lundi 21 octobre 2013

A Brief Guide To Avionic Repairs

By Elena McDowell


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In the commercial sector any aircraft withdrawn from service can cause problems.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.

Most of these control units are all housed together in a specific part of the aircraft. In the event of a malfunction the engineer, after diagnosing the problem, will replace the faulty piece of equipment. Once the system has been tested the aircraft can return into the flight schedule with the minimum of interruption.

Once the aircraft has slotted back into the schedule the engineer can sort out the faulty item. Some airlines have their own test and repair facilities at major airports, but for the most part faulty equipment is sent to specialist companies for rectification work. These companies operate under licenses from the equipment manufacturers and aviation authorities.

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.

The workshop facilities where the equipment is checked has to meet certain criteria. The environment has to be controlled in both temperature and humidity, and the air is scrubbed to remove dust particles. Even the technicians working on the equipment will have undergone specialist training, and will employ various devices to minimize the possibility of static discharges damaging the equipment.

When they are conducting further diagnostic testing, they will be monitoring various readings and operations, and comparing them against accepted normal limits. Sometimes it can be something as simple as a partially dislodged circuit board or a broken wire, maybe caused by a heavier than usual landing. At other times it can be a component on a circuit board 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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