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The Diagnostic Computer Saves the Day
August 17, 2007: The U.S. Air Force headed towards
saving hundreds of millions of dollars a year in maintenance costs, with the
introduction of automated flight control system test set equipment for older
aircraft. Plugging into existing aircraft test systems (which just tell you if
a component is working, or not), the automated system uses software, and a
large database of information on how the aircraft works, or doesn't, to quickly
resolve complex maintenance problems. Often, maintainers can spend hundreds of
hours trying to figure out exactly what is wrong with an aircraft. The problem
is that many OK, but slightly off, components can combine to create a failure.
Such problems are very difficult to diagnose. The new test system not only
finds the problems much more quickly, but usually can provide step-by-step
instructions on how to repair it. In the past, maintainers often replaced perfectly
good, but suspect, parts in vain attempts to get $50 million aircraft flight
ready. The automated flight control system test set being evaluated now is for
the F-15. Most recent aircraft, like
recent automobiles, come with similar test systems. The automobile
industry has been using similar systems for over a decade, but has not created
such systems for older automobiles, because the older cars don't have the
sensors and microprocessors built in for this sort of thing. But in the
aviation industry, it pays to build computerized diagnostic systems for older
aircraft if the current maintenance costs are high enough.
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