Aircraft fault forecasting at maintenance service on the basis of historic data and aircraft parameters

Service at a maintenance and repair organization (MRO) should be as short and as cost-effective as possible, while taking into account all safety standards. Regular inspections and preventive maintenance keep aircraft safety at an expected level [28]. Aircraft maintenance is a general term that includes aircraft checks that help assess aircrafts and the condition of their component parts. It can include short preflight checking or longer detailed checks of the aircraft and its component parts. Unplanned maintenance downtime causes flight service disruption, resulting in the loss of customer satisfaction for on-time performance [21]. Some component parts have a limited life, and when they expire, they should be replaced by new ones. Maintenance intervals and procedures are specified by the aircraft manufacturer and verified by aviation authorities. MROs have to follow strictly the prescribed procedures. Aircraft maintenance is based on project-type work. Each aircraft that is being checked is regarded as an independent project. The customer who is bringing the aircraft in for maintenance wants all the work required based on the aircraft age, flight hours and cycles to be completed. All the required work is assembled in a work-package (WP), defined by the customer on the basis of aircraft manufacturer maintenance procedures. WP consists of job cards (JC) and job cards consist of task cards (TC). When an inspector performs some inspection, he signs off the respective task card. When all task cards of a particular job card are signed off, the job card can also be signed off. When all job cards are completed, the work-package is completed. New faults are often found during the aircraft inspection and need to be addressed during aircraft inspection. The number of discovered faults depends on the quality of previous maintenance activities, flight hours and cycles, the aircraft’s usual operation location and other factors. Newly discovered faults most often dictate the work performed Borut PogAčnik Jože Duhovnik Jože TAvčAr