Transport Aircraft Technical Services Company, Inc

TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT TECHNICAL SERVICES COMPANY, INC. An Aircraft Remarketing Services Company Providing Technical and Remarketing Services Since 1974 Serving as an FAA Designated Airworthiness Representative Since 1983

***** NEWSLETTER ***** December 21, 2000 VOLUME 18 - ISSUE 12

MAYBE I DON’T WANT INTERNET ACCESS WHILE I’M FLYING . . . . ? For example, it is Monday December 4th and you are flying across the Pacific about 1,500 nautical miles from anywhere in an MD-11. Nothing important to do so you plug in your laptop and, courtesy of the airline’s new airborne INTERNET system, you connect to your friendly Airworthiness Directive provider — Aviation DataSource (airresearch.com) — to update your files. Wowie, there were nine (9) MD-11 A/Ds issued that day and they all pertain to potential electrical problems! You quickly disconnect from the web, unplug your computer and spend the flight wandering up and down the aisles sniffing for smoke.

ENGINE QEC BRACKETS . . . . ONE ENGINE SHOP REPONDED TO AN EARLIER NEWSLETTER ARTICLE REGARDING MISSING HARDWARE. “In the JT8D world, we've had a few customer squawks on this subject (but it can be a problem on many different engines). There's more to consider than what (model) aircraft they came off. Many operators have ‘customized’ their QECs so the engine manual standard configuration is not enough to prevent an issue. Operators should provide their engine maintenance shop with their bracket location requirements if the configurations are not standard. Also, operators need to be specific as to whether they want ‘missing’ brackets replaced by the shop. The bracket may have been removed as it isn't being used in a customized configuration and the operator may feel that the shop is just trying to sell parts if it replaces brackets. On the other hand, the operator may have damaged brackets or borrowed a few from an engine leaving for maintenance with the expectation that a new ones would be supplied”. He added — the moral is to communicate  as everyone involved wants the right product to be returned.

THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG . . . . WHICH CAME FIRST? The same reader advised us that two CAAs, Transport Canada and CAAC China, were revising their certification policies for foreign repair stations working on engines from their aircraft. He said that Transport Canada is refusing to recertify foreign AMOs (Authorized Maintenance Organizations) except where maintenance bilaterals exist. It has to be in the Canadian public interest to do so. In the case of CAAC China  they have failed to renew some Repair Station Certificates based on the amount of business done with China. It boils down to . . . . If there isn’t a need (evidenced by recent activity) you may lose your designation. No Certificate  no work! No work  no Certificate!

2343 Estate Gate Drive  San Antonio, Texas 78260  830-438-3817  Facsimile 830-438-3816 e-mail [email protected] WEB SITE http:// www:tatsco.com SPEAKING OF REPAIR STATIONS . . . . Our local Boeing aircraft maintenance specialist, AeroSky (an FAA Repair Station), has just completed their first VIP Boeing 727 upper fuselage internal corrosion inspection and treatment. It required 42 days — 9,000 man-hours. (The lower fuselage CPCP was accomplished a year ago) All of the furnishings were removed, to gain access to the fuselage skin, and then reinstalled. (Their phone is 210 829-1701.)

THINGS TO DO (DIFFERENTLY) IN 2001 — ENJOY

BY JANUARY 16TH YOU HAVE TO COMPLY WITH — NEW SERVICE DIFFICULTY REPORTS — SDRs . . . . We introduced the latest requirements for SDRs in our September 19, 2000 issue of the NEWSLETTER. The changes to the regulations are effective January 16, 2001. They are . . . . § 121.701 Maintenance log: Aircraft. (No change in this section) § 121.703 Service difficulty reports (operational). (Was "Mechanical reliability reports.") This section has many new items § 121.704 Service difficulty reports (structural). (All new) § 121.705 Mechanical interruption summary report. (Revised) We encourage you to review these as soon as possible if you haven’t already done so. At least one major air carrier has created a new position to handle SDRs — and they have modified their Non-Routine Work Cards to add a “check block” regarding SDRs. (NOTE: Also see §§ 125.409, 125.410, 135.415, 135.416, 135.417 and 145.63.) NOTE: The FAA held an “industry meeting” on December 11th to present SDR Reporting Requirements and Guidance Materials.

