Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Research Articles

Learning to build low-field MRIs for remote northern communities.

Low-field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has the potential to provide autonomous accessible neuroimaging in remote communities, particularly in the Canadian north. Remoteness necessitates that these MRIs be built and maintained within the communities. This approach not only ensures that the MRIs remain operational but will also allow the youth from the communities to pursue technical careers at home. The first step in this vision is to establish that the technical resources needed for building MRIs are available in remote communities and to establish an educational program that will give students the required technical skills. Over the summer of 2024, a team of students working within an Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (AME) program built the hardware for a wrist-sized prototype MRI. The student team included a high school student, AME students, engineering students and a post doctoral fellow. The skills required to maintain aircraft, namely 3D printing, sheet metal work and electrical harness building, were sufficient to build a low-field MRI. The prototype built was a radio frequency (RF) encoding MRI, whose design was optimized for eventual use in space, but the techniques and procedures developed are applicable to other MRI designs. Furthermore the breadth of students from high school to the post doctoral fellow level facilitated an extremely rich learning environment for the students while they focused on the task of designing and building the prototype MRI. Educational programs around building low-field MRIs can be created at all levels.

Enhancing Language Learning through PBL in an Aviation Engineering Class

English for specific purposes is a field of teaching and learning that focuses on English language skills in context. It bridges the gap between general language knowledge and specific communication skills to enable students to meet the demands of their future professional field. For instance, aviation maintenance engineering requires the knowledge of highly specialized terminology. By providing appropriate and relevant linguistic tools, ESP enables aviation students to successfully perform job-related tasks and become more professionally competent within the aviation industry.
 
 While ESP has a role in improving language learning, the student’s experience can be further enhanced by incorporating Project-Based Learning into the curriculum to make learning more meaningful through inquiry-driven, task-based, and problem-solving paradigms. One key advantage of ESP in this regard is its adaptability, which means it can be adapted into a functional course. According to Dudley-Evans and St Johns (1998): “ESP was, for example, very influential in showing how a communicative language curriculum could be turned into either a functional-notional syllabus or a task-based syllabus” (Dudley-Evans & St Johns, 1998).
 
 The purpose of this article is to demonstrate a PBL method used in an ESP class aimed at aircraft maintenance engineers. The project involves students assembling a model aircraft jet engine. The goal of the project is to help students develop adequate knowledge about aircraft jet engines by acquainting them with the names and functions of the engine’s parts and also teaching them about its complex operation. Moreover, the project trains students on how to log their in-class activities into a weekly log that tracks their progress. At the end of the project, students reflect on their experience by completing a questionnaire that evaluates the outcomes of their learning. This helps the instructor assess the effectiveness of the project on the student’s language learning.

DIGITALIZATION IN AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE PROCESSES

Aircraft maintenance is considered as one of the major expenditures of aircraft operating costs. Notwithstanding that the new aircrafts, engines, and aircraft hard time parts became more durable and maintainable, the maintenance cost is still too high as against other costs like fuel and operational crews. Moreover, aircraft maintenance should be carried out with a high level of safety and security standards. All aircraft maintenance operations are subject to regulations by regulatory authorities. Such authorities can be attributed to European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Civil Aviation Authorities (NAA). The last two decades have become a turning point in the transition from the paper form of the introduction of accounting for aircraft maintenance technical operations into electronic systems, despite all the difficulties associated with these procedures. Such difficulties are not limited to regulatory authorities, personnel training and investment which is case-sensitive for small companies. Similar to all other sectors of logistics and transportation, digitalization can be one of the key engines of change in aviation, especially in the aviation maintenance; thus, the study of digitalization effects on aircraft maintenance processes at present is an important factor for improving the maintenance processes and reducing the cost of aircraft maintenance. The objective of this research is to define the ability of aircraft maintenance and repair organizations to transform their processes. To that end, a data collection method in the form of a survey was implemented within Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Organizations (MRO) and among aircraft maintenance engineers. The survey results demonstrate that the aircraft maintenance industry is not yet fully prepared for moving into digitalization in aircraft maintenance processes. However, at the same time, the study indicates the readiness of the personnel involved in the industry to improve themselves and their skills. The industry should invest in the improvement of safety and quality of tasks subject to digitalization by means of development of reliable software/hardware, and provide suitable training for safety and quality personnel.

