Non- destructive Testing Applications in Commercial Aircraft Maintenance.

INTRODUCTION In aircraft maintenance programme it
is important to inspect the mechanical
damage and assess the extent of the
repair work. But in schedule
maintenance it is a difficult to finding
the defects rapidly, as the maintenance of aircraft must be accomplished
within scheduled time and same to be
released in time for commercial
operation. During aircraft maintenance
'NONDESTRUCTWE TESTING' (NDT) is the
most economical way of performing
inspection and this is the only way of
discovering defects. In simply we can
say, NDT can detect cracks or any other irregularities in the airframe
structure and engine components
which are obviously not visible to the
naked eye. Structures & different assemblies of
aircraft are made from various
materials, such as aluminium alloy,
steel, titanium and composite
materials. To dismantle the aircraft in
pieces and then examine each component would take a long time, so
the NDT method and equipment
selection must be fast and effective. In the present trend of NDT application
on aircraft 70-80% of NDT is
performed on the airframe, structure,
landing gears and the rest carried out
on engine & related components.

Types Of Flaps

Flaps are the most common high-lift devices used on aircraft. These surfaces, which are attached to the trailing edge of the wing, increase both lift and induced drag for any given AOA. Flaps allow a compromise between high cruising speed and low landing speed, because they may be extended when needed, and retracted
into the wing’ s structure when not needed. There are four common types of flaps: plain, split, slotted, and Fowler flaps.

FLYING BULLS TO DEBUT AT AERO INDIA

The Flying Bulls' aerobatics team, whose breathtaking displays are a
regular feature at various aviation and
motor sport events across the world,
will make its debut at this year ' s Aero India. The event to be held at the Air Force
Station Yelahanka, between February
9 and February 13, will witness the
Flying Bulls team performing on all five
days. Among the stunts which the four-
member Czech Republic-based team
will perform during the air show,
include the signature mirror flight
manoeuvre. While performing this manoeuvre, the
leading aircraft flies upside down,
immediately above a second aircraft
flying right side up, mirroring the
leading aircraft' s flight figures. The team, led by a woman pilot
Radoslava currently flies four Zlin 50LX
aircraft.

Boeing 787 Test Priority Shifts to ETOPS

Boeing' s 787 certification focus is shifting from aircraft tests to
qualification for long-range ETOPS at
entry-into-service in the aftermath of
last November' s electrical fire, says Boeing CEO James McNerney. Despite the delays caused by the fire
on ZA002, the 787 program has
completed 75% of the flight testing
required for delivery, but the redesign
of software prompted by the incident
is threatening the timing of Boeing' s ETOPS qualification program. Without
FAA approval for ETOPS at entry-into-
service, early long-range operations
by launch customer All Nippon
Airways (ANA) and others will be
severely limited. Speaking to analysts on a 2010
earnings call, McNerney adds that as
787 flight hours pass the 2,500 flight-
hours mark, qualification testing for
ETOPS at entry-into-service is the
growing priority.

Civil aviation industry grew by 400% in six yrs: Patel

Civil aviation minister Praful Patel on
Friday said the airline industry in India
has grown by 400% in a short span of
about six-and-a-half years. "Civil
aviation in India since 2004 and now
has grown by 400% in the span of about six-and-a-half years," he said
while presiding over a foundation stone laying ceremony for the Kannur
International Airport at Mattannur. He said in 10 years Indian market will
be the third largest aviation market
after the US and China.

Air India Express to shift base to Kerala

Nedumbassery: The headquarters of Air
India Express is set to be shifted from
Mumbai to Kerala, with the Chairman
and Managing Director of Air India,
Arvind Jadhav, issuing the order.
A press release from the airline on Thursday said the headquarters of Air
India Charters Ltd., the wholly owned
subsidiary of the national carrier that
operates the no-frills Air India Express
flights, would be shifted to Kerala in
pursuance of a decision taken at its board meeting on October 8. While the
operational and administrative offices
would be in Kochi, the engineering
hub would be in
Thiruvananthapuram.
The airline officials said the move to Kochi was expected to begin by
January 15, while the engineering hub
would be shifted when the
maintenance hangar became
operational in the State capital.
For Air India Express, Kerala is an important market in terms of capacity
and air-connectivity. Seventeen of its
21 Boeing 737-800 aircraft operate
out of the three airports in the State.
The shift will help release spare aircraft
fast if any flights encounter snags. The company is now renovating its
office on Durbar Hall Road here to seat
nearly 50 employees to be transferred
from Mumbai. In the State capital, 200
employees will have to be
accommodated.

Glass Cockpit

The new full-color, flat panel
Multifunction Electronic Display
Subsystem (MEDS) is shown in the
cockpit of Atlantis. The "glass cockpit"
offers easy-to-read graphical views of
key flight indicators such as attitude display and mach speed. Technology first used in
military, commercial aircraft When NASA astronaut Fred Gregory
learned that the cockpit in Shuttle
Atlantis was slated for a total
technology update, he advised Shuttle
managers to talk with the agency's
aeronautics experts. So it should be no surprise that Atlantis' new cockpit
looks a lot like a future airliner cockpit,
with colorful multi-function computer
displays stretched from one side to the
other. The radical new look is an
accurate reflection of the cockpit's radical new capabilities. Gregory, originally from NASA Langley
and now NASA Associate
Administrator for Safety and Mission
Assurance, knew that Langley had
pioneered the "glass cockpit" concept
in ground simulators and demonstration flights in the NASA 737
flying laboratory.

Indian Scientists Developed Technology to Reduce Aircraft Maintenance Cost

Technology By NAL And CSIR Allows Aircraft To Be Tested While Still Airborne
Peerzada Abrar BANGALORE

TWO of the country's top scientific and avionics research centres have successfully tested a technology that can reduce the cost of running and maintaining an aircraft by nearly a third.
The technology, called structural health monitoring (SHM), developed by the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has the ability to predict cracks or damages on an aircraft even when it is airborne.
"We successfully tested this technology, which is probably the first flight trial of an SHM system on an unmanned aerial vehicle," said Dr A R Upadhya, director of NAL.