Posts from Aircraft Maintenance Technology editor Ronald Donner on current trends, events and issues on aircraft maintenance and aviation.
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What Happened Here?
By Ronald Donner - Wednesday June 5, 2013Recent news pointed toward maintenance staff as the reason for the fan cowl doors departing the aircraft on takeoff. The report said, "Subsequent investigation revealed that the fan cowl doors on both engines were left unlatched during maintenance and this was not identified prior to aircraft departure." The report goes on to say the aircraft had undergone scheduled maintenance overnight which required opening the fan cowl doors on both engines to check oil levels. The report did not cite specific factors that led to this event, but it does clearly indicate some type of maintenance error. So what happened here? Did the same technician service both engines and fail to secure the doors on both engines? Was this a case of work interruption... -
AMT Day Celebrations
By Ronald Donner - Thursday May 16, 2013On May 24, the birthday of Charles E. Taylor, the Wright Brothers first mechanic who sometimes is referred to as the “Father of Aircraft Maintenance,” we will once again celebrate Aircraft Maintenance Technician or AMT Day. Do you remember why you decided to choose aviation as a career? Were you influenced by certain people as you were growing up? Did you hang around at your local airport? Perhaps a relative worked in aviation or you attended airshows? For me I always had an interest in airplanes and my father operated a small service station with a one-stall garage. Given my early interest in all things mechanical and in aviation, it seemed only natural I would go to school and obtain my A&P. I always knew I would spend my life... -
The Regional Airline Industry
By Ronald Donner - Thursday April 25, 2013Nearly 50 percent of the nation’s commercial airline schedule today is operated by Regional Airlines. One of every five domestic airline passengers will travel on one of the 2,700 regional aircraft that serve around 658 cities across the U.S. In 470 of those cities regional airlines provide the only scheduled service. Regional Airlines make about 13,000 flights a day carrying about 160 million passengers a year. Looking after their best collective interesst is the Regional Airline Association (RAA), a business association headquartered in Washington, D.C. RAA represents members’ interests in Congressional hearings and before the Department of Transportation, the FAA and other agencies. Back a few decades these airlines were known as... -
Aviation doesn’t settle for average
By Ronald Donner - Thursday April 11, 2013Paging through the May 2013 Consumer Report, a small article on page 11 titled “U.S. hospitals still not safe” caught my attention. The article explained how more hospitals are required to track and report safety data, and it provided a summary and a few rankings based on a 100-point scale. The average score was 49; highest 72 and the lowest mentioned 14. Also mentioned was teaching hospitals, “which are supposed to prepare future doctors” are lagging. I’m not a health care professional and understand a comparison between aviation services and hospitals regarding safety, quality, and risk management is perhaps not an easy or even fair comparison. But the article did prompt me to think these two industries share some... -
ARSA 2013 Annual Repair Symposium
By Ronald Donner - Thursday March 28, 2013Sarah MacLeod welcomed everyone on Thursday, March 21 st in her usual spirited style. Ms. MacLeod as most of you know is executive director and a founder of the Aeronautical Repair Station Association. Throughout the day ARSA staff, industry representatives, and regulators provided updates to the membership regarding recent ARSA activities on the legislative and regulatory fronts, rulemaking updates, along with perspectives from EASA and CASA representatives. John Hickey, Deputy Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety with the FAA, addressed the ARSA membership making several interesting comments worth repeating. Mr. Hickey shared, “We are in some very difficult times” and went on to describe how sequestration will recast...
