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Fleet Reliability
Fleet Reliability refers to the performance of aircraft systems – such as air conditioning, flight controls, electrical power, hydraulics, landing gear, pneumatics, etc. Air carriers usually monitor fleet reliability with an alert based program. An alert program compares incident rates – such as pilot reported problems (Pireps) and/or Delays and Cancellations (D&Cs) to an “acceptable” rate standard. If the incident rate exceeds the “acceptable” rate standard, an alert is generated and a technical analysis is conducted to determine if a reliability issue exists – and what actions are/may be necessary to restore fleet reliability to an acceptable level.
On occasion, the bureaucracy of a fleet reliability program gets in the way of swift and decisive action. On the other end of the spectrum, an aggressive corporate culture can sometimes create pressure for a corrective action to be implemented - before the problem is fully understood. Therefore, your alert program must be able to quickly identify legitimate reliability issues – and prioritize which issues need immediate attention.
Most reliability programs “farm out” the technical analysis (root cause) function of the program to other departments in the company. For example, an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) system alert may be forwarded to the Power Plant Engineering department for root cause analysis and corrective action. In some respects, this process makes sense. However, this approach can result in an extremely narrow investigation – and cause your organization to overlook significant contributing factors related to the system alert. To ensure consistent technical analyses, your best bet is to train and staff a small group of technical analysts in the reliability department.
There are several important concepts to consider when developing your alert programs and technical analysis processes. Click on any of the topics on the left of this page to find out more.
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