Importance Of Preventive Maintenance

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

Preventive maintenance is a repetitive maintenance procedure that is regularly performed on a piece of equipment to lower the likelihood of its failure. Preventative maintenance is performed on the aircrafts while the equipment or parts are within their life cycle, so that it prevents from unexpected failures of aircraft equipment or parts.

Preventive maintenance (PM) has the following meanings:

1. The checks and the inspections performed by maintenance personnel for the purpose of maintaining equipment and parts in satisfactory operating condition , detection, and correction of incipient failures either before they fail or develop into major defect.

2. Preventive maintenance requires to follow planned guidelines

Preventive maintenance activities include partial or complete overhauls at specified periods, servicing of parts, oil replacement, lubrication, minor adjustments, tests, parts replacement and all the inspections recommended by the manufacturer or the regulatory authority . It is designed to preserve and retain the equipment reliability by replacing worn components before they actually fail or their life cycle is over.

The primary goal of preventive maintenance is to avoid or reduce the failure of equipment or parts that may result in unscheduled maintenance and more ground time for the aircraft which will lead to a huge cost to company due non availability of equipment/ aircraft. This may be reduced with the help of Planned Maintenance and Condition Based Maintenance. In addition, workers can record equipment deterioration so they know when to replace or repair worn parts before they cause system failure.

Preventative maintenance for various equipment and aircraft parts are quite sensitive and requires strict adherence of manufacturers recommendations. For instance, maintaining certain equipment may include a "preventative maintenance checklist" which includes small checks which can significantly extend service life of the equipment or

This period is specified by the manufacturer and approved by the civil aviation authority. It varies with the type of aircraft and conditions. (Generally 400-600 flight hours or 200-300 flight cycles).

B check

This is also considered as a minor check and is performed after certain number of flight cycles or calendar periods. This period is longer than the A-check required and has to be carried out as specified by the manufacturer and approved by the civil aviation authority. It varies with the type of aircraft the ground time required some operator divide the B-check into small fragmented checks and add them with the A-check ,i.e: A-1 through A-10. So that ground time for the aircraft is reduced.( Approx every 6-8 months and required ground time of 1-3 days in hanger)

C check

This is as a major check and is performed after certain number of flight cycles or calendar periods and as specified by the manufacturer and approved by the Civil Aviation Authority. The period varies with the category and type of aircraft and it is much more extensive in nature than A or B check . It needs majority of the aircraft components to be inspected ,overhauls or replaced. The aircraft remains out of service for considerable period of time. Hanger is required to carry out the C-check. Generally C-check requires a week to complete.( Approx every 20-24 months