FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0041.PDF
FLIGHT, 13 January 1956 41 THOUGHTS ON AIRCRAFT UTILIZATION The importance of achieving the correct ratio between the rate ofmaintenance checks and the resultant delay rate is very great. If too much maintenance is done unnecessarily, utilization is reducedby having the aircraft on the ground too long at base. If too little is done, the results are equally unsatisfactory in the amount ofcover needed to counteract high delay-rates. Inefficient mainten- ance methods, resulting in overlong elapsed time at base, makegood fleet utilization impossible. It is only when the engineering organization is geared to a state of high efficiency that really goodstandards can be achieved. Modifications are seldom treated with the respect they needfrom the management point of view. On the technical side, of course, a modification of any kind receives, quite rightly, the mostdetailed attention. Management, on the other hand, is beset with problems of sales and competition and often demands modifica-tions in desperation rather than by planned necessity. It is reasonable to suppose that a new aircraft will, on being put intoservice, be of such a design that at least, say, seven to ten years' service can be undertaken without major modification. At 3,500hours per annum flying this would represent some 25,000 to 35,000 hours. Yet in practice this is seldom the case. Metal fatigue mayoccur, perhaps, after four or five years, causing modifications to be done which may take a fortnight out of each aircraft's workinglife. The sales department may discover, after two years' flying, a vital need for, perhaps, bunks or cargo space in the cabin, orsome other change to internal layout, which should have been included in the basic design for use when and if required. Yetanother fortnight of aircraft life, or even more, can be wasted on fulfilling such requirements. If it is considered that modern air-craft can earn up to £50,000 in a single fortnight, it will be seen that a fleet of, say, twenty aircraft undergoing both modificationsmentioned above would have their revenue-earning capacity reduced by £2 million. To this must be adMed the cost of the modi-fications concerned. Forethought and experience in design and in specification can do much to avoid such needless financial losses. The application and use of manpower is yet another criticalfactor in the air transport business. By this is meant, of course, engineering manpower. Elapsed aircraft time on maintenance at base can be kept to a minimum only by: (1) continuous shift-work on all types of maintenance throughout the 24 hours when necessary; (2) the easy availability of additional man-hours inemergencies, e.g. when delays occur or when special maintenance problems have to be overcome; and (3) the most careful planningfor using each segment of manpower on check sequences and rectification to ensure that not only is overcrowding of workingpositions avoided but also that men are available in the right place at the right time. Reserves of aircraft required are a fundamental item on whichdepend, to a great extent, the ability to arrange for intensive utilization. The numerical strength of the fleet concerned is, ofcourse, closely related, and it is always a matter of concern to decide just what reserves shall be allowed. With small fleets ofaircraft, say up to about ten in number, little can be done beyond covering some agreed proportions of the expected delay-rate. Ifdelays are numerous and simultaneous the only course is to cancel services temporarily, or to charter replacement aircraft,until the position can be cleared. With larger fleets of aircraft there are three requirements tofulfill. First is the need to cover delays into base adequately; second, the necessity for a stand-by aircraft at base to cover out-bound services, since the highest technical-fault rate always occurs at base or before departure, or during the first ten totwenty hours flying; third, the need for spare aircraft days to provide essential elasticity. This ensures that aircraft can berostered on service and maintenance in the right order to produce proper sequences of checks and overhaul. Of an average fleet oftwenty aircraft, probably two complete aircraft will be required for all these purposes. This allowance need not be increased propor-tionately with larger fleets except with regard to the first item. Thus the larger the fleet the lower, normally, the ratio of reserveaircraft. From this it follows that it will be easier, other things being equal, to achieve high utilization with a large fleet thanwith a small. This last lesson has yet to be learned by most of the world'sairlines, who now seem to take a masochistic delight in ordering their aircraft fleets in the smallest possible numbers. WRIGHT MEMORIAL CELEBRATIONS THE anniversary