A web-based decision support system for aircraft dispatch and maintenance

Aircraft dispatch involves determining the optimal dispatch option when an aircraft experiences an unexpected failure. Currently, maintenance technicians at the apron have limited access to support information and finding the right information in extensive maintenance manuals is a time-consuming task, often leading to technically induced...

Deducing the physical characteristics of an impactor from the resultant damage on aircraft structures

This paper proposes an analytical model that uses historical damage dimension data to deduce physical impactor characteristics (size and energy) that has caused a certain resulting damage. Maintenance tasks occur in operations due to impact, however the source of the damage caused in the event remains in most cases unknown. Consequently, by...

A decision support framework and prototype for aircraft dispatch assessment

When an aircraft experiences an unexpected issue during flight operations, a technician determines whether the aircraft can safely perform the next flight. This operational decision process - known as dispatch assessment - has to happen within limited available time between aircraft arrival and departure. Currently, technicians face two main...

Disposal and recycle economic assessment for aircraft and engine end of life solution evaluation

The present study proposes an economic indicator to support the evaluation of aircraft End of Life (EoL) strategies in view of the increasing demand with regards to aircraft decommissioning. This indicator can be used to evaluate the economic performance and to facilitate the trade-off studies among different strategies. First, Disposal and...

Retirement optimization through aircraft transfers and employment

Military aircraft retirements are an afterthought for many lifecycle planners. More active management of end-of-life fleets can yield increased confidence in fleet capability and retirement timelines. This work provides fleet managers with a tool to manage remaining aircraft flight hours to yield a desired fleet retirement pattern. It solves...

Time to retire: Indicators for aircraft fleets

It is well known that aircraft fleets are aging alongside rising operations and support costs. Logisticians and fleet managers who better understand the milestones and timeline of an aging fleet can recognise potential savings. This paper outlines generalised milestones germane to military aircraft fleets and then discusses the causes that lead...

Application of a greedy algorithm to military aircraft fleet retirements

This article presents a retirement analysis model for aircraft fleets. By employing a greedy algorithm, the presented solution is capable of identifying individually weak assets in a fleet of aircraft with inhomogeneous historical utilization. The model forecasts future retirement scenarios employing user-defined decision periods, informed by...

Contextualising aircraft maintenance documentation

The use of documentation for task support in aircraft line maintenance is still mostly paper-based, which is slow, burdensome and prone to error. This paper provides an overview of the issues associated with the use of paper-based documentation in aircraft line maintenance and describes the development of a novel concept for contextualised...

Correlation of Mission Type to Cyclic Loading as a Basis for Agile Military Aircraft Asset Management

Military attack aircraft are susceptible to the harmful effects of widespread fatigue damage caused by cyclic loading of structural components, which leads to airframe retirement. Modern structural health monitoring techniques use a multitude of sensors and high data collection rates. Some legacy airframes, which are most susceptible to fatigue...