled, and dust levels are minimized. All of the technicians are highly trained, and you would see that they all employ various methods to ensure the possibilities of static electricity are minimized.
During their diagnostic testing they will be looking for certain laid down responses or measurements, these will be checked against the accepted operating parameters. Some faults are easier to trace than others. For instance a heavier than normal landing might have caused a cable to disconnect or even a PCB to partially disconnect. It could just as easily be a component on the PCB which has failed.
Actual faults are easier to deal with and rectify than intermittent ones. As soon as the fault is found it can then be sorted out, on completion the technician will conduct further testing. This is to prove that no further faults have occurred, or have been missed. The equipment piece is then deemed as being serviceable once it passes all of these final tests.
Once the technician is happy that everything is operating as it should he will sign off these avionic repairs. The equipment is then dispatched back to the originating company or airline. There it will remain until the next time this equipment is called into service to help rectify another fault.
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