TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT AIRWORTHINESS FLIGHT FAST 39 AIRBUS TECHNICAL MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2006 39 CUSTOMER SUPPORT AROUND THE CLOCK... AROUND THE WORLD
Customer Services events
WORLDWIDE Jean-Daniel Leroy VP Customer Support Tel: +33 (0)5 61 93 35 04 Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 41 01 USA/CANADA Just happened Coming soon Thorsten Eckhoff Senior Director Customer Support HUMAN FACTORS SYMPOSIUM SPARES, SUPPLIERS & 15TH PERFORMANCE & Tel: +1 (703) 834 3506 MOSCOW, RUSSIA WARRANTY SYMPOSIUM OPERATIONS CONFERENCE Fax: +1 (703) 834 3463@ 14-16 JUNE BANGKOK, THAILAND PUERTO-VALLARTA, MEXICO CHINA Customer Support Centres The 22nd Human Factors Symposium 12-14 MARCH 2007 23-27 APRIL 2007 Peter Tiarks Training centres took place with the theme of: ‘Human This will be the 3rd regional Spares, As for every two years since 1980, Spares centres / Regional warehouses Senior Director Customer Support Resident Customer Support Managers (RCSM) Factors as a core value at Airbus’. The Suppliers and Warranty Symposium. the 15th Performance and Operations Tel: +86 10 804 86161 Ext 5040 symposium encompassed HF strate- Following the success of the previous Conference will take place in Puerto- Fax: +86 10 804 86162 / 63 RCSM location Country RCSM location Country symposia in Hainan and Athens, this Vallarta. Flight crews, operations Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates London United Kingdom gy, HF training, operations and threat, RESIDENT CUSTOMER SUPPORT ADMINISTRATION regional symposium for the Middle specialists, flight operations engin- Ajaccio France Louisville United States of America error management in flight operations, Jean-Philippe Guillon Algiers Algeria Luanda Angola ATC and maintenance. Particular East, Asian and Pacific regions will eers, and performance specialists Director Almaty Kazakhstan Luton United Kingdom importance was given to the Human present progress made from the from all Airbus operators are invited Al-Manamah Bahrain Macau S.A.R. China Resident Customer Support Administration Amman Jordan Madrid Spain Factors Toolkit Project, which is previous symposia and provide the to attend and actively participate in Tel: +33 (0)5 61 93 31 02 Amsterdam Netherlands Manchester United Kingdom intended to reconcile Human Factors latest news concerning current initia- this event, which will offer numerous Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 49 64 Athens Greece Manila Philippines tives in all three areas. opportunities to constructively ex- Auckland New Zealand Mauritius Mauritius theory with operational guidance. TECHNICAL, SPARES, TRAINING Baku Azerbaijan Memphis United States of America The event was sponsored by ICAO The symposium will be an opportuni- change views and information, and Airbus has its main spares centre in Hamburg, Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei Mexico City Mexico and IAC (Interstate Aviation ty for customers in these regions to increase mutual cooperation and Bangalore India Miami United States of America and regional warehouses in Frankfurt, Bangkok Thailand Milan Italy Committee) of the CIS (Common- exchange and express views con- communication. The conference will Washington D.C., Beijing and Singapore. Barcelona Spain Minneapolis United States of America wealth of Independent States). cerning their daily practice and expe- address many operational topics Beijing China Montreal Canada riences, with the continual aim from covering all Airbus aircraft models in Airbus operates 24 hours a day every day. Beirut Lebanon Moscow Russia Berlin Germany Mumbai India TRAINING SYMPOSIUM Airbus and suppliers to assist in various sessions such as Looking Airbus Technical AOG Centre (AIRTAC) Brussels Belgium Nanchang China SAN FRANCISCO, USA reducing operating costs. Speakers Ahead, CNS/ATM (Communication, Tel: +33 (0)5 61 93 34 00 Bucuresti Romania Nanjing China 2-5 OCTOBER 2006 Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 35 00 Buenos Aires Argentina New York United States of America from Airbus and suppliers will both be Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Cairo Egypt Newcastle Australia The 8th Training Symposium was an present and available to discuss Management), Flight Economics, [email protected] Casablanca Morocco Ningbo China arena not only to present continuing spares, supplier and warranty related e-Documentation, Operations, Perf- Charlotte United States of America Noumea New Caledonia Spares AOGs in North America should be Chengdu China Palma de Mallorca Spain improvements in the training topics. ormance, Electronic Flight Bag… addressed to: Cologne Germany Paris France processes, but also to listen to the On-line sessions and workshops are Invitations for the conference will be Tel: +1 (703) 729 9000 Colombo Sri Lanka Paro Bhutan customers views on existing systems Fax: +1 (703) 729 4373 Copenhagen Denmark Phoenix United States of America planned for an interactive and sent soon. Dalian China Pittsburgh United States of America and thoughts on future solutions. Four dynamic exchange of information at Spares AOGs outside North America Damascus Syria Prague Czech Republic separate conference streams covered the end of the symposium. Delhi India Quito Ecuador should be addressed to: Denver United States of America Rome Italy pilot training, cabin crew training, Tel: +49 (40) 50 76 4001 Detroit United States of America Sana’a Yemen maintenance training and simulation A320 FAMILY SYMPOSIUM Fax: +49 (40) 50 76 4011 Dhaka Bangladesh San Francisco United States of America & training technologies. These com- BANGKOK, THAILAND [email protected] Doha Qatar San Salvador El Salvador Dubai United Arab Emirates Santiago Chile plemented an exhibition featuring the 07-11 APRIL 2007 Spares related HMV issues outside Dublin Ireland Sao Paulo Brazil Airbus will propose a basic agenda Dusseldorf Germany Seoul South Korea latest developments in these fields. North America should be addressed to: Inspired by the background of the that will be merged with customer Fort Lauderdale United States of America Shanghai China suggestions, concentrating on major Tel: +49 (40) 50 76 4003 Frankfurt Germany Sharjah United Arab Emirates Golden Gate, speakers introduced the Fax: +49 (40) 50 76 4013 Guangzhou China Shenyang China theme of bridges to link the elements concerns that will likely be based on Haikou China Shenzhen China [email protected] Hangzhou China Singapore Singapore of the conference and strongly FAIR (Forum for Airline Issues Airbus Training Centre Toulouse, France Hanoi Vietnam Sydney Australia emphasized the necessity of building Resolution) inputs. It is planned to Helsinki Finland Taipei Taiwan Tel: +33 (0)5 61 93 33 33 links between the three essential ele- cover all presentations in the main Hong Kong S.A.R. China Tashkent Uzbekistan Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 20 94 Indianapolis United States of America Tehran Iran ments of the training model – good session. As usual, adequate facilities Istanbul Turkey Tokyo Japan instructors, good programmes and will be available for side meetings. Airbus Training subsidiaries Izmir Turkey Toulouse France Jakarta Indonesia Tulsa United States of America good training media as well as the The formal invitation letters as well Miami, USA - Florida Tel: +1 (305) 871 36 55 Johannesburg South Africa Tunis Tunisia other critical bridge between the as the preliminary agenda will be Karachi Pakistan Varna Bulgaria Fax:+1 (305) 871 46 49 instructor and trainee. sent no later than February 2007. Kita-Kyushu Japan Vienna Austria Beijing, China Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Washington United States of America The event brought together 81 air- Tel: +86 10 80 48 63 40 Kuwait city Kuwait Wuhan China lines, 9 MROs, 5 authorities and sup- Fax:+86 10 80 48 65 76 Lanzhou China Xi'an China 39 FAST pliers from around the world. Larnaca Cyprus Zurich Switzerland Lisbon Portugal 41 39DECEMBER 2006
FLIGHT
AIRWORTHINESS
SUPPORT
TECHNOLOGY JULY 2005
Performance monitoring of 2 In-Flight Entertainment systems Airbus vision Marc Virilli & Joerg Reitmann
Electrical Load Analysis 12
AIRBUS TECHNICAL MAGAZINE Maintaining the electrical load integrity of your aircraft Régis Barneron Publisher: Bruno Piquet Editor: Kenneth Johnson Graphic Designer: Agnès Massol-Lacombe Cargo configurations 19 Flexible upgrades for A320 Family aircraft Authorization for reprint of FAST Magazine articles should be requested from the editor at the FAST Magazine e-mail address given below Sonia Bouchardie Customer Services Communications Tel: +33 (0)5 61 93 43 88 Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 47 73 Maintenance cost and reliability control 27 E-mail: [email protected] Services to better serve airlines worldwide Printer: Escourbiac Johan De Buck & Thierry Brugidou FAST Magazine may be read on Internet http://www.content.airbusworld.com/SITES/Customer_services/index.html under ‘Quick references’ Phoning in flight 35 ISSN 1293-5476 Voice and data communications with © AIRBUS S.A.S. 2006. AN EADS COMPANY the GSM on-board system All rights reserved. Proprietary document Emeline Baur By taking delivery of this Magazine (hereafter “Magazine”), you accept on behalf of your company to comply with the following. No other property rights are granted by the delivery of this Magazine than the right to read it, for the sole purpose of information. In-Flight Entertainment 40 This Magazine, its content, illustrations and photos shall not be modified nor repro- Part II duced without prior written consent of Airbus S.A.S. This Magazine and the materials it contains shall not, in whole or in part, be sold, rented, or licensed to any third party subject to payment or not. This Magazine may contain market-sensitive or other infor- mation that is correct at the time of going to press. This information involves a number Customer Services 41 of factors which could change over time, affecting the true public representation. Around the clock... Around the world Airbus assumes no obligation to update any information contained in this document or with respect to the information described herein. The statements made herein do not constitute an offer or form part of any contract. They are based on Airbus information and are expressed in good faith but no warranty or representation is given as to their accuracy. When additional information is required, Airbus S.A.S can be contacted to provide further details. Airbus S.A.S shall assume no liability for any damage in con- nection with the use of this Magazine and the materials it contains, even if Airbus S.A.S has been advised of the likelihood of such damages. This licence is governed by French law and exclusive jurisdiction is given to the courts and tribunals of Toulouse (France) without prejudice to the right of Airbus to bring proceedings for infringement of copy- right or any other intellectual property right in any other court of competent jurisdiction.
Airbus, its logo, A300, A310, A318, A319, A320, A321, A330, A340, A350, A380 and A400M are registered trademarks.
This issue of FAST Magazine has been printed Photo copyright Airbus Photo credits: on paper produced without using chlorine, to reduce Airbus Photographic Library, exm company, F. Espinasse, H. Goussé, P. Jalby, waste and help conserve natural resources.