of the Wright brothers' first powered flightwas celebrated in Washington on December 17th (writes a correspondent) in the traditional manner. In the afternoon, R. L. Bisplinghoff, Professor of AeronauticalEngineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, read a paper before the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences on SomeStructural and Aero-elastic Considerations of High Speed Flight, the chair at this meeting being taken by T. P. Wright. The paperdealt very largely with thermal problems at high speeds and was remarkable for its clarity and the amount of information whichProf. Blisplinghoff managed to compress into 45 minutes. Following the lecture, the Institute of Aeronautical Sciencesheld a reception at which one was delighted to see Major Lester Gardner looking as hale and hearty as ever. It seemed veryappropriate that, only a few days earlier, some American papers had announced the bequest under Mr. Glenn Martin's will of$250,000 to the Minta Martin Aeronautical Students' fund of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences. In the evening, the Aero Club of Washington held their annualdinner, this year at the Sheraton-Park Hotel in the magnificent new exhibition hall, where it is believed close on 2,000 people satdown to dine. Among fifteen persons of long-standing eminence in aviationcreated "elder statesmen" were the following names which will be well-known to British readers: Lester Gardner, JeromeHunsaker, Grover Loening, W. F. Durand, Eddie Rickenbaker, and Igor Sikorsky. The two principal speeches of the evening were delivered bySir Roger Makins, the British Ambassador in Washington, and the Vice-President of the United States, Mr. Nixon. Both speecheswere concerned with the tremendous potentialities of the aero- plane and its power in the world for good or evil, according to theuse to which it was put. Sir Roger Makins delighted his audience with some most amusing remarks and particularly with the storyof a bishop crossing the Adantic in the early days to whom the pilot of the aircraft addressed himself as follows: "My lord, Ithink you should put on your oxygen mask. We are now going up into your territory." The dinner was a most remarkable gathering of Americanaviation personalities; and hardly less remarkable were the administrative arrangements and the serving of an excellent mealto such a large number of people. R.Ae.S. MEMBERS IN THE INDUSTRY PUBLISHED last month, the Royal Aeronautical Society YearBook, 1955-56, provides a useful source of reference concern- ing the Society's current activities and membership. It is the firstyear-book to be produced by the R.Ae.S., and contains a list of members (at September 1st, 1955) which supersedes the less-detailed list published in 1947. The year book contains lists of members and committees ofCouncil, past presidents and secretaries, present staff of the Society and honorary Fellows; and details of overseas divisions,branches, membership procedures, conferences, memorial lectures, scholarships, medals,,awards and prizes. Feature articles describethe Society's history, its publications, its technical work, the library, and the activities of die Graduates and Students Section. In addition to its alphabetical list of members, the Society hasfollowed the example of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences in providing classified personnel lists under company headings—a most valuable innovation. Inevitably, there are omissions, and any such reference work becomes slighdy out-of-date during pro-duction; but the book remains the most thorough and compre- hensive directory yet published of this country's aircraft industry.It has already been distributed to all R.Ae.S. members; copies are available to non-members at 10s. plus postage from the offices ofthe Society at 4, Hamilton Place, London, W.I. MANAGEMENT TRAINING THE next course to be held at Sundridge Park ManagementCentre, Bromley, Kent, will be a three-week residential course for senior executives on "Measurements for Management" fromFebruary 26th to March 17th. The syllabus comprises the field of management; factors to be measured and controlled; principlesof the various forms of measurement; measurements and indices for productivity, sales, profitability, costs (labour and capital),inspection and quality, personnel planning (labour and staff), and utilization of plant, material, space and labour; the use of thesemeasurements and indices for decision-making and control; and the installation of effective procedures. The inclusive fee for thecourse is 110 guineas. Director of Sundridge Park Management Centre is Mr. J. V.Connolly, B.E., F.R.Ae.S., M.I.Prod.E., who was previously Professor of Aircraft Economics and Production at the College ofAeronautics, Cranfield.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