BY MARCH 19th YOU HAVE TO COMPLY WITH — § 121.314 Cargo and baggage compartments. . . . . (c) After March 19, 2001, each Class D compartment, regardless of volume, must meet the standards of §§ 25.857(c) and 25.858 of this Chapter for a Class C compartment unless the operation is an all-cargo operation in which case each Class D compartment may meet the standards in § 25.857(e) for a Class E compartment. (NOTE: The term Class D compartment has been deleted from § 25.857. It is still used in § 121.221(e) — Fire precautions.)

25.857(c) Class C. A Class C cargo or baggage compartment is one not meeting the requirements for either a Class A or B compartment (usually the lower deck cargo hold) but in which - (1) There is a separate approved smoke detector or fire detector system to give warning at the pilot or flight engineer station; (2) There is an approved built-in fire extinguishing or suppression system controllable from the cockpit. (3) There are means to exclude hazardous quantities of smoke, flames, or extinguishing agent, from any compartment occupied by the crew or passengers; (4) There are means to control ventilation and drafts within the compartment so that the extinguishing agent used can control any fire that may start within the compartment.

Boeing has developed modification kits for their aircraft. If you have after market installations of equipment, i.e. entertainment equipment, aux fuel or other systems, you may be required to obtain your own Supplemental Type Certificate.

2 BY MAY 25TH YOU HAVE TO COMPLY WITH . . . . REPAIR ASSESSMENTS — THE FOURTH ELEMENT OF THE AGING AIRCRAFT CRUSADE. In 1994, the FAA/Industry Aging Aircraft Working Group (AAWG) requested that the manufacturers conduct a second survey on airplane repairs to validate the results of certain 1992 inspections and to provide additional information relative to the estimated cost of the assessment program. The manufacturers were requested to visit airplanes (sic) (airlines) that were operating their products and to conduct surveys on airplanes that were currently undergoing heavy maintenance. An additional 35 airplanes were surveyed in which 695 repairs were evaluated. (The first survey included 356 external fuselage skin repairs on 30 airplanes of 6 types.) The second survey was expanded to include all areas of the airframe. The evaluation revealed substantially similar results to the 1992 results: forty percent of the repairs were classified as adequate, and sixty percent of the repairs required consideration for additional supplemental inspection during service. In addition, only a small number of repairs (less than 10 percent) were found on portions of the airframe other than the external fuselage skin. The AAWG proposed that the repair assessment be initially limited to the fuselage pressure boundary; if necessary, future rulemaking would address the remaining primary structure. In order to accomplish your assessment . . . . The FAA has stated . . . . Since the records on most of these repairs are not readily available, locating the repairs necessitates surveying the structure of each airplane. The Repair Assessment Program Preamble was published in the Federal Register on April 25, 2000 — pages 24108-24127. It is 42 pages long. We haven’t seen an Advisory Circular yet but you will find a lot of very useful data in the Preamble. Boeing has been preparing Repair Assessment Guidelines, but we don’t have the current status of these documents. The following 14 CFR sections were added to four operating rules — effective May 25, 2000 and the implementation date, depending on TOTAL AIRCRAFT LANDINGS, is May 25, 2001. (Note: A/Ds aren’t used for everything.) There aren’t any mandated modifications — unless YOU find a bad repair (classified as a Category C repair.) § 91.410 Repair assessment for pressurized fuselages. § 121.370 Repair assessment for pressurized fuselages. (See OPS Spec paragraph D-093.) § 125.248 Repair assessment for pressurized fuselages. § 129.32 Repair assessment for pressurized fuselages. (Be careful, as “129” doesn’t require historical maintenance records.)