M. Lindner, P. Masclet, S. Ognier, S. Ramadier, Every little helps! 39 FAST 1 PERFORMANCE MONITORING OF IFE SYSTEMS - AIRBUS VISION PERFORMANCE MONITORING OF IFE SYSTEMS - AIRBUS VISION
The rational behind Emirates pro- who’s job is to operate a complex posal is the current difficulty to system, the impact of a given failure obtain easily and rapidly a clear at seat level has a more critical and actual picture of how IFE per- effect. Although IFE systems are forms during daily operation. The not dispatch critical from an air- situation as perceived from an air- line’s MEL (Minimum Equipment framer standpoint, is quite similar. List) standpoint, they are dispatch Although IFE systems are BFE critical from a commercial point of (Buyer Furnished Equipment), view. For this reason it is essential to they are installed and integrated in have a collective ability to antici- the aircraft by the airframer. Once pate and obtain in advance the right Example of Operational an aircraft is in service and unless information to enable provision of a Reliability for Operational specific follow-up is put in place high availability level of IFE to pas- Interuptions of more with an airline and their IFE sup- sengers, as well as a clear view of its than 15 minutes plier, airframers are not aware of overall performance over time.
Performance monitoring of In-Flight Entertainment systems Aug 05 Sep 05 Oct 05 Nov 05 Dec 05 Jan 06 Feb 06 Mar 06 Apr 06 May 06 Jun 06 Jul 06
Airbus vision how IFE behaves until a customer complains, or until the level of Monitoring IFE Operational Interruption (OI) health today In the last issue of FAST Magazine 38, July 2006, Both solutions would involve transmission of data reaches a level where it impacts Emirates made two valuable proposals aimed at to the ground. aircraft operational reliability As rightly mentioned by Emirates, improving In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) perfor- (see illustration above). This also monitoring the health of an IFE mance monitoring for the future. As promised in our last issue of FAST Magazine, applies to other cabin BFE items system today consists of providing we propose you to share with you in more detail such as seats and galleys. accurate information in real time One proposal is based on the use of the Aircraft Airbus vision for the future for IFE systems trend on what is going wrong between Condition Monitoring System (ACMS) and the monitoring and enhanced maintenance processes. In most cases IFE system perfor- 2,000 interconnected LRUs (Line other is more based on an IFE built-in solution. mance perception is based on a few Replaceable Units) and several lay- high visibility events which are not ers of software including data trans- representative of the overall level portation, operating systems, of performance of the system (but Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), still need to be taken into account third party applications, etc. and addressed), or on seat avail- ability figures produced by IFE Several of these, both hardware and suppliers which depend on each software, come from the consumer individual contract signed with market and are off-the-shelf ele- Marc Virilli Joerg Reitmann Senior Director Cabin and Cargo Systems Vice President and Executive each airline. ments. In other words - not specifi- Airbus Customer Services Expert Cabin Complete Systems cally adapted to the typical require- Head of GAHMM Architectures Because IFE systems are utilized ments of the aeronautical world, as Airbus Engineering by final users who have paid for a you may see on the illustration on
FAST 39 FAST service and not only by people the right. 39 FAST 2 3 PERFORMANCE MONITORING OF IFE SYSTEMS - AIRBUS VISION PERFORMANCE MONITORING OF IFE SYSTEMS - AIRBUS VISION
WHAT IS AVAILABLE FOR IFE expected in the avionics world) and MONITORING TODAY? a very high amount of software Example of seat availability graph developed by various different One of the tools existing today to sources, before being integrated in monitor the health of the IFE an open platform. system is Built-In Test Equipment (BITE) plus the use of a Central The result observed today is either Maintenance System (CMS) or a incomplete and/or inaccurate BITE Cabin Management Terminal (CMT). data given to mechanics, or obscure information that requires specific skills to be interpreted before it leads to the right action on the air- craft. Although not perfect, this is what is available today and a huge amount of work is done by the IFE suppliers and the airframer to improve as much as possible the reliability and accuracy of this data.
Once this information is available, time, type of material used, number Furthermore, the specificity of IFE the Aircraft Communication, of resets done by cabin crew during is the number of equipments of dif- Addressing and Reporting System a flight and so on, all of which are ferent nature, which are highly (ACARS) network allows easy not captured by seat availability. As software driven and some of which transmission to the ground where a matter of fact, seat availability interact directly with passengers. tools such as AIRMANTM (*) can figures are regularly quite high, but Reliability analysis as done for use it to enable preparation of customer satisfaction at the end avionics is consequently less rele- maintenance actions to return does not necessarily correspond vant, as it is more related to LRU faulty systems to normal operation with these figures. hardware failure, rather than soft- in anticipation of the aircraft actu- ware anomaly or passenger misuse ally landing. AIRMANTM fully Seat availability figures (see illus- or misunderstanding. applies to IFE, which from this per- tration above) must be balanced spective is an aircraft electronic with the actual service to the pas- As far as DMC is concerned, its system amongst others. The limits senger; typically a noisy audio computation considers only main- explained previously and the fact channel will not necessarily be tenance off-aircraft (shop activi- that BITE information will not be counted as a non-available seat, but ties: Repairs, test costs, spares representative of the actual system will be reported as a nuisance by prices, etc.). All work performed behaviour as perceived by the pas- the customer. Similarly, slow during line maintenance and all senger, makes it difficult to use as response times can be noticed by consumable usage is not measured. the right or sole source of data to passengers (reported or not to the This also contributes to the poor determine the IFE system perfor- crew), but the causes may not auto- pertinence of such an indicator for (*) AIRMANTM (AIRcraft In recent years Airbus has started to mance level. matically be detected by the IFE IFE systems. Maintenance ANalysis) developed adapt the monitoring techniques system. by Airbus is a tool for data and algorithms used for the rest of A second tool to monitor the analysis. Its objective is to help airline maintenance departments the aircraft’s electronics systems to health of an IFE system is the seat Finally, a third tool at our disposal to anticipate unscheduled the IFE. The concept is certainly availability data produced by IFE to monitor the health of an IFE maintenance events and to take right, indicating to an airline suppliers. system is reliability and DMC decisions in the frame of mechanic which LRU to remove, or (Direct Maintenance Cost) data. troubleshooting. Refer to FAST Magazine 29, which portion of wiring to trouble The limits here are the consistency December 2001, for a description shoot is a praiseworthy objective, of the raw data used from one cus- The reliability of IFE LRUs is of an early version of AIRMANTM. but very difficult to achieve for an tomer to another, and that an IFE measured as for any other avionic IFE system. supplier is more interested in mea- system (Mean Time Between suring system behaviour against a Unscheduled Removals, Mean BITE in general is a very good tool specification rather than against the Time Between Failures, No Fault to monitor hardware failure - there satisfaction of the final user. Final Found percentage... figures), but is no doubt about this. However, as user dissatisfaction could also come this measurement is not available mentioned earlier, an IFE system is from issues like brightness, user on a regular basis for all part num- built partly from off-the-shelf parts friendliness, response time, tempo- bers, making it difficult to consoli- (which are not designed to be nec- rary interruption of service, distur- date an IFE reliability indicator for
FAST 39 FAST essarily deeply monitored as bance, noise, video quality, rest the system or sub-systems of it. 39 FAST 4 5 PERFORMANCE MONITORING OF IFE SYSTEMS - AIRBUS VISION PERFORMANCE MONITORING OF IFE SYSTEMS - AIRBUS VISION
IFE health for a few entries into service, but is a very time consuming exercise, monitoring - requiring a lot of interpretation of One step forward write-ups (inaccurate write-ups or different wording for the same fail- ure) and needing full cabin crew If an achievement needed is a real cooperation for entry of each event time view of the IFE system per- and proactive monitoring of pas- formance as perceived by its final senger usage of the system. users (cabin crew and passengers), as well as trend monitoring of this Thanks to the latest developments performance over time to be able to of on-board open platforms and quantify the impact of system possible hosted applications, the improvements and/or evolution, cabin e-logbook products give the one solution is to use the cabin log- possibility to receive standardized book as a prime source. logbook write-ups recorded in an electronic format. This provides This type of exercise (paper cabin opportunities to receive more accu- logbook analysis) is usually done rate feedback from passengers and in the scenario described by cabin crew (closer to their in-flight Airbus e-logbook snapshots Emirates (case by case survey upon experience), even if it is probable IFE will be captured. This point IFE Maturity Tool (IMT) during Logical schematic of IFE tool request). It has been done at Airbus that not all events experienced with could be addressed in the future by A380 development. providing passengers a light log- OMT: On-board Maintenance Terminal book-like interface to directly As explained previously, IMT is OMS: On-board Maintenance System FAP: Flight Attendant Panel input their perception of the system based on use of the electronic OIT: On-board Information Terminal behaviour for a given flight on cabin logbook using standard cabin MEL: Minimum Equipment List their personal screen (See illustra- defects to ease cabin crew entries tions on the previous page). and consequently encourage cap- ture of every IFE related event in Thanks to the user friendliness of the cabin (this is already in place personal computer based applica- with the dedicated IFE paper log- tions, capturing a cabin event book used by some Airbus cus- efficiently and consistently across tomers). These cabin events can all cabin crews becomes much then be transmitted to the ground easier than today. Consequently, and compared with the exact air- analysis of a ‘standard defect’ is craft cabin configuration and level also much easier to model to pro- of service proposed to all passen- duce indicators of how a given gers to deduce the IFE performance function/system behaves over perceived by passengers and cabin
FAST 39 FAST time. This was prototyped as an crew for a given flight. 39 FAST 6 7 PERFORMANCE MONITORING OF IFE SYSTEMS - AIRBUS VISION PERFORMANCE MONITORING OF IFE SYSTEMS - AIRBUS VISION
