NAFA member, George Kleros, Sr. Vice President, Strategic Event Management & Fleet Support at JSSI, discusses COVID-19's impact on the economy, flight department extended downtime, and the maintenance needs of business aircraft.
If you are one of the flight departments anticipating some extended downtime, following are some areas to give attention to regarding the day-to-day maintenance needs of your aircraft...
As we begin to consider what the new normal entails on the other side of the coronavirus crisis, it’s clear this will not be an instantaneous recovery for Business Aviation. However, it’s unlikely we will see a return to what we experienced in 2009, one of the most difficult years our industry has ever faced.
In recent weeks JSSI has been performing claims oversite for insurance underwriters in addition to appraisals, lease returns and aircraft default recoveries for financial institutions.
Based on the cases we have seen so far, it is apparent that many similar issues that occurred in 2009 have resurfaced.
For example, although they may not intend to immediately sell their aircraft, many owners have no plans to fly for the foreseeable future, and the overarching behavior at this time is to severely reduce expenses wherever possible.
There are several important factors to consider when making the decision to cut operating costs and pause aircraft utilization. Here are five areas you should consider as part of financially responsible decision-making during a period of extended downtime.
Aircraft Inactivity Choices
When an aircraft sits unused, you have two choices:
- Exercise the aircraft, or
- Preserve the aircraft.
In the short-term, exercising the aircraft is going to represent better value for money. Proper preservation of the engines, avionics, APU and airframe requires an extensive, labor-intensive process that involves special equipment to perform correctly.
Furthermore, several preservation steps will need to reoccur periodically throughout the downtime for certain items.
At some point, there will be a need to fly the aircraft again, or there may be an opportunity to sell the asset which will require a quick turn to return to airworthiness.
The process to take an aircraft out of preservation is equally extensive and requires additional labor hours because of all the operational checks involved. The complex process makes sense if you plan to store the aircraft for more than six months, but it is not cost-effective for anything less than that.
In addition, taking steps to exercise the aircraft will help ensure all systems are working correctly and any issues can be addressed as and when they are discovered, not at the last minute.
Inspections Remain Necessary
When an aircraft is parked, it is obviously not accumulating hours or landings. This means hourly or landing-driven inspections are no longer accomplished because they are not due.
Despite this, it is still highly recommended to keep up with all scheduled calendar inspection events. These are in place for several important reasons, including to control corrosion and keep parts lubricated to prevent future damage.
The inspection of particular areas of the aircraft at specific intervals is pre-determined by OEM engineers and is based on their findings that a potential issue is most likely to surface within that period. Timely corrective action will allow for the issue to be resolved as efficiently as possible.
It should also be noted that performing inspections too early might mean missing an underlying problem that is not yet serious enough to be detected and treated.
Waiting until the next time the inspection is required may then put you past the critical point, ultimately requiring extensive repairs and special engineering that may contribute to a loss in aircraft value.
On the other hand, choosing to push the inspection out beyond the scheduled time could lead to the same scenario and extensive damage being incurred from not addressing the problem sooner. This is especially true for aircraft that spend most days outside on the ramp.
It is therefore highly important to follow the Chapter 5 calendar schedule and always remain within the designed inspection schedule for your specific aircraft.
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This article was originally published by AvBuyer on May 11, 2020.
