With the growing aviation sector more and more full flight simulators are being sold and purchased, what creates more work for full flight simulator operators. To provide full maintenance to a couple millions worth machine is quite a challenge. With all the training slots being fully booked, such tasks as updates, repair or even preventative maintenance becomes quite a mission. And this is without even mentioning the Full Flight Simulator (FFS) breakdown (e.g. host computer failure), which must be solved immediately because another “round” of students is already approaching. In order do better handle all the workload SimHelp team would like to give advice on how to manage your time and properly arrange your “to do list”.
Solve one problem at a time
The main advice is to solve one problem at the time. You can choose one, the most critical problem and focus on it until the repair is completed. Or the other option is to select the small fast-solving problems, complete them one by one and then do the highly time-consuming tasks. Sometimes fixing small problems will help with the bigger ones, e.g. fixing lights, internet or coffee machine would help to find more information or stay productive while repairing simulator. Either way the main rule is to stick to one problem at the time. Following this advice will help you to stay focused and productive, to avoid confusion, and remember important things. Therefore Your work productivity and quality will only be increasing.
Do not experiment!
Every system, mechanism or operation has its own specifications made by manufacturer. Those specifications comprehensively describes where, when, how to use, how to repair and maintain, and therefore must be followed even though some of them look obvious or unnecessary. Following them would help to do job properly. It may take slightly more time, although it could reduce the risk of failure and save a lot of money and time. For example, some seemingly unimportant cables, or even smallest parts disconnected from the FFS at the wrong time, can cause major reaction or damage, such as creating FFS‘s response to fire and shutting down electricity for entire simulator. Of course, we have no doubt that fellow engineers are experienced at their job. Although new Full Flight Simulator, new mechanism or new software can be slightly different, this may require new studies in order to understand the principles on how it works. In such cases simple 'I guess this would work...' could become very expensive.
Check, check and ... check once again
It was mentioned before, that wrong actions or procedures could lead to major damages. Such problems may not come just from the lack of knowledge or misunderstanding. Everyone makes mistakes. It may seem like an old and boring advice, but SimHelp sticks to it: best practice to avoid mistakes is checking. If you think that your work is done, check if everything is properly connected once again, before turning the power on. When you do that – check one more time. When you do that – ask a colleague to check everything. Sometimes we are inspecting the work done from our memory, what can result in missing the important errors. That is why SimHelp engineers suggest to use the ’power of group‘ and work with others on the same task - a few more heads could suggest more solutions and easily notice mistakes.
SimHelp would like to get your opinion and advices on the topic. What different practices you use managing workload? Please share your stories by writing us at [email protected]. The authors of most innovating and interesting advices will get our special SimHelp gift!
About SimHelp
SimHelp services include simulators repair and maintenance, renewals, relocation, sales and consultancy services for aviation training centres in global locations. Headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, the brand offers joint solutions with the expert partners from more than 10 countries. Standard repair time ranges from 2 minutes to 7 days. SimHelp is a part of Avia Solutions Group, the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) listed group with more than 17 subsidiaries globally providing aviation business solutions.