STEP 1 IFE failure vs impact on services matrix Example of IFE audio failure STEP 1 CONSOLIDATION OF AIRCRAFT DATA at seat 10B (B/C class) Consolidation of OMS BITE reports with Music Video ... Connectivity logbook IFE audio failure 0 0 ... 1 Building upon the work which has IFE audio failure 0 0 ... 1 already started, the tools which are ...... Seat configuration matrix: Seat/Services currently available or about to be IFE RJ45 audio failure 1 1 ... 0 Music Video ... Connectivity ...... available (see IMT page 7) and IFE seat reset 0.5 0.5 ... 0 Seat 1A 1 1 ... 1 depending on the reliability of raw ...... source data and actual usage of e- IFE failure Z 0 0 ... 0 Seat 10B 1 1 ... 1 logbook, the next step is probably ...... consolidating/complementing the Seat 80F 1 1 ... 0 e-logbook information with data gathered by the OMS (On-board Seat availability matrix: Seat/Services Maintenance System), IFE BITE Music Video ... Connectivity In addition to trend monitoring, and/or IFE data collected through which would be the only one valid ACMS (Aircraft Condition Monit- Seat 1A 15 30 ... 3 for performance at a given airline oring System) as suggested by ...... and for a given system, IMT allows Emirates. Seat 10B 0 00 ... 2 Low level of microanalysis of each event con- consistency between ...... STEP 2 Seat 80F 5 10 ... 0 tributing to a given degradation the different IS systems thanks to the history of all logbook CONSOLIDATION OF GROUND IFE is not using ACMS data or information in the database DATABASES Lack of performance and usage data Fault detection is dominating with associated detailed informa- Different types of weighting fac- tion (test results, removal/installa- The IFE suppliers have developed tors can also be applied depending tion data, etc.). databases in past years to gather on seat class, type of service, performance indications for their STEP 2 Consolidation of various existing data bases impact on service, etc. to balance systems to define areas for the IFE availability calculation. The future of IFE improvement and also to give a health monitoring certain visibility to their cus- IMT also allows comparison of tomers about the in-service performance between two different and management behaviour of their IFE (the limita- IFE systems, two given aircraft ser- tions of this were highlighted pre- ial numbers (MSNs), two given air- As described in the previous sec- viously). lines, or two given aircraft types. tion of this article, IFE usage and This gives a powerful tool for IFE performance data recording is nec- The airlines have in-house a lot of trend monitoring and quantifica- essary for the monitoring and man- information about parts removed, tion of benefits brought by system agement of complex network sys- time spent on aircraft, recurrent evolution. As a further step, future tems like IFE. Focusing only on actions conducted, logbook com- extension of the tool to seats, gal- LRU failures and corresponding plaints and corresponding actions, IFE trend monitoring graph leys, etc, would provide cabin trend indicators does not provide ade- commercial critical item list, etc. monitoring. quate performance results. To suc- The airlines are also the first node ceed, all the actors involved need to of the network when data is work together and share data avail- retrieved from the aircraft (auto- able at airlines, Airbus and suppli- matically or manually). Full consistency between ers. One consolidated/harmonized the different IS systems database with different user access Finally, the airframer also gathers rights to different data subsets is an data for aircraft performance attractive solution. monitoring, for maintenance antic- ipation through AIRMANTM, This approach is part of a broader e-logbook information will soon programme at Airbus that aims at become available, etc. enhancing aircraft availability with towards a rationalized data distri- world-class solutions and reducing This current fragmented process bution amongst the actors (com- maintenance costs. This programme leads to a situation where all this plementary databases) with an called GAHMM (Global Aircraft information is sometimes redun- interface tool that would allow Health Monitoring & Management) dant and stored twice or more, each to extract the most benefit is addressing the whole aircraft and sometimes not shared, sometimes from the data available, whether includes the vision of four particu- not used, sometimes not useful,… it is stored within the airline, FAST 39 FAST lar steps for the IFE. There is a real need to converge supplier or Airbus. 39 FAST 8 9 PERFORMANCE MONITORING OF IFE SYSTEMS - AIRBUS VISION PERFORMANCE MONITORING OF IFE SYSTEMS - AIRBUS VISION
STEP 3 STEP 4 As described previously in this STEP 4 DETERMINING PERTINENT DATA article and highlighted by REMOTE IFE MAINTENANCE Remote access of IFE Emirates, an IFE system is a net- The corner stone of ‘diagnostic work system which is highly soft- The previous steps set the condi- performance and usage data moni- ware driven. Optimizing IFE per- tions necessary for good IFE heath toring’ improvement is the defini- formance demands that pertinent monitoring in the future, but going STEP 3 tion of an appropriate set of data data, giving performance indica- further in this domain certainly Improved diagnostic performance required by different users. tions of hardware, network and means better usage of remote and usage data monitoring software is available. The monitor- access techniques. ing implemented must be adapted to the technology used, and the Preparing work in advance for an IFE System (network & information) OMS/ACMS resulting information available to LRU change will save time. Better Performance
visibility can be offered to an air- ta and usage the appropriate population with the a right level of detail. line, the IFE suppliers and the air- monitoring framer by providing the right data Fault data The OMS and ACMS can be used through appropriate ground moni- IFE health d complementarily to achieve this toring tools. objective, as used for the engines, and as also suggested by Emirates. The same tools can gather informa- tion to steer new developments, but These are the key requirements: improvements can also be obtained Data acquisition parameters can • To prepare the right by performing a number of tasks in now be changed maintenance action in a remote way, as done for the main- Sharpening of diagnostic models anticipation of aircraft landing tenance of desktop personal com- System recovery action possible from the ground (such as seat reset) • To minimize the time spent on puters, for example adjustment aircraft to rectify a default monitoring parameters, remote All users have access to performance • To monitor IFE system seat reset, remote memory dump and fault data and remote software update. CONTACT DETAILS Full benefit taken from OMS function performance over time and ACM function • To get a fast time-to-get-a-fix Marc Virilli Joerg Reitmann All users get the same data base with • To define system improvements Senior Director Vice President and Executive different levels of details for the longer term Cabin and Cargo Systems Expert Cabin Complete Systems Airbus Customer Services Head of GAHMM Architectures Tel: +33 (0)5 61 93 46 41 Airbus Engineering Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 44 25 Tel: +49 40 743 73586 [email protected] Fax: +49 40 743 81500 [email protected] Conclusion Airbus shares the diagnostic made by trend monitoring. How can it be ensured Emirates - room for improvement exists in this data is accurate and available, how ConclusionIFE performance monitoring. A first set of can it be shared between IFE suppliers, bricks exists today, such as BITE, airframers and airlines, who is responsible AIRMANTM and e-Logbook that can be for this data and similar issues are being used to automatically produce data to addressed. allow more precise monitoring of IFE A communication path to transmit this performance, but in all cases the key point information to the ground and a ground tool is completeness and reliability of the raw to process it will easily be defined, but again information. pertinence of the raw data will be the key. Emirates have provided their view for a Airbus cannot unilaterally define path to improvement that could be taken requirements for the other actors on this into account in current work. subject, and therefore the GAHMM Activities are underway at Airbus to assess programme will be used as a vector for a which data is required for IFE maintenance, collaborative approach with airlines and which is required for engineering product suppliers to specify joint requirements for improvement and which is required for future IFE system monitoring. FAST 39 FAST 39 FAST
10 11 ELECTRICAL LOAD ANALYSIS - MAINTAINING THE ELECTRICAL LOAD INTEGRITY OF YOUR AIRCRAFT ELECTRICAL LOAD ANALYSIS - MAINTAINING THE ELECTRICAL LOAD INTEGRITY OF YOUR AIRCRAFT
Electrical Electrical load data in three Load Analysis different formats
Maintaining the electrical load Microsoft ExcelTM file This file contains only the electri- integrity of your aircraft cal load data (without the table of contents, introduction, or total
loads). Using ExcelTM standard XXX functions, operators can use this The Electrical Load Analysis (ELA) reflects the for each aircraft due to any post delivery modifi- file to compute the electrical load electrical load data status at the time of aircraft cations. An accurate ELA can then be produced data within the worksheet table. delivery. It gives details of the electrical loads on and maintained for monitoring by the local air- Additionally, using the ExcelTM fil- each of the individual electrical busbars. For the worthiness authorities. ter tool eases the data selection aircraft delivered previously, it was only supplied and retrieval process. as a paper manual with no post delivery revisions. An important additional evolution is that previ- This data formed the basis for operators to calcu- ously operators received an ELA that represented late and maintain a record of all changes to the the first of each aircraft version delivered, but PDFTM file format aircraft electrical loads subsequent to any modi- since March 2005, Airbus now supplies an ELA fication of the aircraft systems, throughout the for each aircraft delivered. The ELA covers all This file represents the master operational life of the aircraft. Airbus aircraft types except the A300 B2/B4. record of the aircraft electrical loads status at aircraft delivery. Airbus has now developed a new enhanced ELA This file is non-modifiable. that ensures operators can make full use of the electrical load data, while at the same time, main- The complete ELA in tain and record any changes to the electrical loads a Rich Text Format (RTF) XXX
This file can be modified by oper- Régis Barneron ators. This gives operators the ELA Product Manager opportunity to update and main- Technical Data Support & Services tain a current version of the ELA. Airbus Customer Services This version of the ELA can be made available to local authorities FAST 39 FAST 39 FAST if required. 12 13 ELECTRICAL LOAD ANALYSIS - MAINTAINING THE ELECTRICAL LOAD INTEGRITY OF YOUR AIRCRAFT ELECTRICAL LOAD ANALYSIS - MAINTAINING THE ELECTRICAL LOAD INTEGRITY OF YOUR AIRCRAFT
Engineering Order. To do this the The decision tree can be used as Electrical load Airbus SB A340-24-4031 nominal power, the maximum an aid to assess the compatibility changes following value and the operational value for of the aircraft electrical system to an aircraft each flight phase must be deter- ensure the proposed aircraft mod- mined (if the actual operational val- ification complies with the above modification ues cannot be determined then the rules in the various electrical con- maximum load values should be figurations. Using the design assumptions used). These changes to the electri- shown in paragraph 7 of the ELA cal loads must be analysed to ensure Similarly, when an Airbus Service introduction to compute the elec- and maintain the electrical load Bulletin (SB) affects the aircraft trical load changes due to air- integrity of the aircraft electrical dis- electrical loads, the changes, craft modification, an operator can tribution system in accordance with including any changes to the modify an aircraft by means of an the following four guidance rules: affected C/Bs, are indicated in a dedicated paragraph of the SB. The values given will indicate any increase or decrease in the electrical loads following the Guidance rule 1 accomplishment of the SB. The new busbar load does not exceed the maximum authorized load The figure on the right shows the Guidance rule 2 Airbus SB A340-24-4031 cover- The new total busbar load (permanent + intermittent) must not exceed the busbar Circuit Breaker (C/B) ing the installation of a new trip time. (The C/B trip times are compatible with the modified electrical circuit) Electrical Contactor Management Unit (ECMU) standard on an Guidance rule 3 A340 aircraft. It indicates that the The new total loads do not exceed the Transformer Rectifier (T/R) nominal value (e.g. for the A340 this is affected C/Bs 37XN and 25XN 5,600 watts) exist on the aircraft and C/Bs Guidance rule 4 46XN and 47XN will be added The generator loads do not exceed the generator nominal power (for the A340 this is 75KVA) during accomplishment of the SB. Operators should use this infor- Original (1) and revised (2) ELA existing C/B data mation to update their ELA for the post SB aircraft. Decision tree Checks to be made before installing a load How to update (1) and maintain the TM supplied Excel file (2)
To revise the data for an existing C/B using the ELA ExcelTM file, select the C/B concerned and add the maximum and the operational electrical loads listed in the SB or airline Engineering Order to the existing electrical loads (as illustrat- ed in the figure on the right).
