A Comparative Study of Managing a Project Using Traditional Management Techniques and a Critical Chain Project Management Methodology in Aircraft Maintenance Field

Aircraft on ground or down-time for its maintenance is a clear loss in revenue for an airline operation. With never ending competition and growing operating costs of aircraft, airlines continuously need to explore opportunities to reduce the aircraft down-time in order to remain sustainable. Due to round the clock operation feature of scheduled airlines, aircraft maintenance operations are generally carried out using traditional management methodologies instead of considering it as a project. Though aircraft heavy maintenance checks consist of several major tasks that can last from few weeks to a year, the maintenance organisations do not adopt modern project management methodologies. Therefore, this paper models a heavy maintenance check of an Airbus aircraft as a typical project and adopts contemporary project management methodology to explore the possibility of reducing the downtime. To this end, a case study has been done at an aircraft maintenance company to analyse the potential of this project management method in aircraft maintenance industry.

Contrastive Analysis of Distractions to Pilot Caused by Various Flight Instrument Displays

Automation of aircraft instrument displays enhances flight safety, but it also increases complexity and pilot workload. Executing changes in flight plan, navigation or communication during flight using flight instrument switches often increases pilots’ workload and this may also cause distraction that adds potential risks to flight safety. This study compares the conventional avionics panel and touchscreen avionic panel to find out the least distractive panel for the pilots. Thirty simulated flights using four different pilots were carried out;and aircraft speed, altitude and heading parameters using both avionics systems were observed to study the operational efficiency and pilot distraction resulted from each of the avionic systems. The distraction was examined by a parameter analysis based on the Mean Squared Error (MSE) mathematical model and visually by recording videos of each simulated flight. The results indicate that the touchscreen system is more efficient and less erroneous for the aircraft in maintaining the parameters as compared with the conventional system. There is also a clear relationship between task completion time and disruption level on the parameters control.

Selection and Impact of an Aerofoil Leading Edge on Boundary Layer Transition

The choice of leading-edge aspect ratio (AR) plays a crucial role when planning boundary layer wind tunnel tests on a flat plate. Poor selection of the leading-edge profile hampers effectiveness of the experiment and increases testing costs associated with interchanging of leading edges to attain accurate results. Thus, the appropriate selection of the leading edge is a very crucial part of the wind tunnel experiment process. It is argued that the curvature of the leading edge and thus the AR is of paramount importance to achieve accurate results from the wind tunnel testing. In this project, seven different elliptical leading edges were tested, and their performance was compared with an ideal leading edge with zero thickness. Experiments and computation have been done for leading edges ranging from AR6 to AR20. Results were evaluated for boundary layer transition onset location, and it was found that AR20 has the least influence on the flow structure when compared to the ideal leading edge. A study of the flow structure at the stagnation point indicates an increase in adverse pressure gradient with an increase in the AR but also shows a decrease in the size of the stagnation region. The presence of a higher AR leading edge reduces the turbulent spot production rate, which is one of the primary causes of boundary layer transition. This paper presents a correlation that enables aerodynamicists to quantify the impact of the leading-edge AR on transition. A typical case is also presented to compare the relative performance of a wedge and the higher AR leading edge, which provides a choice between an elliptical or a wedge-shaped leading edge.

A New Approach in Design of a Pavement Reinforced by A Geosynthetic Layer in Severely Stressed Area of the Airport Pavement to Accommodate Stresses Imposed by Aircraft Landing and Ground Movements

Pavements of airport runway and apron are subjected to stern stresses imposed by landing and ground movements of aircraft. The stresses are primarily concentrated in touchdown zone and wheel path areas of the pavement structure. This paper proposes that this area can be designed using geosynthetic layer reinforcement to minimise deflection and deterioration of the structure. The reinforcement can reduce the vertical stresses on the underground fuel pipes in the apron area, if used. The concept of ditch conduit reinforcement is suggested where a geosynthetic layer is used within a soil backfill to redistribute load over a conduit leading to stress redistribution. It is observed that the vertical load is significantly reduced by the arching action of the soil mass overlying the conduit. The load can be reduced further by placing a geosynthetic reinforcement layer within the soil backfill above the conduit. It is suggested that the inclusion of a geosynthetic layer in the granular backfill reduces the vertical load on a ditch conduit and the amount of reduction depends upon the tensile modulus, deflection of the geosynthetic and soil arching action. This leads to believe that a reinforced pavement structure for runway and aerodrome apron area improves the load carrying capacity of the pavement to sustain the operations of heavy transport aircraft, including occasional overloading of the pavement. Hence, this paper explores a possibility of using a geosynthetic layer under the runway pavement to provide reinforcement.