АНАЛІЗ РЕЗУЛЬТАТІВ ФОРМУВАЛЬНОГО ЕКСПЕРИМЕНТУ ЩОДО ВПРОВАДЖЕННЯ ПЕДАГОГІЧНИХ УМОВ ПІДГОТОВКИ МАЙБУТНІХ АВІАЦІЙНИХ ІНЖЕНЕРІВ-МЕХАНІКІВ ДО ПРОФЕСІЙНОЇ КОМУНІКАЦІЇ

The article presents the results of experimental testing of pedagogical conditions for future aircraft maintenance engineers’ training for professional communication, such as: development of motivation to communicate through active interaction and creation of situations of success in classes; modeling of professional and communicative situations to ensure the practical focus of training; using technological innovations for self-analysis and self-education. The use of the developed pedagogical conditions for the formation of professional competences in the process of training students proved the intensity of deepening of knowledge in experimental group rather than in control group. The indicators of systematicity, reasonableness and depth of knowledge among students who studied using the developed methods appeared to be higher than among the students who studied according to the traditional program. This is demonstrated by the results obtained during the diagnostic section. The obtained results of the experimental verification of the specified pedagogical conditions have proved the effectiveness of the implementation of the specified pedagogical conditions. With the help of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the Z-test, the statistical significance of changes in the dynamics of the formed readiness of the participants of the experimental group was proven (the low level of formation of the criterion has decreased from 31.0% to 11.9%; the base level has decreased from 31.0% to 14.3%; the average level has increased from 23.8% to 42.8%; the high level has increased from 14.3% to 31.0%). Keywords: professional training, professional communication, future aviation specialists, future aircraft maintenance engineers’ training, aviation institution of higher education, pedagogical conditions, readiness for professional communication.

Arbitrators of safety and authors of law – Legal consciousness, normative pluralism and modulated derogation among European licensed aircraft maintenance engineers

This series collects papers and proceedings related with law and society, and produced at the Onati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, including workshops papers, master tesinas, or research grant productions, in any language.

Procedural justice for all? Legitimacy, just culture and legal anxiety in European civil aviation

AbstractThis article presents the results of survey-based research which explores if licensed aircraft maintenance engineers working in Norway, Sweden, and Portugal experience regulated “just culture” as procedural justice-infused processes when occurrence reporting in European Union (EU) civil aviation. Drawing on Tylerian procedural justice theory, the study finds that, perceived procedural justice is more strongly associated with legitimacy (perceived as support for rules and authority) than legal anxiety among the maintenance engineers. Country-based results reveal differences in engineers' legal experiences of occurrence reporting with perceived procedural justice strongest in Sweden and legal anxiety most influential in Portugal. The article contributes with a first exploration of “just culture” as a procedural justice-infused legal intervention to improve compliance to regulated occurrence reporting by negating legal anxiety in a European aviation context.

Identifying Aircraft Maintenance Trainees' English Language Learning Needs

In the quest to develop an exceptional Aviation English (AE) module for aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs), it is imperative to determine the specific English language learning needs of those majoring in aircraft maintenance. This study aimed to identify the English language skills AMEs use in their workplace. Meanwhile, the findings allowed module developers and language instructors to tailor a content-specific module that met future AMEs' language needs and helped improve their language proficiency. The qualitative study was performed at the University Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Institute of Aviation Technology (UniKL MIAT). Data were collected using three types of instruments, namely i) interviews; ii) interaction analysis, and iii) text analysis. Based on data collected from six respondents, the findings showed that AMEs require special attention in improving their writing and technical writing ability. Besides, reading is another skill that needs special attention. Those involved in aircraft maintenance must read technical manuals, give instructions, and have good comprehension ability to minimise miscommunication and misinterpretation. Furthermore, although listening and speaking skills are exceptional skills, maintenance engineers' need to master reading comprehension and writing is more than other engineering-related positions. The investigation revealed that aircraft maintenance trainees must be equipped with relevant language skills. The findings would help course module developers and language instructors produce modules that meet the aviation trainees' needs.

