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Learn about what Reliability Centered Maintenance means for aviation from a well-known A&P/IA and the CEO of Savvy Aviation. In the news, first flights of the Boeing 787-10, the Airbus A319neo, the Antonov An-132D, and the Embraer E195-E2. Also, the Fairness for Pilots Act, important news for Continental engine owners, some talk about restarting the F-22 line, and an update from Airbus on an electric airplane.

Guest

Mike Busch is the CEO of Savvy Aviation and a co-founder of AVweb. Mike is one of the best-known A&P/IAs in general aviation and he writes the monthly “Savvy Maintenance” column in AOPA Pilot magazine. He also hosts free monthly EAA-sponsored maintenance webinars. Mike was honored as “National Aviation Maintenance Technician of the Year” for 2008, he’s been a pilot and aircraft owner for 50 years with 7,500+ hours logged, and is a CFIA/I/ME.

Mike explains the origins of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and how it grew to be used by commercial, business and military aviation, but hasn’t fully trickled down to small general aviation.

RCM is an optimal maintenance program that differs from the old, traditional maintenance approach that follows the assumption that components start out reliable and become less so over time. RCM is a data-driven engineering method that assesses each aircraft component for possible functional failures, failure modes, failure effects and consequences. It then creates a maintenance plan that can even allow a component to run to failure. The result is lower maintenance costs and increased reliability.

Find many aviation maintenance resources at SavvyAviation.com, follow @SavvyAviator on Twitter, and like them on Facebook. See also:

• Video: The Story of Savvy Aviation
• Monthly Webinars from Mike, hosted by EAA and sponsored by Aircraft Spruce & Specialty
• A Directory of Mike’s articles published since January 2010.
• Mike’s book, Manifesto—A Revolutionary Approach to General Aviation Maintenance.

Aviation News

IndiGo is Flying Their A320 NEOS at lower Altitudes over Engine Issues

Indian aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is requiring a borescope test for Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines at 1000 flight hours instead of the usual 1500. Meanwhile, IndiGo Airlines has set at a maximum altitude of 30,000 feet for its A320neos. All this is due to problems with the engine combustion chambers and an oil seal.

Video: Pratt & Whitney PW1000G PurePower Engine How It Works

Boeing 787-10 completes first flight in Charleston

First Flight of Airbus A319neo Finishes Hours Ahead of 787-10

Antonov completes first flight of An-132D

Embraer E195-E2 achieves first flight ahead of schedule

A number of first flights recently took place: The Boeing 787-10, the Airbus A319neo, the Antonov An-132D multi-purpose twin-engine turboprop, and the Embraer E195-E2 E-Jet.

Fairness for Pilots Act introduced

The Pilot’s Bill of Rights was signed into law in 2012. Now U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) wants to broaden protections for general aviation pilots with the Fairness for Pilots Act.

Trump’s Secaf Pick Hints F-35 May Get New Rival—F-22

“President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Air Force wants the service to look at Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor as a possible alternative to the F-35…”

Important News for Continental 520/550 Owners

An extremely costly AD may be in the works.

Airbus abandons E-Fan as electric tech moves on

Airbus will not be producing the electric E-Fan two-seater training aircraft because the technology has advanced so much in the past three years. However, Airbus is considering an E-FAN X with another order of magnitude jump in electric power.

The Airplane of the Week

The favorite airplane of David’s father was the P-61 Black Widow.

Mentioned

Fabulous Farnborough Airshow Photographs by Mary B. Lyons.

Aviation Hackathon #SkyHack – Open to college students 18 years of age or older, October 13-15, 2017.

Video: The Boneyard

Explaining the East/West Asymmetry of Jet Lag

Newest Bath Iron Works ship named after Korean War hero

Update: Our listener Utah Patrick wrote us with the following:

“Like Max, I was touched by the story related in the current episode about Thomas Hudner and Jesse Brown. So much so that I decided to dig a bit deeper into the story. Turns out Hudner received the Medal of Honor for his efforts to rescue his wingman. The part about leaving Brown’s body behind bothered me. I understand the reasoning but I wondered if it had ever been recovered.

“Turns out Brown’s body and his aircraft were napalmed to keep them out of enemy hands. However, figuring something was left behind, attempts have been made to retrieve remains including one attempt 63 years later by (and this really surprised me) Thomas Hudner himself.”

Patrick provided two articles that provide more details: U.S. veteran in North Korea to find remains of fellow aviator and Six Decades Later, a Second Rescue Attempt.

Credit

Intro music courtesy Brother Love from his Album Of The Year CD. Outtro by Bruno Misonne from The Sound of Flaps.