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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 1460.PDF
FLIGHT 23 MAY 1952 No. 8 OF A SERIES More than mere maintenance. Every aeroplane is checked before every flight. And in addition machines are submitted to four different checks at every 55, 255, 510s and 1,000 flying hours. (Elizabethans— five checks—at 55, 105, 205, 410, and 800 hours.) All this is part of the very strict maintenance and overhaul system which BEA operate to maintain the " Certificate of Air worthiness." Three main bases. Elizabethans are based at London Airport, Vikings at Northolt, and Pionairs and Islanders at Renfrew. For the major mainten ance checks all aircraft are brought back to their own stations, where a comprehensive " float" of spares is kept. This means that if major com ponents have to be removed and tested, substitute parts can be fitted and the used items returned to the BEA workshops for a thorough overhaul. Aeroplanes are therefore never on the ground for very long. Repair docks. For full-scale repairs aeroplanes are sent to the " docks"— superbly equipped workshops where overhauls are completed with speed and efficiency. Inspection. Just to double-check a cer tainty, every aircraft is scrupulously inspected before it leaves the Base after an overhaul. This checking branch is staffed by highly-trained engineers. Training. All main tenance staff have wide and thorough aircraft experience. Elaborate schemes exist for training key maintenance person nel on new aeroplane types before their intro duction into service. But expert technicians must be found for the future; and BEA use apprentice training schools attached to manu facturers' establishments, where selected boys of between 16 and 21 years are trained up to the very high standard demanded. No rule too strict.—If necessity demands one check, BEA demand more. For the one overriding principle governing all BEA maintenance work is that no rules can be too strict. BEA BRITISH EUROPEAN A I R W A Y S
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