For all new additional C/Bs, rows to Add new additional C/B data cover relevant new maximum and operational loads are inserted in the file and completed with the electri- cal load data as given in the SB or airline Engineering Order. Using the ExcelTM autosum function insert the revised totals of both the maximum and operational loads for all flight phases (as illustrated in the figure on
FAST 39 FAST the right). 39 FAST 14 15 ELECTRICAL LOAD ANALYSIS - MAINTAINING THE ELECTRICAL LOAD INTEGRITY OF YOUR AIRCRAFT ELECTRICAL LOAD ANALYSIS - MAINTAINING THE ELECTRICAL LOAD INTEGRITY OF YOUR AIRCRAFT
HOW TO CHECK THAT THE MAXIMUM How to update Modified wiring schematic BUSBAR LOADS ARE NOT EXCEEDED the RTF file Referring to the wiring manuals, Using the revised electrical load Identify the C/Bs and the generator data for each of the affected bus- associated with the busbar and also bars as specified in the Airbus SB, identify their current rating as or airline Engineering Order, shown in the example on the right. update the RTF file. In this example, the new and exist- ing C/Bs, 37XN and 47XN are In the example illustrated below, the connected to the 28VDC busbar busbar affected is 101PP. The exist- 101PP. This busbar is protected by ing C/B 37XN has an existing load the existing C/B 2PN1. The nomi- of 5,6 watts during each flight nal current rating (IN) for this C/B phase; therefore insert the revised is 50 amps. load, which is 22.6 watts for all flight phases. Then insert the elec- To ensure the busbar 101PP is not trical loads for all new C/Bs, in this overloaded, calculate the maxi- HOW TO CHECK THAT THE MAXIMUM case C/B 47XN, which has a load of mum permitted busbar load: AUTHORIZED CURRENT VALUES FOR 3.0 watts for each flight phase given C/B 2PN1 DO NOT EXCEED by the SB or Engineering Order. Maximum permitted load = THE C/B RATING 50 amps x 28 volts = 1,400 watts Note in this example that a maxi- mum load of 890.2 watts occurs Ensure that maximum load in each Check the current rating of the cir- Updating the ‘RTF’ file during the descent flight phase. flight phase does not exceed 1,400 cuit breakers connected to the bus- watts. In this case (refer to figure bar and make sure that new loads on the preceding page), 890.2 watts do not exceed their nominal rating. is the maximum load, and this The circuit breaker ratings are occurs during the descent phase. given in ASM/AWM (Aircraft Schematic Manual/Aircraft Wiring Because this is less than the Manual) 24-5X. Make sure that maximum permitted load of generators and Transformer Recti- 1,400 watts, it is confirmed that fier Units (TRUs) will not be over- Affected busbar busbar 101PP will not be over- loaded in all electrical configura- loaded following the modification. tions and flight phases.
It is recommended that the busbar The max permanent current for permanent load is lower than 85% C/B 2PN1 will be: of maximum busbar load (refer to Advisory Circular N°25-16 890.2 watts /28 volts = 31.8 amps Revise existing C/B available at the FAA Website) which is less than the C/B data (http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regula nominal current of 50 amps tory_and_Guidance_Library/rgAd visoryCircular.nsf/MainFrame?Op The max permanent + intermittent enFrameSet). The revised maxi- current for C/B 2PN1 will be: mum load in the descent phase of Insert new C/B 890.2 watts will be the new maxi- 890.2 + 97 = 987.2 watts/28 volts = data mum load for C/B 2PN1. 35.2 amps which is less than Maximum load in descent the 2PN1 C/B trip time Calculate new phase busbar totals Maximum 101PP bus-bar load (permanent) = 890.2 watts AMEND THE ELA RECORD OF REVISIONS IN THE ‘RTF’ DOCUMENT 890.2 watts < (0,85% x 1,400 watts) = 1,190 watts To maintain the current status of the ELA, complete the ELA Therefore the new 101PP busbar ‘Record of Revisions’ with the ref- Intermitten load does comply with the recom- erences and dates of the incorpora- t mendations of Advisory Circular tion of the airline engineering
FAST 39 FAST N°25-16. modification or Airbus SB. 39 FAST 16 17 18 FAST 39 Conclusion ELECTRICAL LOADANALYSIS - electrical loadvalues. operators thepossibilityto simulate and retrieval process andalsogives ELA, operatorscanusetheExcel With theintroduction oftheenhanced Excel worksheet table.Theavailability ofthe electrical loaddatawithinthe modifiable its standard functionstocomputethe TM filter tooleasesthedataselection MAINTAINING THE ELECTRICALLOADINTEGRITYOF YOUR AIRCRAFT dated. Itprovides several examples to maintainandkeep theELAup- which provides guidanceonhow theELA, hensive ‘How toUse’ the ELAIntroductionacompre- In March2005, in Airbus inserted instructions ‘How touse’ TM file and Airworthiness Authoritieswhen required. the operator, andcan beshowntothe status canbereflected andmaintainedby the actualandcurrent electricalloaddata Then usingtheRTF versionoftheELA, AirbuslWorld. siteon andServices Data Support for download fromthe Technical isalsoavailableThis information Letter)00-080. Information please refertoSIL(Service SBs. For additionalinformation, and Airbus airline modifications that cover theembodimentof [email protected] +33(0)562110233 Fax: +33(0)562118127 Tel: Airbus CustomerServices Support &Services Technical Data ELA ProductManager Régis Barneron CONTACT DETAILS for A320Familyaircraft Flexible upgrades configurations Cargo IATATransport Air Association) (International allow cargo itemstobestacked moreeasily and cal working environment. Vertical mainsidewalls providecompartments aneasierandmorepracti- than equivalent aircraft,the A320 Family cargo With height awiderbaseandhighercompartment straints oftheiroperators. ments, answering theoperationalneedsandcon- inthelowerconfigurations deckcargo compart- A320 Family aircraftoffer anumberofdifferent CARGO CONFIGURATIONS - retrofit andtheiradvantages. retrofit available by thecargo configuration forupgrading manpower cost. explains theoptions This article increased revenue potentialandareductionin All thesefeaturesallow turnarounds, faster weather conditionsduringloading. andprotectionfrombad the cargo compartments Large outward openingdoorsallow easyaccessto if theoptionalcargo loadingsystemisinstalled. contour UnitLoadDevices (ULDs)canbeloaded Upgrade Operations -Systems Upgrade Operations Airbus CustomerServices FLEXIBLE UPGRADESFOR A320 FAMILY AIRCRAFT Sonia Bouchardie Design Manager 19 FAST 39 CARGO CONFIGURATIONS - FLEXIBLE UPGRADES FOR A320 FAMILY AIRCRAFT CARGO CONFIGURATIONS - FLEXIBLE UPGRADES FOR A320 FAMILY AIRCRAFT
The aircraft can be converted to Adaptation of the configuration is three main configurations: required when one or two ACTs Basic full bulk configuration in forward and aft cargo compartments for all A320 Family aircraft • Basic bulk, which allows freight (Additional Centre Tanks) are to be loaded provisioned in the aircraft due to A318 A319 A320 A321 • Semi-automatic cargo loading ACT restraint/support components system, which allows pallets and (see article on ACTs in FAST containers loading Magazine 35, December 2004). • Semi-automatic cargo loading system with full bulk capability, The original cargo conversion phi- which allows freight, pallets and losophy offered: containers loading • A semi-automatic Cargo Loading System (CLS), to These configurations can be fur- handle pallets and/or containers, ther upgraded with various options. with some provisions for occa- sional bulk as a further option Standard door nets A320 Family lower deck or, Standard divider nets • Convertibility provisions which allowed opting for either a full Optional divider nets Convertibility bulk (previously known as kit 1) Bulk ULD loading or a semi-automatic CLS with Semi-automatic CLS full bulk capability (previously known as kit 2). It is possible to install reinforced When the panels are reinforced, the floor panels, limited to the flat local loads are increased. The rein- The current cargo conversion phi- floor to minimize the weight forcement can be applied to any ULD loading ULD loading losophy superseded this in 1999 increase, for heavy bulk usage in existing floor panels from the only and/or bulk (for A320 MSN - Manufacturer the forward and aft cargo compart- previous technology E-type to the Serial Number - 1050 onwards, ments. current technology S-Glass and Requirements for conversion to full bulk configuration system A321 MSN 1080 onwards and features a modified build-up with A319 MSN 1096 onwards) and for This increases the durability two additional layers of prepeg Basic cargo compartment lining on ceiling, side and partition walls and basic today’s upgrades. It now offers a and impact resistance of the with increased impact resistance. cargo compartment floor panels, capable of bulk loading up to a maximum simplified principle: cargo compartment floor panels average load density of 15 lb/ft3 • Semi-automatic CLS, to handle if required by operational expe- Centerline T-beam reinforcement pallets and/or containers, with rience of a customer. Standard door and divider nets as required for full bulk transport some provisions for occasional Example of A320 standard/optional nets locations Protection devices for rapid decompression panels at frame 24A bulk as a further option Net attachment points on the cargo hold floor and ceiling area Or Tie-down points on the cargo compartment floor • Semi-automatic CLS with full bulk capability Load and net arrangement placards Cargo configuration
Example of arrangement in A321 upgrades forward cargo compartment advantages CONVERSION TO FULL BULK CONFIGURATION SYSTEM Standard door nets
Standard divider nets A full bulk configuration is installed, and structural provision Optional divider nets is made for attaching optional divider nets.
Depending on aircraft type, further optional divider nets can be installed in the cargo compart- ments if a more precise balance calculation is requested by cus- tomers to separate special cargo. FAST 39 FAST 39 FAST
20 21 CARGO CONFIGURATIONS - FLEXIBLE UPGRADES FOR A320 FAMILY AIRCRAFT CARGO CONFIGURATIONS - FLEXIBLE UPGRADES FOR A320 FAMILY AIRCRAFT
Volume and Maximum Gross Weight (MGW) Containers or pallets distribution valid for each cargo configuration for A320 Compartments * Optional specific container: LD3/40 - IATA Contour H Nr. 4 Nr. 5 Bulk configuration CLS configuration A319 Nr. 1 • 2 containers or pallets in forward Compartment N° Usable volume Max load Usable volume Max load cargo compartment m3 ft3 lb kg m3 ft3 lb kg A319 4 (+2/3) ULDs • 2 containers or pallets in aft lower deck * cargo compartment. 1 13.28 469 7500 3402Depends on ULD 7500 3402 3 9.76 345 5349 2426type and contour 5000 2268 4 8.5 300 4651 2110 5000 2268 Compartments Nr. 1 Nr. 3/4 Nr. 5 5 Bulk only 5.88 208 3300 1497 5.88 208 3300 1497 A320 • 3 containers or pallets in forward CLS* + Full bulk configuration CLS* + Occasional bulk configuration cargo compartment • 4 containers or pallets in aft Compartment N° Usable volume Max load Usable volume Max load A320 cargo compartment. m3 ft3 lb kg m3 ft3 lb kg 7 ULDs lower deck 1 13.11 463 7500 3402 13.11 463 4630 2100 3 9.71 343 5349 2426 9.71 343 3430 1556 Compartments Nr. 1/2 4 8.36 295 4651 2110 8.36 295 2950 1338 Nr. 3/4 Nr. 5 • 5 containers or pallets in forward 5 Bulk only 5.88 208 3300 1497 5.88 208 3300 1497 A321 10 ULDs cargo compartment * refer to CLS configuration • 5 containers or pallets in aft for ULD loading The floor structure can support, via The semi-automatic cargo loading A321 cargo compartment. the floor panels in the flat and slop- system improves turnaround lower deck ing floor areas, a maximum distrib- efficiency by reducing cargo load- uted load of 732kg/m2 (150lb/ft2), ing and unloading time (with a while it is capable of supporting, single loader), minimizes risk via ball mats or roller tracks, a of injuries to bulk loading staff Requirements for conversion to semi-automatic cargo loading system maximum distributed load of and improves customer service Replacement of the standard bulk floor panels, sidewall and ceiling panels by lightweight panels 488kg/m2 (100lb/ft2). (protection of cargo from wet weather and theft, improved bag- Removal of protection devices for rapid decompression panels at frame 24A CONVERSION TO SEMI-AUTOMATIC gage tracking, operational flexi- Installation of a drainage system with the CLS Semi-automatic CARGO LOADING SYSTEM bility, improved cargo security, Structural modifications allowing CLS installation and system operation cargo loading system heavy cargo capability). Installation of modified placards for the new cargo compartment configuration An electrically powered, semi- Installation of the CLS and the following associated system components: automatic CLS is installed in This option is only available for the 1/ Restraint, guidance: Guides, latches and end stops the forward and aft cargo compart- A319, A320 and A321. 2/ Transport: Roller tracks, ball mats ments allowing the transport of 3/ Conveyance: Power drive units, control panels, proximity switches Center roller track 1 ULDs (pallets/containers). The Max Gross Weight (MGW) of 2 Transport rollers each ULD is limited for the A320 Family CLS to 2500lbs (1134kg). 3 Entrance guides Different types of ULDs certified to NAS 3610 4 Retractable YZ-latches System provisions are made for a CLS in the forward and aft cargo compartments plus minimum elec- trical provision for a mechanized bulk loading system in the forward and aft cargo compartments (aft cargo compartments only for A318 and A319).
