New Delhi: Aircraft are designed to fly. Which is why, when they are grounded for weeks together, different parts of the flying machines start whining.
The workload goes up, especially for the undercarriage that rests on wheels. When life was normal, an A320 aircraft for instance would be at work 14-15 hours a day, flying passengers to domestic destinations. But after the coronavirus rendered it temporarily jobless, its tyres were suddenly left to bear—24/7—the over-75,000kg that the behemoth weighs.
If parked in one position for days together, tyres tend to develop a flat spot. “To avoid that, the aircraft should be moved every three days. Towing tractors move them forward and backward in order to rotate the tyres so that a different point is left in contact with the ground,’’ said a senior Air India aircraft maintenance engineer requesting anonymity.
Indian carriers operate a fleet of around 650 aircraft; of this, a few have been operating charter flights and repatriation flights. In the past three weeks then, tow tractor operators across airports would have moved the rest, say about 620 aircraft, to and fro at least seven times each to prevent flat spots. With the lockdown extended, the aircraft will need to “stretch their legs” till May 3.
Keeping an aircraft flying is work, but keeping it on the ground is work too. “With the grounding, the workload of aircraft engineers and technicians has only gone down by 35-40%," says the engineer, listing the maintenance routine around an aircraft, even when it’s left parked for the long haul.
Last week, the US aviation regulator ordered airlines to switch their Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on and off every 51 days to prevent “potentially catastrophic failure scenarios’’ in the future. For all other aircraft, once every month the engine needs to be switched on and left to run for about 15 minutes—to allow oil to wash through the engine parts and prevent corrosion.
16/04/20 Manju V/Times of India
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The workload goes up, especially for the undercarriage that rests on wheels. When life was normal, an A320 aircraft for instance would be at work 14-15 hours a day, flying passengers to domestic destinations. But after the coronavirus rendered it temporarily jobless, its tyres were suddenly left to bear—24/7—the over-75,000kg that the behemoth weighs.
If parked in one position for days together, tyres tend to develop a flat spot. “To avoid that, the aircraft should be moved every three days. Towing tractors move them forward and backward in order to rotate the tyres so that a different point is left in contact with the ground,’’ said a senior Air India aircraft maintenance engineer requesting anonymity.
Indian carriers operate a fleet of around 650 aircraft; of this, a few have been operating charter flights and repatriation flights. In the past three weeks then, tow tractor operators across airports would have moved the rest, say about 620 aircraft, to and fro at least seven times each to prevent flat spots. With the lockdown extended, the aircraft will need to “stretch their legs” till May 3.
Keeping an aircraft flying is work, but keeping it on the ground is work too. “With the grounding, the workload of aircraft engineers and technicians has only gone down by 35-40%," says the engineer, listing the maintenance routine around an aircraft, even when it’s left parked for the long haul.
Last week, the US aviation regulator ordered airlines to switch their Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on and off every 51 days to prevent “potentially catastrophic failure scenarios’’ in the future. For all other aircraft, once every month the engine needs to be switched on and left to run for about 15 minutes—to allow oil to wash through the engine parts and prevent corrosion.
16/04/20 Manju V/Times of India
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