The landing thresholds are: No person may operate an Airbus Model A300 (excluding the -600 series), British Aerospace Model BAC 1-11, Boeing Model, 707, 720, 727, 737 or 747, McDonnell Douglas Model DC-8, DC-9/MD-80 or DC-10, Fokker Model F28, or Lockheed Model L-1011 airplane beyond applicable flight cycle implementation time specified below, or May 25, 2001, whichever occurs later, unless repair assessment guidelines applicable to the fuselage pressure boundary (fuselage skin, door skin, and bulkhead webs) that have been approved by the FAA Aircraft Certification Office (ACO), or office of the Transport Airplane Directorate, having cognizance over the type certificate for the affected airplane are incorporated within its inspection program: . . . . NOTE: For aircraft not listed here see the applicable FAR.

(e) For all models of the Boeing 727, the flight cycle implementation time is 45,000 flights. (f) For all models of the Boeing 737 . . . . 60,000 flights. 3 (g) For all models of the Boeing 747 . . . . 15,000 flights.

BY AUGUST 20TH YOU HAVE TO COMPLY WITH — § 121.344 Digital flight data recorders for transport category airplanes. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (l) of this section, no person may operate under this part a turbine-engine-powered transport category airplane (see this section regarding certain turbo propeller powered aircraft) unless it is equipped with one or more approved flight recorders that use a digital method of recording and storing data and a method of readily retrieving that data from the storage medium. The 88 operational parameters required to be recorded by digital flight data recorders required by this section are . . . (3) The approved flight recorder required by this section must be installed at the earliest time practicable, but no later than the next heavy maintenance check after August 18, 1999 and no later than August 20, 2001. (NOTE: Also see §§ 125.226 and 129.20.)

PILOT DUTY TIME . . . . 16 HOURS MAXIMUM — A RECENT FAA INTEPRETATION DERIVED FROM SUBTRACTING EIGHT HOURS MINIMUM REST FOR EACH TWENTY-FOUR HOURS (AND THE AIRLINES ARE VERY UNHAPPY). Air Safety Week had an excellent article in their December 4th issue. One thing that was missing, however, from most of the crew duty articles we’ve seen in the past year is any discussion about the time to commute to the departure airport! For example, a senior first officer is based in Sunshine City He has a nice home, belongs to a great golf club, the kids like the schools and his wife sez . . . . “If you get transferred get an apartment . . . . we are staying here!” Then comes an opportunity to bid captain at a base (Crummy City) 1,000 miles away where the weather and everything else is crummy. He tries the apartment for a few months until he “succumbs to pilot’s commute disease”. “I can take the ‘red eye’ (midnight departure) from Sunshine City to Crummy City and make my 8AM departure, fly my trips and be on the way back to Sunshine City by midnight!” (Maybe the rest of the story is history?)

B747 AIRCRAFT TIRE FAILURES MAKE THE AIR SAFETY WEEK NTSB INCIDENT LIST (see December 4th issue). A NWA 747-251F aborted a night takeoff in Anchorage when two MLG tires failed. Minor damage to the aircraft was reported.

AIRCRAFT NOISE and AVIATION SAFETY INITIATIVE IN EUROPE . . . . I checked the Euros OPS NEWS 2/2000 website for updates. Nothing new since September. For the time being don’t count on any “hushkit” acceptability in Europe beyond April 2002.

THE ICAO WEB SITE DOESN’T CONTAIN ANY INFO REGARDING PROPOSED NOISE REGULATIONS . . . . (You can’t download any of their publications there either but you can order them at website www.ariane-info.com.)

WE START OUR YEAR 2001 TRAVELS (A TEN DAY TRIP TO SOUTHEAST ASIA) ON CHRISTMAS DAY . . . . TO ALL OF YOU WE WISH A VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON AND GOOD HEALTH FOR THE YEAR 2001.

Travel schedule permitting, we publish this NEWSLETTER monthly to provide technical and operational news for Large Business Jet Aircraft Operators and lessors of airline aircraft. We obtain this information from reliable sources but we are providing it without liability to our company. We encourage our readers to call or send us your comments or questions. You may reproduce this NEWSLETTER or use any information from it in other publications provided that credit is given to Transport Aircraft. Jim Helms, President