5 Lateral PDU 1 6 Longitudinal PDU 2 7 Continuous side guides 10 (optional) 9 3 8 Ball mat area 4 6 9 XZ-latches 8 7 5 4 10 Fixed YZ-guides MGW: Maximum Gross Weight - NAS: National Aerospace Standard - IATA: International Air Transport Association FAST 39 FAST (with integrated rollers) 39 FAST 22 23 CARGO CONFIGURATIONS - FLEXIBLE UPGRADES FOR A320 FAMILY AIRCRAFT CARGO CONFIGURATIONS - FLEXIBLE UPGRADES FOR A320 FAMILY AIRCRAFT
The semi-automatic CLS has an The following limitations apply: CONVERSION TO SEMI-AUTOMATIC option allowing occasional loading • Segregation of the cargo CARGO LOADING SYSTEM WITH FULL of bulk cargo in addition to the compartments into sections by BULK CAPABILITY CLS. This option is only available divider nets and installation of for the A319, A320 and A321. door nets This option provides operational • Each net section must be filled capability to transport either Fixed provisions for occasional bulk to at least 80% of its volume ULDs and/or bulk freight up to a loading are provided in addition to • The cargo compartments are maximum average density of the CLS (with some limitations). capable of transporting bulk up 15lbs/ft3. This is the most flexible to a maximum average density solution for customers who often Occasional bulk loading applies of 10lbs/ft3 (160kg/m3) change modes of ground handling on routes/destinations where no • Occasional transport of bulk operations. ground service equipment is load shall not exceed 60 flights available and/or no ULDs are per year. More frequent use of It is possible to install protection available and/or baggage re- the cargo compartments for panels on the CLS and a full bulk quirements call for maximum occasional transport of bulk cargo configuration. This allows volume utilization of the cargo loads increases the possibility operation with bulk cargo while compartments. of damage to the lining and maintaining and protecting the floor panels. When occasional CLS components. transport of bulk load is done more regularly than once per calendar week, the operator is recommended to visually Requirements for conversion to semi-automatic cargo loading system with full bulk capability inspect the floor panels, Electrically powered semi-automatic CLS linings and decompression Additional tie-down fittings panels at weekly intervals Door nets with stanchions and divider nets for the forward and aft cargo compartments The fixed provision conversion Reinforced cargo floor panels for heavy bulk usage for the forward and aft cargo compartments, flat floor part only consists mainly of: • Protection devices for the rapid Drainage system decompression panels and a Side wall/ceiling panels for bulk loading in the forward and aft cargo compartments fender at frame 24 Fender for protection devices for the rapid decompression panels at frame 24A • Load placarding and markings for the new cargo compartment configuration
The required divider nets/door nets Semi-automatic cargo loading system with full bulk capability are not part of this provision, but should be ordered directly from the net manufacturer. 1 Ceiling and 1 Additional protection for CLS with Another option is the continu- occasional bulk at frame 24 (A321) 2 sidewall ous side guide to ease the panels guidance of netted pallets or for bulk 2 slightly dished pallets. usage (15lb/ft3)
3 Divider nets 3 Fender (also included for full bulk capability) 4 4 Door nets
5 Reinforce d floor panels
5 FAST 39 FAST 39 FAST
24 25 26 FAST 39 Conclusion CARGO CONFIGURATIONS - Lining cross-section solutions toenable airlinestomeetthese described inthisarticleprovide theflexible The A320Familycargo configurations and revenue from cargo handling. enable themtomaximizetheir efficiency demands flexiblesolutions for airlinesto The variationintheserequirements included. with asmallamountofbulkcargo containers onanothersector, sometimes only ononesectorandpalletsor route network.Thiscanresult inbulkcargo different cargo handlingonsectorsofthe Airline operationscanoftendemand FLEXIBLE UPGRADESFOR A320 FAMILY AIRCRAFT • • build up: wich panelswiththefollowing A321 MSN2305)andaresand- MSN 2287, A320 MSN2301and (from A318 MSN2276, A319 S-glass typesinceSeptember2004 lining andfloorpanelsareof new enhancedcargo compartment the For allthreeconfigurations, and floorpanels S-glass linings incorporated inthedesign. Also noaluminiumtopsheetis more robust for cargo handling than former E-glasspanelsandis resistance, is lighter inweight greater impact panel designhas This S-glassenhancedfloor S-glass layers Honeycomb core preferred optionson-line. customers canreview andrequest their Upgrade Servicese-Catalogue so added totheAirbusCustomer Services change optionsare alsoplannedtobe These cargo compartmentconfiguration [email protected] to AirbusUpgradeServicesat Retrofit ModificationOffer byrequest change offers canbeobtainedviaa Cargo compartmentconfiguration the current configurationofanaircraft is. demands andcanberetrofitted whatever Standard floorpanel . [email protected] +33(0)562110847 Fax: +33(0)562110149 Tel: Airbus CustomerServices -Systems Upgrade Operations Design Manager Sonia Bouchardie CONTACT DETAILS replace theexisting panels. S-glass new technology panels converted aircraft, onanin-service is When acargo compartment • • • • • ements for: Aviation Safety Agency Requir- Requirements andEuropean It meetsallFederal Aviation the lining to systemslocatedbehind giving goodaccessibility with quickreleaseattachments, Lining panelsaresecured Rapid decompression extinguishing system) forfire classification Class C(compartment Leak proofwithrespectto Low smoke/toxicity Flammability cost andreliabilitycontrol Services to better serve airlinesworldwide tobetterserve Services Ma ities have resultedinanumberofproductsand maintenance economicsarea. These Airbus activ- inthe to reducecostsandincreasetheirefficiency airlinesintheireffortsvices, which willsupport various activities, productsandser- identified airline success.Recognizing this, Airbus has costs andreliabilitycontrolarekey for factors more andchallengingmaintenance The commercialaviation hasbecome industry intenance MAINTENANCE COSTANDRELIABILITYCONTROL- Maintenance Economics&Reliability Performance Airbus CustomerServices will further support airlinesinthefuture. support will further andprerequisites.Italsoexplains projectsthat efits economics activities andexplains theirgoals,ben- theirmaintenance Airbus toairlinessupport offered describestheservices byThis article address thechallenges. issuesto and otherprojectstargeting specific suchasIDOLS,DMCbenchmarking services Special ProjectDirector Johan DeBuck SERVICES TO BETTERSERVE AIRLINES WORLDWIDE Airbus Customer Services System &Information Data In-Service Maintenance Economics&Reliability Director Brugidou Thierry 27 FAST 39 MAINTENANCE COST AND RELIABILITY CONTROL - SERVICES TO BETTER SERVE AIRLINES WORLDWIDE MAINTENANCE COST AND RELIABILITY CONTROL - SERVICES TO BETTER SERVE AIRLINES WORLDWIDE
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1 1 0 1 0 0 D 1 D 1 D 1 Airbus annual I I I to help read the Airbus benchmark maintenance cost report.
I I I benchmarking n n n - - - WHY PARTICIPATE s s s
e e e s s s report IN THIS PROGRAMME? rv e rv e rv e i ic i ic i ic c v c v c v e r e r e r Da Se Da Se Da Se Nowadays, airlines are becoming The annual maintenance cost ta On-Line ta On-Line ta On-Line more and more concerned with benchmarking report is designed to their Direct Maintenance Costs be an airline’s preferred means for (DMC), since this can be an area maintenance cost optimization and IDOLS or give a clear status of the situation for significant cost saving opportu- gives a unique opportunity to: of the global Airbus fleet. Then, a nities. Therefore, it is important • Benchmark maintenance To support airline needs for measur- system of navigation (cockpit view) that airlines have visibility of their performance against other Each customer has specific needs ing performance and comparing allows analysis via a drill down maintenance cost performance ver- airlines that require specific solutions and with other Airbus operators, Airbus function. sus other operators of the same air- • Forecast DMC expenditures ‘Air+ by Airbus’ provides craft type. To help monitor their • Identify the main areas of cost customized support packages to has built a set of on-line services meet these needs. Tailor-made called IDOLS, which stands for ‘In- IDOLS is an evolutionary tool DMCs, Airbus launched the annual improvements solutions can cover all technical service Data On Line Services’. developed to support airline maintenance cost benchmarking operations because business needs and workshops are report in 2003. The IATA MCTF Airbus provides a downloadable ‘Air+ by Airbus’ is a flexible (International Air Transport Asso- on-line intuitive tool known as the portfolio ranging from traditional The first step of IDOLS is to pro- organized regularly to propose product support to very innovative vide tools to benchmark reliability new solutions and obtain airline ciation Maintenance Cost Task ‘maintenance cost benchmarking services, thus offering the performance against competitors, feedback. Force) has adopted this toolset as toolset’ designed for data reporting, their basic tool for DMC collec- which has a comprehensive and IDOLS is also one of the modules tion, allowing a single reporting user-friendly interface and enables IDOLS cockpit IDOLS screens of ‘Air+ by Airbus’ (see note on the format for both IATA and Airbus reporting levels to be chosen to Top OR-Rate by ATA Chapter left), the comprehensive portfolio annual maintenance cost bench- allow reporting of: marking reports. • Aircraft level (airframe, of support and services created by Airbus to support customers in components and engines) meeting their business objectives. THE REPORT • Check events level (from transit to heavy checks) IDOLS offers airlines a choice of Airbus issues an annual mainte- • Component level (review of top membership of three circles: nance cost benchmarking report cost drivers) • All airlines are by default every year, which provides a full • Engine level (engine shop visit Blue Circle members with range of benchmarking material costs) access to all general IDOLS from a global to a detailed level. reports as well as to detailed The benchmark graphically pre- The quality of the annual report reports on their own fleet sents collected data, including an provided to airlines depends on the compared to the global fleet analysis to better understand the amount and the quality of data pro- • Gold Circle members have in figures presented. vided by participants via the main- addition to their Blue Circle tenance cost benchmarking toolset. access rights all the detailed There are different benchmarks, Airline data confidentiality is pre- data of the other Gold Circle with a maturing fleet age approach, served via a confidentiality agree- members. Membership of the on: ment signed between each airline Gold Circle is obtained by • Airframe DMC (base, medium and Airbus. signing a Data Sharing and heavy maintenance) Agreement with Airbus • Component DMC • The Silver Circle, also • Engine DMC called the Alliance Circle, • Powerplant accessories DMC is designed for specific • Total DMC cost airlines willing to share their • Maintenance check man hours reliability data only between themselves The benchmark presents the report- The global Airbus fleet value ed data as well as the adjusted data is also included. Access to this (adjustment rules being applied for circle is obtained by a specific a common sector length and labour Data Sharing Agreement signed rate) to compare fairly airline by all members of the alliance results in total confidentiality.
