AircraftOwner Online

Although they may be happy to have a job in the midst of a recession, American workers are increasingly unhappy with their jobs. A survey by the Conference Board research group found job satisfaction is at its lowest in 22 years. Only 45% of U.S. workers said they were satisfied with their jobs. This is not recession fallout; U.S. worker satisfaction has been decreasing steadily for the past two decades.

“It says something troubling about work in America,” admitted Linda Barrington, a Conference Board managing director. “It is not about the business cycle or one grumpy generation.”

Analysts are concerned that worker dissatisfaction is negatively impacting productivity and innovation, hindering America’s ability to compete (see our January 25 post). With the struggling airline industry unable to offer the salary increases, improved benefits or promotions traditionally used to reward workers, airlines and FBOs must pursue alternate motivational strategies.

Worker job satisfaction improves, experts say, when employers demonstrate that they care about and respect their employees.

• Keep your employees in the loop. Keeping workers informed reduces workplace anxiety, allowing greater job focus.
• Show employees you care. Utilizing ergonomically-designed aircraft tugs demonstrates concern for your employees’ health and safety while making their jobs less strenuous. Ergonomic aircraft tow equipment takes the pain and strain out of maneuvering aircraft around hangers, FBOs and airfields. Using ergonomic aircraft tugs to create a healthier, safer work environment improves worker morale and productivity.
• Share the load. Lindy’s aircraft tugs are so easy to use FBOs can implement customer self-service programs to decrease the strain on overworked staff. Because the ergonomic design of Lindy’s aircraft tugsallows workers of any shape and size to maneuver airplanes with ease, management and other staff can easily lend a hand. Nothing shows workers you care more than rolling up your sleeves and working in the trenches with them!

Not long ago the future of FBOs was looking pretty rosy. Business travel was booming worldwide and aviation industry gurus predicted a robust future for FBO operations. Then the U.S. economy tanked sending  global markets sprawling. Financial woes pulled the plug first on personal airline travel, then on business travel. Airlines were an early casualty of the recession, pulling down FBOs and other support services with them.

For FBOs the recession has caused a host of headaches with decreased airplane volume being just the tip of the iceberg. The financial problems of their customers mean FBOs must cope with an increasing number of slow pays and other financial risks that affect their own cash flow. To protect their financial future, FBOs are being forced to run leaner and meaner than ever before.

For many FBOs that means a decrease in staff size and more efficient utilization of service staff. Versatile Lindy aircraft tugs can be used to easily and quickly maneuver aircraft — both with or without pants — in and out of hangers and around FBO maintenance and service facilities. The ergonomic design of Lindy aircraft tractors allows any worker, regardless of physical strength, to easily maneuver aircraft, allowing FBO operators to make maximum use of personnel. Use of electric powered Lindy aircraft tow products can also decrease FBO fuel costs.

As the nation moves slowly out of recession, airline industry experts say savvy FBO operators should prepare to compete in a more competitive business environment. Customers are expected to do more comparison pricing and even consider cheaper, less regulated  foreign FBOs for major maintenance service. In order to better manage costs and remain financially competitive, U.S. FBOs will have to offer a broader range of services, including more in-house maintenance. Using Lindy aircraft tugs can help FBOs decrease operational costs and remain competitive.

I received a call today from an authorized repair center describing another situation where a 406ELT was shipped to them (at the owners expense) only to find out that there was no problem with the ELT.  Since 406ELT's are more capable they are are also more complex.  It comes with all technology we adopt in our lives and we can educate ourselves to ensure we don't spend our money unwisely.

Let me immediately begin by offering one simple troubleshooting technique that could help prevent this unnecessary cost. Disconnect the ELT from its other devices(except the antenna).   Once isloated, toggle the ELT mounted switch to "off" or "reset" and then back to "arm".  The ELT will run another self test and provide feedback via the indicator light.  If the ELT passes the self test, the problem exists somewhere else in the installation.  The antenna is left connected so that the 5 watts of power generated by the transmitter doesn't damage the internal circuitry. 

The number of internal checks performed vary by manufacturer but they have many in common.   Experience has shown that once the ELT has been installed and tested, most of the parameters will remain unchanged and will not likely result in a fail signal.  Some failures that are likely to result in a problem indication are: Battery power low, RF output low or  programming data not present.
Battery power low is an ELT problem and may not be expected if the ELT has been in service for less than 5 years.  The most probable causes for this are over testing or ELT left in the "on" position too long.  Since the FAA requires that any ELT battery be changed once the accumulated transmission time exceeds one hour it is clear that setting the system to "on" should be limited to actual need.  Unfortunately at least one manufacturer uses the "on" position to perform self tests instead of a dedicated "test" position and this quickly accumulates towards transmission time.

On installations interfaced with GPS it is possible for the programming data test to be a cause for failure.  With the interface, aircraft data and GPS data are combined into a single message and if one piece is missing a test fail will result. This is usually caused from GPS power turned off, GPS menu settings inproperly set or a wiring problem of some sort.

External components can play a role in failed tests and it is helpful to understand the possible causes.   A failed test caused by other components other than the GPS is low RF Output.   There are several poosible errors that can cause this.  These include mistakes in the wiring between the remote switch and the ELT, improper grounding of the ELT, a bad coaxial cable connection or poor antenna grounding.

