We continue to hear reports that operators are bleeding cash, and that every aspect of spending is being reviewed. With this in mind, we’re seeing airlines open up to using PMA parts, parts traced to foreign airlines, and increasing use of aftermarket parts (AKA the ‘surplus’ market). With the proper controls in place, these practices save the operators considerable expense and lead time. And so it could be with two other sacred cows I’ll challenge: When buying aftermarket spares other than new,...

For those of you involved in Airline Reliability Programs, and particularly for those who attended my session titled “Deferrals Per MEL and Airline Reliability Programs” at the 2013 ASA Conference, I want to give you an update on efforts to revise key FAA Advisory Circulars.   In 2005 there was an accident involving a Turboprop which crashed into a department store garden center shortly after takeoff from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (MHT). The aircraft was destroyed and the pilot of the c...

When I hear popular culture terms, I tend to borrow the lingo so I don’t seem remote and out of touch. A term I’ve heard bandied-about is ‘TMI’, or Too Much Information. ‘TMI’ might be uttered by you following a conversation with an acquaintance who shared information that was socially awkward, over-the-top, or just plain overwhelming. But this is the age of information, which reportedly is the new gold standard. If so, when is information too much? Having information or data does not necessa...

Time to stir the pot again I continue to hear moans about the issues we’re about to discuss, so I dusted off and updated this classic prose which will address the purchasing of aftermarket spares (other than new condition). Many of you have shared privately with me that you forwarded links to the older blog to your customers, and this too prompted this update. In this blog we’ll review the following: OVERHAULED vs. REPAIRED or INSPECTED Reliability study Lack of Overhaul instructions for many p...

Some documents, as Rodney Dangerfield might say, ‘’’…get no respect.” That is of course, until the mud hits the fan. So it is with the supposedly lowly tear-down report. Day in and day out we routinely check for the presence of these documents, checkoff a box on our receiving checklist, then add them to the scan/file pile. Done. There are situations however, when those reports are going to demand a lot of attention, which is the focus of this blog. Tear-down reports may go by many names such ...