FAST 39 FAST together with Airbus. Airlines are provided individually 39 FAST 28 29 MAINTENANCE COST AND RELIABILITY CONTROL - SERVICES TO BETTER SERVE AIRLINES WORLDWIDE MAINTENANCE COST AND RELIABILITY CONTROL - SERVICES TO BETTER SERVE AIRLINES WORLDWIDE
THE MAINTENANCE COST costs per flight hour) and cost per These services are provided by BENCHMARKING TOOLSET event (line, base and heavy mainte- Airbus on airline request. nance total costs). When the toolset This has been developed to be as topics are completed, it gives access Training seminars close as possible to an airline’s to the summary of costs for air- daily business. The main menu is frame, components and engines for and programmes very comprehensive enabling easy material, labour and subcontracted navigation through the different work. Access is also given to a ques- MAINTENANCE ECONOMICS topics, such as: tionnaire, which enables airlines to SEMINAR • General information (finance, provide suggestions and feedback accounting, fleet information…) on the toolset to Airbus. When the This five-day seminar was created • Global DMC (airframe, toolset and questionnaire are filled to satisfy requests from airlines to components, powerplant) in, they should be sent back enhance their knowledge of global • Cost Per Event (from transit to to Airbus via mail or e-mail to: management and control of main- heavy checks, rotables, [email protected]. tenance costs, including other consumables and engine shop) aspects of operational costs, and Airline Services discuss the latest industry stan- Once an airline starts to fill in top- dards definitions. ics in the toolset, they can select activities • Maintenance programme and print preliminary graphs of Only a well-structured DMC variations and adaptation to their costs. Graphs can be displayed The Airline Services section deal- process with performance targets, airline needs A330 for global DMC (total costs and ing with Maintenance & data collection and analysis, • Engine fleet management Example of global maintenance costs Engineering performance, accom- benchmarking and decision find- plishes Best Industry Practices ings enables cost reduction and The seminar speakers have a (BIP) audits covering the following budget control. Performance mea- background in airline, supplier, elements: surement must address internal air- MRO (Maintenance, Repair and • Regulatory approval support line requirements, but should also Overhaul) and maintenance activi- • Maintenance programme: be according to international stan- ties and are in similar positions in Development, implementation, dards to ease contractual negotia- Airbus. They are active members and optimization tions and data sharing with other in various IATA, ATA (Air • Maintenance means definition industry members. Transport Association) Specifi- and optimization cation 2000 groups and are pleased • Maintenance check performance The seminar agenda is compiled to to share with airlines the latest • Support package definition and respond to these specific needs and developments in these domains. contract review covers: • Outsourcing preparation and • Industry definitions used to The scope of the seminar is partic- support measure and exchange DMC ularly tailored for airline middle • Maintenance information • Supplier support standards to management of the following ser- system: Evaluation and better negotiate initial vices: Technical support, system specification support provisioning, repair time, engineering, logistics, mainte- No Fault Found (NFF) nance programme planning, pro- This group also deals with eco- policy, etc duction planning and control, line A330/A340 C Check nomic aspects of airline operations • Build-up of maintenance maintenance, hangar mainte- Example of global check costs via Entry Into Service (EIS) assis- reserves and budget nance, component and engine tance on-site. • Methods to control costs of maintenance, reliability, cost con- component maintenance trol and maintenance information Another aspect of Airline Services • Methods to analyse DMC analysis. covers aircraft performance opti- • Use of Airbus maintenance and mization through reliability and engineering tools such as: This seminar is organized three maintenance cost reviews, covering: AIRMANTM, SB cost benefit times per year at the Airbus • Aircraft configuration model Training Centre Toulouse. optimization, including Service • Spares management: Bulletin (SB) cost/benefit Definitions and Airbus services RELIABILITY CONTROL PROGRAMME analysis to optimize processes TRAINING • Top-down maintenance cost • Make or buy decisions of airline optimization maintenance activities The objective of this three-day • Long-term budget build up • Maintenance contract training is to explain how to • Cost management process negotiations with airline service implement streamlined RCP
FAST 39 FAST improvement providers processes within a maintenance 39 FAST 30 31 MAINTENANCE COST AND RELIABILITY CONTROL - SERVICES TO BETTER SERVE AIRLINES WORLDWIDE MAINTENANCE COST AND RELIABILITY CONTROL - SERVICES TO BETTER SERVE AIRLINES WORLDWIDE
and engineering organization and launched an investigation with the CFM CFG (Customer Focus • Proactively address arising covers: Data collection, analysis Goodrich Aerostructures and IAE Group) in Denver (May 2006) and issues before they become and corrective actions, perfor- (International Aero Engines) to the IAE PMAG (Powerplant major problems: Visibility over mance measurement and display, better understand nacelle mainte- Maintenance Advi-sory Group) in a wider fleet allows detecting component reliability, etc. It aims nance costs and develop ways to San Diego (January 2006). potential issues earlier at explaining the role of the RCP optimize them for both A320 Goodrich also published an article • Prioritize modification in the context of overall aircraft Family engine types. A detailed in their ‘Field service technical sta- embodiment operations such as: cost analysis study was performed tus – April 2006’ for CFM nacelles. • Build-up LRU references • Increasing aircraft availability using data from Goodrich’s MRO • Negotiate and control flight and improving dispatch facilities for component overhaul As mentioned previously, nacelle hour agreements reliability and annual parts sales over sever- maintenance costs and their specif- • Propose corrective actions in • Minimising maintenance costs al years. This enabled the most ic cost drivers vary from one collaboration with the OEM • Optimizing spares inventory common cost drivers to be identi- airline to another depending on (Original Equipment costs fied for the worldwide fleet and operation, maintenance policy, Manufacturer) gave an initial prioritization for commercial policy etc. Therefore, • Exchange information with It also deals with Best Industry investigation. The study also a customized study per airline is airframers and the OEM Practices processes and specific showed that cost drivers could essential. To maximize effective- • Evaluate the effectiveness of examples of RCP outputs. vary significantly between air- ness, each study is performed chosen solutions lines. Therefore, to have a fair using methods similar to those of This training is run three times per assessment of real maintenance the general improvement plan, Comp@re is in a pilot phase with year in Toulouse and can be pro- cost for an individual airline and allowing identification and priori- several Airbus business partners vided on-site at airline request. ensure improvement actions are tization of cost drivers specific to and availability to airlines will be cost effective for them a cus- the airline. Thus, each general announced in the future. tomized analysis is needed. countermeasure is re-evaluated for Additional projects its real benefit to the airline. and initiatives The first step was a general Furthermore, this may identify Airbus improvement plan to address the additional countermeasures to be participation in A320 FAMILY NACELLES - common cost drivers identified at developed. aviation industry CUSTOMIZING DMC IMPROVEMENTS worldwide fleet level, which was FOR AIRLINES done by reviewing ‘counter- A customized study is currently working groups measures’ to these cost drivers, underway at one airline and such as new and existing: Goodrich and IAE encourage other IATA MAINTENANCE COST During the last A320 Family • SBs airlines to contact them directly if TASK FORCE (IATA MCTF) Technical symposium in Rhodes • Repairs and repair limits they are interested in this service, (23-27 May 2005) airlines raised • Inspection and serviceable limits or if they would like to know more The IATA MCTF aims at Engin- specific concerns about nacelle about nacelle maintenance cost eering and Maintenance (E&M) maintenance costs, so Airbus Each countermeasure was evaluat- reduction. cost reduction with a focus on ed for its cost effectiveness in mit- maintenance cost reporting, bench- igating the top cost drivers - the COMP@RE marking and cost reductions. Its cost saving after implementation of objectives are: each countermeasure was com- Airbus is developing a component • Benchmark with an airline’s pared to the cost of continuing to performance control project own historical data, or compare operate ‘as is’ today over a period called Comp@re (COMponent with leading industry practices of several years. In the case of SBs Performance Assessment on • Define and standardize and repairs the cost of incorpora- Reliability and Economics). The reporting of commercial airline tion was also considered. scope of Comp@re is to measure maintenance costs reliability and maintenance cost • Identify high cost drivers and In addition, Goodrich developed performance of components target areas for maintenance Maintenance Management Guide- (LRUs – Line Replaceable Units) cost reduction individually or lines for both engine programmes. defined as rotables or repairables as a group These assist airlines to develop that are repaired off-wing • Provide a forum for aircraft and optimize their own nacelle (removed from the aircraft and maintenance trends maintenance plan by providing all repaired in shop). maintenance requirements and The MCTF has developed unique recommendations in a single doc- Comp@re will allow airlines to: data collection, analysis and ument. • Have a clearer view on LRU reporting toolsets. The definitions cost drivers and toolsets have been approved Detailed results were presented • Benefit from Airbus and other by representatives of the airline
FAST 39 FAST during operator meetings such as airlines experience industry. 39 FAST 32 33 34 FAST 39 IATA/MCTF -2006dataflowprocess Conclusion MAINTENANCE COSTANDRELIABILITYCONTROL- & engineeringperformance and Airline Servicesdealswithmaintenance reliability, etc. measurement &display, component corrective actions,performance deal withdatacollection,analysis& Reliability Control Programme Seminars related topicsandcasestudies. wide rangeofmaintenanceeconomics Maintenance EconomicsSeminarscovera maintenance costbenchmarkreports. format forbothIATA andAirbusannual IATA MCTFtoallowasinglereporting toolset tomonitorDMCs,whichisusedby benchmarking report provides airlinesa The annualmaintenancecost compare theirreliability performance. benchmarking tool,enablingairlinesto is anon-linereliability performance IDOLS, amoduleof offers asetofproducts andservices: and comparisonswithcompetition,Airbus reliability, maintenancecostperformance To supportairlineneedsformeasuring Air+ by Airbus manual work totranspose,which various requiresalotof formats transfer. Datareceived by in Airbus file via astandardizedformat Excel data fromairlinesmostly through receiveAircraft manufacturers SPEC 2000 SPEC e-bu [email protected] +33(0)561934862 Fax: +33(0)562110820 Tel: Airbus CustomerServices & ReliabilityPerformance Maintenance Economics Special ProjectDirector Johan DeBuck CONTACT DETAILS TM , s ine files orby butrarely fax, files ss