Unfortunately problems caused by poor workmanship or faulty grounding do happen and can only be detected and corrected by a competent avionics shop but by using the component isolation method an aircraft owner can be empowered enough to avoid unnecessary shipping costs to repair centers.
Happy Flying.

Hope is on the horizon. The airline industry is starting to climb out of the recession, but it could be years before business travel returns to its pre-recession level, if it ever does. Pre-recession, business travel was the most important growth segment for passenger airlines. Unfortunately, the recession forced frequent corporate travelers to adopt less expensive telecommunication strategies. While a mild increase in business travel is anticipated as the recession eases, few analysts expect a return to "the glory days."

The decline of business travel is just one of many pressures forcing change in the airline industry. FBO managers report a decline in customer loyalty directly related to the recession. Cash-strapped aircraft operators shop around for FBOs willing to offer a better price. As reported in our October 19 post, some airlines are taking their maintenance and repair business to foreign FBOs to take advantage of cheap labor.

To survive FBOs will need to provide more services at a better value - do more with less. It's the same problem most U.S. businesses are struggling with these days. Lindy's versatile, ergonomically-designed aircraft tugs allow FBOs to maximize their use of employees while minimizing the number of employees needed to keep operations running smoothly.

Some interesting and creative solutions to improving airline industry revenues are popping up. In Columbus, Ohio, Port Columbus officials recently entered into a five-year pact with 10 airlines guaranteeing them a share of airport revenues in exchange for maintaining and improving services for Columbus travelers and shippers. The Columbus Regional Airport Authority agreed to hold down costs on rent, landing fees and other airline charges. Cooperative partnerships like this could be the wave of the future.

Airlines are outsourcing major aircraft repairs to foreign countries in ever-increasing numbers. National Public Radio reported this week that in 2007 U.S. air carriers sent 71% of "heavy airframe maintenance" to private facilities in cheap foreign labor markets (see our Oct. 19, 2009 post). Airlines cite a recession-driven need to lower maintenance costs as the primary reason for taking maintenance jobs outside the U.S. However, several in-air maintenance failures have focused media and industry attention on the issue. There is considerable concern that:

• foreign workers do not have the same level or training, repair experience or professional certification as U.S.-trained airline mechanics; and
• foreign maintenance facilities are not subject to the same levels of inspection and oversight as American shops.

Many are placing blame at the FAA's door, charging that the FAA's lack of oversight or insistence that repairs and maintenance meet U.S. standards is placing passengers at risk and unfairly denying American workers the opportunity to compete. While the FAA is charged with inspecting all maintenance and repair work, NPR charges that:

"the inspector general at the Department of Transportation has investigated those checks and balances, and has repeatedly warned over the past six years that FAA and industry inspectors are not monitoring the work the way they should."

U.S. airline mechanics and repair facilities are understandably angry. While the FAA has failed to hold foreign competitors to account, the agency has been increasingly aggressive in punishing safety and maintenance lapses in the U.S.We here at Lindbergh Aircraft Tug Co. would like to know what you think. We're in the business of designing and manufacturing safe, ergonomic aircraft tugs to ease the physical burden of moving heavy aircraft. Our mission is to make airplane maintenance safe for the airline workers and mechanics who make aircraft safe for passengers. We do our job. We think they should be allowed to do theirs. What do you think?

Ignition System Maintenance

 

One of my pet peeves is the concept of “Annual” aircraft maintenance.  While the FAA has certainly mandated that our aircraft are inspected annually, that certainly doesn’t mean that the annual inspection is justification for doing all repairs on an annual basis.

 

Case in point is the aircraft’s ignition system.  The spark plugs, harness and magneto components all continue wear during the time between annual inspections.  Depending on the number of hours that you fly each year, this can be either a very small change, or a rather large one.  For most aircraft owners that I speak to, the annual inspection is the only time during the year that they remove their spark plugs for cleaning and inspection.  Unless forced to, by some ignition issue, such as a fouled plug, the plugs don’t get pulled and there is no opportunity for inspection of how the overall system is functioning.

 

That’s too bad, because some issues can progress without outward symptoms until it’s too late.  I recently came across a very compelling example of this when working on the ignition system of an AA-5 Traveler.  The engine had begun running rough, with ignition ‘misses’ fairly frequently.

 

The magnetos were disassembled and inspected, revealing a burned distributor cap and rotor on one of them.  The burning was focused on a single contact in the block.  The damaged magneto parts were replaced, which is an expensive proposition.  You can replace the cap and rotor on your car for less than $10.  Those similar parts in a Slick magneto cost upwards of $350.

 

Before, calling the problem ‘solved’, I investigated further to try to track down the origin of the failure.  It turned out to be a bad spark plug.  Believe it or not, a bad plug with excessively high resistance can cause the magneto to fail as well.  When new, aviation spark plugs have a resistance of about 1,000-1,200 Ohms.  However, this resistance climbs as the plugs get older in service.  Champion and Unison will not release official values for a bad plug resistance, but I was told unofficially that any plug showing 20K Ohms or more should really be scrapped.

 

That bad plug even looked different from the other seven when examining the electrodes.  It obviously had not been firing well and this might have been noticed if the plugs were examined more than once a year.  This aircraft was only a week before its next annual when the magneto failed.

 

Preventive maintenance is always the key to safe and sensible aircraft operations.  Spark plugs, oil, filters, etc. are all cheap in comparison to the damage that can occur when problems go unchecked!