Blog: Aviation – gearing up for recovery

From staffing and training, to transitioning an unprecedented number of aircraft from storage facilities to the runway, there are new risks that will need to be managed by the aviation sector. 

In normal times, aircraft might be out of service for a few days at most. Now there have been many months of inactivity for machines that are used to being operated and cycled through the routine of flying with systems operating, components warming up, keeping dry and almost naturally keeping themselves functional.

Starting with the aircraft preservation and storage process, there are very clear instructions in the aircraft manuals about how these assets are put into storage to protect them. However, ground handling of aircraft, in any shape or form, comes with an element of risk. Aircraft are large and tricky to manoeuvre on the ground.

Over the course of any regular year, almost every single part of aircraft perimeter components will be impacted at some stage, and it goes to reason that there will be an increase in these kinds of losses. There were a number of collision incidents in the initial parking phase and there have been a small increase in ground collision incidents as aircraft are moved in preparation for reuse. This can result in delays and the requirement for others to be moved, now in less relaxed circumstances and thereby creating additional risk.

This feeds into the wider issue of skills fade. Manoeuvring aircraft requires knowledge, understanding and, crucially, practice. It has yet to be seen what the long-term effects are of engineers and flight crew being placed on furlough. However, it’s clear why practice is a requirement for engineering and flight crew to maintain qualifications. The limited availability of simulators and training opportunities also poses a significant challenge. That said, all indications are that the aviation community is rising to this challenge. The strict regulations that govern aviation will no doubt ensure that this industry is better placed than others.

From a maintenance and a safety perspective, returning a complex machine back into a serviceable condition is a meticulous process. Aircraft have to be carefully restarted and tested before they can be returned to service, yet while there has been much attention paid to potential issues relating to the impact of storage and disuse on equipment, some of the anomalies going forward will not have been fully predictable. For example there was a recent bleed valve scenario whereby unexpectedly a valve stuck in place causing an issue. Thankfully, for the aircraft in question, this has only affected single engines. It’s something that will have subsequently been looked at in detail by manufacturers and operators, however perhaps the key lesson being here is that not all events can be predicted. 

One interesting consequence in a number of recent claims, relates to having the animal world resident in an aircraft. This has been identified without serious safety consequences, aside from some eye-wateringly high cost. It’s an area that both maintenance organisations and industry bodies are paying close attention to. One recent International Air Transport Association document, for example, identified the most common cause of erroneous air data for instrumentation being contamination of the sensor in the form of dirt or debris from insects often attributable to contamination when the probes were not correctly protected.

Thorough testing of the aircraft systems prior to use is the norm and should alleviate these issues, however it is another example of the potential challenges, and costs, that the industry may face in coming months. Quality insurance and claims management will have a key role to play in helping the industry manage the consequences of these.