s 2000 tandard SERVICES TO BETTER SERVE AIRLINESWORLDWIDE BETTER SERVICES TO Airbus willprovide informationonthese. initiatives andservicesare developed, maintenance costinitiatives andasfurther costs. Airbusiscontinually working on measure and minimizetheirmaintenance These servicesenableairlines tocompare, economics. ways ofdealingwithmaintenance enhance andrationalizecurrent andfuture MCTF andSPEC2000,whichaimto industry workinggroups suchasIATA Airbus alsoparticipatesinvariousaviation rotables orrepairables. cost performanceofLRUsdefinedas measure thereliability andmaintenance Comp@re iscurrently beingdevelopedto engine typeswere recently addressed. and optimizationforbothA320Family economics. Nacellemaintenancecosts various aspectsofmaintenance Additional projects andinitiativescover reliability andmaintenancecostreviews. fleet performanceoptimizationthrough It alsoprovides EISassistanceon-site and accomplishes BIPauditsatairlinesites. s [email protected] +33(0)561934862 Fax: +33(0)561931249 Tel: Airbus CustomerServices System Information & Data In-Service Economics &Reliability Director Maintenance Brugidou Thierry fit ofthewhole industry.fit ofdataforthebene- ized reporting objective tohelpinitiatestandard- MROs andsuppliers,withthe dardization initiatives withairlines, ofthestan- Airbus hasbecomepart suppliers. From thispointofview, improve feedbacktoairlinesand scope ofdataandfromthis more efficiently, plusenlarge the would like tocollectmoredata manufacturers Aircraft errors. can generateunavoidable typing with theGSMon-boardsystem Voice anddatacommunications Phoning inflight and non-Airbusaircraft. and A321) (A318, A319,A320 Familyaircraft in-flighton-board data services Airbus A320 touseGSMvoice and phone orSmartphone GSMcell passengers withjustanordinary on-board systemdeveloped by Airbus willallow (Global SystemforMobilecommunications) tion expectations ofaircrafttravellers, theGSM To the personal andbusinesscommunica- fulfil PHONING INFLIGHT- roring international roaming charges. roring international operator tothepassenger’s accountatratesmir- cations willbecharged directly by eachmobile (SMS)messages.On-boardcommuni- Service able Message toexchange callsandShort requirements,passengerswillbe tion regulatory compliance withaviation andtelecommunica- advanced lightweight technology andintotal Thanks tosatellitebroadbandlinksand VOICE AND DATA COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE GSMON-BOARDSYSTEM Manager MarketingServices Manager Airbus CustomerServices Upgrade Services Emeline Baur 35 FAST 39 PHONING IN FLIGHT - VOICE AND DATA COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE GSM ON-BOARD SYSTEM PHONING IN FLIGHT - VOICE AND DATA COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE GSM ON-BOARD SYSTEM
• General Packet Radio Service The airborne of the power levels to the AGS. System arrangement (GPRS) data services The same detector also activates supporting Multimedia Message segment signs (‘Switch off Mobiles’) to Service (MMS) and Wireless passengers for any system failure. Application Protocol (WAP) The airborne segment consists of The OBCE also integrates a • Call forwarding, barring and the following: filter/combiner for the RF signals of Airborne system: Air-to-ground link: Miniature cell network calling line identification the BTS and the OBCE noise Communications Wireless LAN BASE TRANSCEIVER STATION (BTS) generators to the leaky line antenna. between aircraft Control units The InmarsatTM Swift Broadband and ground Ground infrastructure: satellite communication system The BTS has 14 channels for AIRBORNE GSM SERVER (AGS) infrastructure Interconnection with (satellite modem + antenna accessing passengers’ mobile mounted on the fuselage exterior) Ground public networks phones. The BTS (also known as a The AGS integrates the GSM soft- connects the GSM on-board sys- picocell) establishes the commu- ware on-board and interconnects Ground home operators tem with the ground telephony nication pipe to the mobile phones the mobile phone system with network via the Inmarsat4 satel- and supports all necessary system a satellite modem. The AGS con- lites. Communication services features like radio access, power trols the data streams between the will be provided over European level control, handovers and fre- BTS and the satellite modem and System countries that have adopted the quency configuration and man- has a communication management regional framework for on-board ages the radio frequency resources function for management of band- architecture mobile networks and provided to allow the mobile stations to width capacity, resources and pri- operating rights are obtained from access to the GSM on-board sys- oritization to the satellite modem The system architecture consists the country where the aircraft is tem. A second optional BTS can for the satellite link. It also controls of an airborne segment and a registered. be installed to increase the avail- the BTS and the OBCE (for main- ground segment, plus a satellite able channels to 28. tenance only) and manages parts of transport domain overlapping GSM on-board system features: the operations and maintenance both segments as shown in the • System monitoring and ON-BOARD CONTROL EQUIPMENT functions. picture below. selection of data or voice (OBCE) and data service mode from The AGS also hosts the system’s The system, designed to operate the cabin OBCE controls all cell phones in local maintenance function (LMF). during the cruise phase of flights at • System switch-off from cockpit the cabin. The purpose of the Part of the AGS is also a software least 3,000m (10,000ft) above the • 14 simultaneous OBCE, in conjunction with the (SW) loading function. LMF and ground, offers passengers the fol- incoming/outgoing calls BTS, is to control the radio SW loading functions are manage- lowing services: • 28 channels can be supported frequency emissions of all mobile able from a standard laptop com- • Voice with a second optional Base phones and to prevent them from puter connected to the control • Short Message Service (SMS) Transceiver Station (BTS) trying to connect to radio networks panel. The satellite modem used System architecture outside the aircraft. The OBCE utilizes the InmarsatTM Swift- ensures that mobile phones in the Broadband service and modulates aircraft cabin cannot access the data into signals for the exter- terrestrial networks and do not nal satellite link, which are sent transmit any signal without control and received by the external Airborne segment Satellite transport Ground segment of the GSM on-board system. aircraft antenna. The Swift- The OBCE is able to control Broadband system provides one LMF/software loading mobile stations in all frequency satellite channel at a minimum. O & M O & M Leaky line bands in areas overflown, Control panel antenna e.g.: GSM 900, GSM 1800 and Satellite On-board control equipment (OBCE) Universal Mobile Telecom- LMF Satellite munication System (UMTS), by system Home MSC (BGAN*) transmitting a suitable noise floor. BTS AGS MSC/VLR The power level of this noise floor NOC GGS will depend upon the aircraft Software • Modem • DLNA Internet protocole altitude and is calculated by the OBCE network Aircraft • Antenna OBCE. An independent RF (Radio Cabin (GPRS home) data GGSN/SGSN Frequency) detector, integrated in reception Aircraft antenna Announcements the OBCE permanently proves data to passengers availability of the noise floor Cabin wireless Head end Service provider Public network control emission at the output of the OBCE. A connection between the RF detector and AGS (Airborne
FAST 39 FAST BGAN: Satellite system (next generation InmarsatTM BGAN in service in 2006) GSM Server) reports availability 39 FAST 36 37 PHONING IN FLIGHT - VOICE AND DATA COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE GSM ON-BOARD SYSTEM PHONING IN FLIGHT - VOICE AND DATA COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE GSM ON-BOARD SYSTEM
CONTROL PANEL also switch them on for service elements used in any GSM mobile air-to-ground link provider’s gate- reasons (asking passengers to operators’ infrastructure such as: way. These elements regrouped The control panel is the system power off their telephones) • The Mobile Switching Centre under the diverse routing function interface for the crew and is • Maintenance button (MSC) managing the switching ensure the conversion and opti- installed in the aircraft cabin. It • Maintenance interface via an of the incoming and outgoing mization of the GSM A-Bis inter- monitors and controls the system external equipment calls face into a protocol enabling the with push buttons (with integrated • Cockpit button giving pilots • The Visitor Location Register efficient transmission over the air- indications) and system indication final control over the system in (VLR) completing the to-ground link. lights. the cabin authorization process with the • Modification of the passenger home mobile operators of the All UMTS (Universal Mobile Three system indication lights service unit channel to replace subscribers roaming on the Telecommunication System) dev- show: the NO SMOKING sign by a network ices are backwards compatible • The ‘system ready’ LED (Light NO GSM pictogram. A NO • The Serving GPRS Service with GSM and GPRS, so passen- Emitting Diode), green SMOKING placard will be Node (SGSN), Gateway GPRS gers with UMTS phones can use illuminated when the system added on each PSU unit for Service Node (GGSN) and them to access these services. has started or is in idle mode passenger visibility border gateway supporting the • The ‘system failure’ LED, yellow GPRS core network. Overlaying the ground segment, the illuminated in case of failure • The Ground GSM Server Operational & Management (O&M) • The ‘service available’ LED, The satellite (GGS), which is the equivalent elements ensure the management, green illuminated when it is transport domain of the AGS on-board the monitoring and operation of the net- possible to use GSM on-board aircraft, reformats the traffic work (including the external com- services Connects the airborne and the coming from the aircraft to the ponents such as the air-to-ground ground segments with a satellite standard A-Bis interface and link and the airborne system). Working principle of the leaky line antenna LEAKY LINE ANTENNA link providing transportation and vice-versa. interconnection to terrestrial ser- • The home location register, Similar to the O&M elements, the A leaky line antenna for signal vice providers and backbone net- which in the OnAirTM network, billing element ensures the genera- coverage of the aircraft cabin is works. It comprises the following will only be used for the testing tion of the information necessary installed in the ceiling along the Leaky section cable components: of the roaming relations. for billing purpose (e.g. Call CONTACT DETAILS whole cabin length and distributes • The satellite antenna that Detailed Records or CDR). This RF signals from the OBCE and transmits and receives signals to The ground segment also includes information is mainly provided by Emeline Baur BTS. The frequency range of the Manager Marketing Services and from the InmarsatTM satellite the elements interfacing with the the MSC and SGSN elements. antenna is 400MHz to 3GHz and Upgrade Services Non-leakyLeaky Non-leaky Leaky • Diplexer/Low Noise Amplifier due to the close proximity of Airbus Customer Services (DLNA) located near the Tel: +33 (0)5 61 93 20 22 mobile phones and BTS electro- satellite antenna for diplexing, Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 41 06 magnetic radiation to crew, filtering and amplifying signals [email protected] passengers and aircraft equipment • A satellite modem that opens a is low and far below the levels Conclusion communication pipe to the Sector radiating recommended by the World Health TM Inmarsat satellite and TM Organization (WHO). The system’s availability is a long awaited OnAir , Airbus’ preferred service provider modulates the data stream into solution for existing and future aircraft and for voice and data communication RF signals (and vice versa). RECEPTION ANTENNA the communication services will become services on-board, is a joint venture available in early 2007, firstly for the between Airbus and SITATM and provides A reception antenna connected to The Network Operations Centre Western-European market. The system is GSM and GPRS services for mobile the OBCE via coaxial cable above (NOC) is in charge of the dynam- applicable for the whole A320 Family and phones, portable digital assistants (e.g. TM the cabin ceiling, is a standard ic channel assignment to achieve guarantees that passengers' cell phones Blackberry ) and data (Internet). dipole to receive signals from pas- the quality of service required will operate in a mode compliant with sengers phones. taking into account the traffic aviation and telecommunication regulatory To enable smooth and flexible load. requirements during the cruise phase of embodiment of the GSM on-board system flights. on in-service aircraft with a minimum ADDITIONAL CONTROLS aircraft grounding time, Airbus has Additional controls provide system The ground The architecture of the GSM on-board developed a stepwise installation of four control, functions and indication: segment system consists firstly of the airborne Service Bulletins and associated kits • System ON/OFF switch segment, the satellite transport domain, (three for provisions installation and one • ‘Voice (Calls) Off’ switch The ground segment is based on a and finally the ground segment. The for system installation and activation). TM (voice calls disabled, data calls 2.5-generation ground infrastruc- Inmarsat Swift Broadband satellite communication system connects the GSM GSM on-board equipment will be (SMS/GPRS) enabled) ture, which provides the elements on-board system with the ground delivered as Buyer Furnished Equipment • Passengers sign ON/OFF (no for circuit (GSM) and packet telephony network via the Inmarsat4 to customers by Airbus KID-Systeme. mobile phone signs). The signs (GPRS/General Packet Radio satellites. are switched automatically by Service) switching. This infra-