TRAINING OF FUTURE AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE ENGINEERS FOR IMPROVING PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION

The aim of the paper is to study the problem of future aircraft maintenance engineers’ training for improving professional communication. Higher aviation educational institutions ensure that graduates master communication skills and acquire communication competencies that allow them to solve typical tasks of their work. Due to internalization and globalization of aviation sphere, communication in the international airports is carried out in English. However, the level of English proficiency of future aircraft maintenance engineers is not sufficient to communicate effectively while performing professional tasks. To solve the problem the pedagogical conditions of future aircraft maintenance engineers’ training for improving professional communication are suggested (enhancing motivation to communicate through active interaction and creating situations of success in the classroom; modeling professional communicative situations to ensure the practical orientation of training; use of technological innovations for self-analysis and self-education). The defined pedagogical conditions are implemented through specially chosen methods: interactive (ice-breaking, warming up activities, training exercises, etc.), case study, role playing, ICT (based on Learning Management Systems MOODLE).

Human Factors in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering

Human Factors in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering

Visualization concept for maintenance information using wearable devices

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show the current state of methods for information visualization on wearable devices and demonstrate how these devices and methods can be used to support the work of aircraft maintenance engineers. This paper develops a path to make aircraft maintenance tasks more efficient and safe by providing relevant and important information to maintenance personnel matching the task they are currently working on.Design/methodology/approachThe current researchers elaborate prerequisites that wearable computing devices have to meet to use them in aircraft maintenance. Based on these prerequisites the researchers evaluate such existing devices and visualization techniques with regard to how they can be used to visualize information in aircraft maintenance processes.FindingsThis paper elaborates a roadmap how wearable devices can be applied in future aircraft maintenance scenarios. It also shows that augmented reality (AR) is a technology that shows great potential to support aircraft maintenance staff. The current researchers develop a scenario, how AR applications on wearable devices support such tasks.Practical implicationsThe implementation of the maintenance scenario that is developed in this paper will vastly reduce the possibilities of mistakes by maintenance personnel. This leads to more efficient maintenance processes and further increases the safety of aviation in general.Originality/valueAlthough AR today already is used in fields of application like gaming, an application of this technology in a safety-critical environment is not known to the author. This paper provides a step towards extending the application domains of this technology to aircraft maintenance.

Faktor-Faktor Pendorong Pengamalan Nilai-Nilai Islam dalam Kalangan Pelajar Malaysian Aviation Training Academy (MATA), Kuantan

This study aims to identify the motivating factors for the practicing of Islamic values among students at the Malaysian Aviation Training Academy. Crisis in moral and moral turmoil among students is the contributor of failure to translate Islamic values in the form of practicing in the daily lives of students should be carried out assessment so that the understanding and practization of Islamic values becomes the basis for students' lives. This study is in the form of surveys using adapted questionnaires certified by two assessors in the field of Islamic education who are experienced and have good reliability value. A total of 169 students from aircraft maintenance engineering licence courses (CAT B1.1) and aircraft maintenance technician licenses (CAT A1.1) through sampling techniques were easily involved in this study. The degree of reliability (alpha cronbach) for each study question is 0.85 for parental factor aspects, 0.79 for mass media factors, 0.74 for lecturer factors and 0.68 for peer factors. The data was analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science, Version 20. The findings found that lecturers were the highest factor with mean 4.33, followed by parental factors of 4.61, peer factor 3.65 and mass media 4.50. Finally, the implications of this study show that the emphasis on the practice of Islamic teaching is crucial so that students become a Muslim who practices good morals in everyday life based on the Quran and as-Sunnah to develop good student personality

FORMATION OF READINESS FOR PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY OF FOREIGN STUDENTS - FUTURE AVIATION ENGINEERS

