Mechanic-centric focus to improve aircraft availability

  • Published
  • By Lisa Mathews
  • Warner Robins Air Logistics Center
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) --  By using Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st century tools, a maintenance team here established a synchronized, integrated end-to-end maintenance process that does not impact mission requirements, increasing aircraft availability. 

The high velocity maintenance, or HVM, would require all of those involved with the aircraft to work together so there is less time spent on maintenance and more time the planes can be in the air serving the warfighter, said HVM team leader Jerry Mobley.

This will include better tracking of all aspects of the aircraft's condition with information shared by the home station of the aircraft and the air logistics center, where the programmed depot maintenance takes place.

This shared information will allow for all parts and equipment needed for the maintenance of the aircraft to be in place as soon as the plane arrives on base. This will minimize or eliminate wait time for the programmed depot maintenance, or PDM, to begin. By ensuring a better understanding of all the work needed to complete the PDM of an aircraft, parts can on site, technical data can be in place, tools and equipment can be on hand and all pre-positioned so that the mechanic can come in each day and immediately begin work.

"We want to have a mechanic-centric focus," Mr. Mobley said.

The team is also analyzing how to optimize all enabling processes such as requirements identification, funding and materials.

Another area the group believes could shave downtime for the aircraft is to realign the inspections process. The HVM team is researching the possibility of aligning the isometric inspections currently being done by the home station mechanics on aircraft to be rolled up into the PDM work here at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center. The team believes this could reduce downtime of the aircraft from 20 to nine days.

Air Force Special Operations Command's C-130 Hercules aircraft were selected as the pilot program to test the HVM process, which will begin in late spring or early summer 2008. Following the pilot testing of the process, the team expects to export the process across the entire C-130 fleet. The processes could then be used for other weapons systems.

The implementation of the HVM process would be done in spirals, or time increments. As technology such as on-board systems diagnostics and automated data analysis becomes available, it could be incorporated into the HVM process.

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