FAST 39 FAST the system. Cabin crew can structure includes all the standard 39 FAST 38 39 40 FAST 39 press. thefree and with Lufthansa flight inco-operation companies duringalonghaul Telefunken andUltraphon AG technical equipmentofthe timetoawidepublic the first objective was topresentforthe Münster andFrankfurtits craft fromBerlintoHannover, Germany. The flighttooktheair- from Berlin Tempelhof in airport D915 andbuiltin1925,tookoff serial number841,registration named ‘Wotan’, manufacturers G24 (alarge aircraftinthosedays) 10:30 am,athreeenginedJunkers On asunny 7November 1926at eighty years ago. that tookplacealmostexactly Compare thisagainstabigevent previous FAST Magazine38. this FAST Magazine39andthe in mentioned intheIFEarticles and audiooutputsavailable Today we have themultiplevideo V,D95 eebr12 oNvme 96 oiidt 2 nArl13,scrapped modifiedto G24 in 1939, April 1928toNovember 1936, December D-915, DVS, 1928 April D-915, DVL, 1926 June D-915, LUFTHANSA, Limhamn modifiedto G24at AB Flygindustri, 1925, August S-AAAR, JLAG, August1925 P-AWA, AERO-LLOYD, POLN. named ‘Wotan’ 1925, June 1925 to August S-AAAR, AB FLYGINDUSTRI, DessauasG23 builtat June1925, D-, JUNKERS, JUG24 J0841, IN FLIGHTENTERTAINMENT - PART II PART In flightentertainment How inflightentertainmenthaschanged! high altitudeflightnovel. Beierle who readachapterfrom by theactorandlecturer Alfred the photoabove) andarecitation Professor Weitz(wearing acapin AG, aspeechtolistenersby ofUltraphon Director Gaertner presentedbyrecorded concert to adistanceof400kmandwere a The transmissionswere madeup Frankfurt amMain. andElberfeld) Dortmund Münster (alsoconnectedto stationsatHannover,ground transmitted andalsosentto and spoken presentationswere From theaircraftinflightmusic
Photo Sennecke AG. AG. an appreciationoftheflight director, including the airport withaspeechby Frankfurt airport at The flightsuccessfully finished of thedifferent stations. ground into thecontinuingprogrammes to aprecisetimeasithadfit but alsothatevery broadcastwas radio technological performance, not only theaeronauticaland The uniquevalue oftheflightwas 12:19 am...Lunchordered! wered by stationat theground 12:18 amandwas promptly ans- order lunch,which hedidat operator hadthebrilliantideato During theflightwireless and traffic safetyforwhich this traffic Text bycourtesy ofLufthansa the consequencesforair Lufthansa flightseta milestone indevelopment. Photo Winzerling CUSTOMER SUPPORT AROUND THE CLOCK... AROUND THE WORLD
Customer Services events
WORLDWIDE Jean-Daniel Leroy VP Customer Support Tel: +33 (0)5 61 93 35 04 Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 41 01 USA/CANADA Just happened Coming soon Thorsten Eckhoff Senior Director Customer Support HUMAN FACTORS SYMPOSIUM SPARES, SUPPLIERS & 15TH PERFORMANCE & Tel: +1 (703) 834 3506 MOSCOW, RUSSIA WARRANTY SYMPOSIUM OPERATIONS CONFERENCE Fax: +1 (703) 834 3463@ 14-16 JUNE BANGKOK, THAILAND PUERTO-VALLARTA, MEXICO CHINA Customer Support Centres The 22nd Human Factors Symposium 12-14 MARCH 2007 23-27 APRIL 2007 Peter Tiarks Training centres took place with the theme of: ‘Human This will be the 3rd regional Spares, As for every two years since 1980, Spares centres / Regional warehouses Senior Director Customer Support Resident Customer Support Managers (RCSM) Factors as a core value at Airbus’. The Suppliers and Warranty Symposium. the 15th Performance and Operations Tel: +86 10 804 86161 Ext 5040 symposium encompassed HF strate- Following the success of the previous Conference will take place in Puerto- Fax: +86 10 804 86162 / 63 RCSM location Country RCSM location Country symposia in Hainan and Athens, this Vallarta. Flight crews, operations Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates London United Kingdom gy, HF training, operations and threat, RESIDENT CUSTOMER SUPPORT ADMINISTRATION regional symposium for the Middle specialists, flight operations engin- Ajaccio France Louisville United States of America error management in flight operations, Jean-Philippe Guillon Algiers Algeria Luanda Angola ATC and maintenance. Particular East, Asian and Pacific regions will eers, and performance specialists Director Almaty Kazakhstan Luton United Kingdom importance was given to the Human present progress made from the from all Airbus operators are invited Al-Manamah Bahrain Macau S.A.R. China Resident Customer Support Administration Amman Jordan Madrid Spain Factors Toolkit Project, which is previous symposia and provide the to attend and actively participate in Tel: +33 (0)5 61 93 31 02 Amsterdam Netherlands Manchester United Kingdom intended to reconcile Human Factors latest news concerning current initia- this event, which will offer numerous Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 49 64 Athens Greece Manila Philippines tives in all three areas. opportunities to constructively ex- Auckland New Zealand Mauritius Mauritius theory with operational guidance. TECHNICAL, SPARES, TRAINING Baku Azerbaijan Memphis United States of America The event was sponsored by ICAO The symposium will be an opportuni- change views and information, and Airbus has its main spares centre in Hamburg, Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei Mexico City Mexico and IAC (Interstate Aviation ty for customers in these regions to increase mutual cooperation and Bangalore India Miami United States of America and regional warehouses in Frankfurt, Bangkok Thailand Milan Italy Committee) of the CIS (Common- exchange and express views con- communication. The conference will Washington D.C., Beijing and Singapore. Barcelona Spain Minneapolis United States of America wealth of Independent States). cerning their daily practice and expe- address many operational topics Beijing China Montreal Canada riences, with the continual aim from covering all Airbus aircraft models in Airbus operates 24 hours a day every day. Beirut Lebanon Moscow Russia Berlin Germany Mumbai India TRAINING SYMPOSIUM Airbus and suppliers to assist in various sessions such as Looking Airbus Technical AOG Centre (AIRTAC) Brussels Belgium Nanchang China SAN FRANCISCO, USA reducing operating costs. Speakers Ahead, CNS/ATM (Communication, Tel: +33 (0)5 61 93 34 00 Bucuresti Romania Nanjing China 2-5 OCTOBER 2006 Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 35 00 Buenos Aires Argentina New York United States of America from Airbus and suppliers will both be Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Cairo Egypt Newcastle Australia The 8th Training Symposium was an present and available to discuss Management), Flight Economics, [email protected] Casablanca Morocco Ningbo China arena not only to present continuing spares, supplier and warranty related e-Documentation, Operations, Perf- Charlotte United States of America Noumea New Caledonia Spares AOGs in North America should be Chengdu China Palma de Mallorca Spain improvements in the training topics. ormance, Electronic Flight Bag… addressed to: Cologne Germany Paris France processes, but also to listen to the On-line sessions and workshops are Invitations for the conference will be Tel: +1 (703) 729 9000 Colombo Sri Lanka Paro Bhutan customers views on existing systems Fax: +1 (703) 729 4373 Copenhagen Denmark Phoenix United States of America planned for an interactive and sent soon. Dalian China Pittsburgh United States of America and thoughts on future solutions. Four dynamic exchange of information at Spares AOGs outside North America Damascus Syria Prague Czech Republic separate conference streams covered the end of the symposium. Delhi India Quito Ecuador should be addressed to: Denver United States of America Rome Italy pilot training, cabin crew training, Tel: +49 (40) 50 76 4001 Detroit United States of America Sana’a Yemen maintenance training and simulation A320 FAMILY SYMPOSIUM Fax: +49 (40) 50 76 4011 Dhaka Bangladesh San Francisco United States of America & training technologies. These com- BANGKOK, THAILAND [email protected] Doha Qatar San Salvador El Salvador Dubai United Arab Emirates Santiago Chile plemented an exhibition featuring the 07-11 APRIL 2007 Spares related HMV issues outside Dublin Ireland Sao Paulo Brazil Airbus will propose a basic agenda Dusseldorf Germany Seoul South Korea latest developments in these fields. North America should be addressed to: Inspired by the background of the that will be merged with customer Fort Lauderdale United States of America Shanghai China suggestions, concentrating on major Tel: +49 (40) 50 76 4003 Frankfurt Germany Sharjah United Arab Emirates Golden Gate, speakers introduced the Fax: +49 (40) 50 76 4013 Guangzhou China Shenyang China theme of bridges to link the elements concerns that will likely be based on Haikou China Shenzhen China [email protected] Hangzhou China Singapore Singapore of the conference and strongly FAIR (Forum for Airline Issues Airbus Training Centre Toulouse, France Hanoi Vietnam Sydney Australia emphasized the necessity of building Resolution) inputs. It is planned to Helsinki Finland Taipei Taiwan Tel: +33 (0)5 61 93 33 33 links between the three essential ele- cover all presentations in the main Hong Kong S.A.R. China Tashkent Uzbekistan Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 20 94 Indianapolis United States of America Tehran Iran ments of the training model – good session. As usual, adequate facilities Istanbul Turkey Tokyo Japan instructors, good programmes and will be available for side meetings. Airbus Training subsidiaries Izmir Turkey Toulouse France Jakarta Indonesia Tulsa United States of America good training media as well as the The formal invitation letters as well Miami, USA - Florida Tel: +1 (305) 871 36 55 Johannesburg South Africa Tunis Tunisia other critical bridge between the as the preliminary agenda will be Karachi Pakistan Varna Bulgaria Fax:+1 (305) 871 46 49 instructor and trainee. sent no later than February 2007. Kita-Kyushu Japan Vienna Austria Beijing, China Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Washington United States of America The event brought together 81 air- Tel: +86 10 80 48 63 40 Kuwait city Kuwait Wuhan China lines, 9 MROs, 5 authorities and sup- Fax:+86 10 80 48 65 76 Lanzhou China Xi'an China 39 FAST pliers from around the world. Larnaca Cyprus Zurich Switzerland Lisbon Portugal 41 FLIGHT AIRWORTHINESS SUPPORT TECHNOLOGY FAST 39 AIRBUS TECHNICAL MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2006 39