The article reveals the urgency of solving the problem of forming the readiness for professional activity of foreign students-future engineers of the aviation industry in the process of their professional training. The views of modern domestic and foreign scientists on the professional training of engineering personnel in institutions of higher technical education, including aviation specialties, and current issues of training foreign students are analyzed. There are a number of contradictions faced by foreign students who come to an unfamiliar country to obtain their chosen specialty. The importance of pedagogical support during the adaptation period of foreign students is emphasized. The basic requirements and responsibilities of aircraft maintenance engineers according to the Handbook of Qualification Characteristics of Workers' Professions (Issue 68 "Air Transport") are analyzed. It was found that the readiness for professional activity of foreign students-future engineers of the aviation industry is a dynamic system of interconnected external and internal personality factors that interact in conjunction with the knowledge, skills and abilities acquired during professional training. activities. It is emphasized that the formation of readiness for professional activity of foreign students-future engineers of the aviation industry will be effective provided the creation of an appropriate educational and information environment and the construction of a personal learning trajectory

Using Convolutional Neural Networks to Automate Aircraft Maintenance Visual Inspection

Convolutional Neural Networks combined with autonomous drones are increasingly seen as enablers of partially automating the aircraft maintenance visual inspection process. Such an innovative concept can have a significant impact on aircraft operations. Though supporting aircraft maintenance engineers detect and classify a wide range of defects, the time spent on inspection can significantly be reduced. Examples of defects that can be automatically detected include aircraft dents, paint defects, cracks and holes, and lightning strike damage. Additionally, this concept could also increase the accuracy of damage detection and reduce the number of aircraft inspection incidents related to human factors like fatigue and time pressure. In our previous work, we have applied a recent Convolutional Neural Network architecture known by MASK R-CNN to detect aircraft dents. MASK-RCNN was chosen because it enables the detection of multiple objects in an image while simultaneously generating a segmentation mask for each instance. The previously obtained F1 and F2 scores were 62.67% and 59.35%, respectively. This paper extends the previous work by applying different techniques to improve and evaluate prediction performance experimentally. The approach uses include (1) Balancing the original dataset by adding images without dents; (2) Increasing data homogeneity by focusing on wing images only; (3) Exploring the potential of three augmentation techniques in improving model performance namely flipping, rotating, and blurring; and (4) using a pre-classifier in combination with MASK R-CNN. The results show that a hybrid approach combining MASK R-CNN and augmentation techniques leads to an improved performance with an F1 score of (67.50%) and F2 score of (66.37%).

EVALUATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM OF SCHOOL EDUCATION BASELINE TECHNIQUES TNI AIR FORCE

Through education programs can produce professional Air Force personnel. One of the educational programs is the basic technical vocational school education program and since the education program was implemented in the education system. it has never been evaluated. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Education Program evaluation. This research method is descriptive qualitative, using CIPP evaluation model which consist of the component of Context, Input, Process, and Product. The data collected were primary and secondary data obtained through interviews, observation and document studies. Data validation is done by triangulation. Furthermore, the data were analyzed to obtain the results of the study. The results of this study indicate that: 1) Context evaluation, obtained an excellent category score (89%) 2) Input evaluation, obtaining excellent category score (80%) 3) Process evaluation, obtaining good category score (65%) and 4) Product Evaluation, obtaining excellent category score (85%). The overall evaluation showing the results of very an effective (79,6% aspect is considered very good), it means an effective education program to achieve the goal of increasing the competence of personel of aircraft maintenance engineering techniques that will be implemented in the work environment. Thus, feasible to be continued and developed.

NON-VIBRATIONAL FAULT ANALYSIS OF TURBOJET ENGINE BEARINGS BY USING DEEP NEURAL NETWORKS

This paper depicts the implementation of deep neural networks in predicting common faults of the turbojet engine bearings by training the model with images and processing them by designing proper Deep Neural Network model apart from conventional vibration analysis methods, for faster detection of bearing health and reusability. The turbojet engines have higher main-shaft speeds operating at elevated temperature conditions, reducing the bearing estimated life and thus the need of schedule maintenance. This system can identify some of the bearing damages like cracks, dents, fatigue, fretting and smearing conditions prevailing due to thermal effects, high axial and radial loads over the main-shaft, propeller shank and auxiliary systems bearings. It finally assists the aircraft maintenance engineers and technicians to reach to the conclusions of bearing conditions by taking pictures of bearings from any device and fetching them to the system for better results of bearing conditions.

Personal and Work Factors That Predict Fatigue-Related Errors in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering.

