Addressing AOG and Unscheduled Maintenance

Sofema Online (SOL) www.sofemaonline.com takes a look at the process to ensure effective control of “Aircraft On Ground” (AOG’s) & Unscheduled Maintenance

Introduction

Significant losses are suffered due to AOG’s and unscheduled maintenance, across industry tunning to many millions of Dollars.

» Losses Occur primarily due to the non-availability of aircraft resulting in lost revenue.
» Parts & Materials ordered on an AOG basis are typically charged at a premium rate.

Stakeholders involved in an AOG

Typically, AOG’s have multiple stakeholders (All recognizing the importance of rectifying the discrepancy in the shortest possible time. Stakeholders include the following

» Type Certificate Holder (TCH) usually the aircraft manufacturer
» OEMs (Aircraft and Engine Manufacturers)
» Primary Suppliers (Known as tier-1 suppliers)
» Other Airlines – (All willing to help – all be it at AOG rates)
» Private & Special Operators
» Third-party MROs (Maintenance, Repair, & Overhaul) entities
» Parts Distributors
» Stockists & Traders

Minimizing AOG Occurrence through predictive maintenance using AI/ML

AOG’s usually occur due to “unscheduled events” and identifying the potential likelihood of such an unscheduled event occurring is akin to employing a crystal ball. Nevertheless, there are steps which can be taken to improve the situation.

To attempt to forecast an AOG would need a significant amount of data related to

» Historical data related to aircraft and parts usage
» Parts & Components failure & unit change data
» Reliability calculations
» FMEA is related to the normal utilization of the part (The manner in which a component, subsystem, or system could potentially fail to meet the design intent. The potential failure mode could also be the cause of a potential failure mode in a higher-level subsystem or system, or be the effect of a potential failure.)

Reacting to an AOG

When an AOG occurs there is an immediate need for a particular part with the following actions typically to follow:

» Contacting Primary Suppliers
» Checking external Parts Distributors’ portals
» Checking exchange platforms like ILS, Parts-base, Plane, etc.

Note - While parts exchanges tried to solve this problem but there are two key issues with them

» Manipulation of data due to a to post incorrect part availability information in order to secure the order!
» Stale Parts Availability Information – Information is not up to date

Ideal Scenario provides for real-time visibility into parts availability by checking the database of parts suppliers directly through a real-time mechanism like an API call. (API is the acronym for Application Programming Interface, which is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other.)

Integrating Reliability Data into Engineering Decision Making  

Managing the component configuration status to ensure a high level of modification standard can decrease the likelihood of AOG.s

Next Steps

Sofema Aviation Services (www.sassofia.com) and Sofema Online (www.sofemaonline.com) offer EASA Regulatory Compliant and Vocational Training across a range of Aviation Areas – please see our Websites or email Team@sassofia.com

Sofema Aviation Services provides a 3-day course to implement your own MCC – please see the following https://sassofia.com/course/developing-an-aviation-maintenance-control-centre-3-days/