BACKGROUND: The study aimed to identify factors associated with an increased likelihood of aircraft maintenance personnel reporting a fatigue-related error.METHODS: There were 966 maintenance engineering personnel (mean age = 42 yr, 98% male) who completed a survey with items on personal factors, work factors and a question asking whether during the last month they had made an error in their work due to tiredness. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine factors independently associated with making an error at work due to tiredness.RESULTS: Respondents obtained on average 7.0 h sleep and nearly half (45%) reported that they had felt close to falling asleep while driving home from work in the past 12 mo. Most respondents (70%) had received no education on strategies for coping with shift work. Among respondents, 22% agreed/strongly agreed with the statement "During the last month, I have made an error in my work due to tiredness." Unexpected roster changes independently predicted the likelihood of reporting an error in work due to tiredness and for certain groups of aircraft maintenance personnel, < 6.5 h sleep increased the odds of an error in work due to tiredness fivefold, whereas > 7.5 h sleep almost halved the odds of reporting such an error.DISCUSSION: These findings indicate the importance of stable and predictable work patterns to minimize the risk of fatigue-related errors in this safety critical environment, and also the need for education on coping with shift work to ensure the workforce are best placed to manage their sleep away from work.Signal TL, van den Berg MJ, Mulrine HM. Personal and work factors that predict fatigue-related errors in aircraft maintenance engineering. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2019; 90(10):860-866.

The Methods and Learning Design of English for Specific Purpose for Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Subject in Aviation English

This research discusses about English for specific purposes in particular integration of the methods and learning design in aircraft maintenance engineering subject for cadets in Aviation Polytechnic of Surabaya. Aviation Polytechnic of Surabaya has some specific curricullum of each study programs. The curriculum depends on the major of each study programs. The researchers concern for aircraft maintenance engineering study program in aviation english subject to be researched. The researchers interested to explain the vocabulary subject in Aviation English by deviding into 4 groups, this research offers an example passage of how this can be done and evaluated the passage. Requirements analysis is made and the curriculum is presented on the teaching of vocabulary subject in Aviation English using observation and comparison methods, so the cadets can get and learn the aircraft engineering subject in theory and practice effectively in the classroom and apply it in the world of work. The results of this research is to analyze the progress of the cadets skill using these designs or methods by practicing and exploring their knowledge, we can see the table result of each group in this paper. The cadets can learn many vocabularies and understand the curriculum design of aircraft maintenance engineering subject in Aviation English and organize the material for learning that is appropriate to current conditions.

The Methods and Learning Design of English for Specific Purpose for Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Subject in Aviation English

This research discusses about English for specific purposes in particular integration of the methods and learning design in aircraft maintenance engineering subject for cadets in Aviation Polytechnic of Surabaya. Aviation Polytechnic of Surabaya has some specific curricullum of each study programs. The curriculum depends on the major of each study programs. The researchers concern for aircraft maintenance engineering study program in aviation english subject to be researched.&#x0D; The researchers interested to explain the vocabulary subject in Aviation English by deviding into 4 groups, this research offers an example passage of how this can be done and evaluated the passage. Requirements analysis is made and the curriculum is presented on the teaching of vocabulary subject in Aviation English using observation and comparison methods, so the cadets can get and learn the aircraft engineering subject in theory and practice effectively in the classroom and apply it in the world of work.&#x0D; The results of this research is to analyze the progress of the cadets skill using these designs or methods by practicing and exploring their knowledge, we can see the table result of each group in this paper. The cadets can learn many vocabularies and understand the curriculum design of aircraft maintenance engineering subject in Aviation English and organize the material for learning that is appropriate to current conditions.&#x0D;

Flying Off the Handle: Affective Influences on Decision Making and Action Tendencies in Real-World Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Scenarios

While not as glamorous as flying, aircraft maintenance is a fundamental of aviation safety, and improper or inadequate maintenance can have far reaching consequences. With this in mind, and considering the paucity of substantive research in aircraft maintenance engineering, this study investigated how affect influenced decision making and action tendency in real-world challenging maintenance engineering scenarios in general aviation (GA). A study was undertaken combining a naturalistic decision making (NDM) technique with the Appraisal Tendency Framework (ATF) to analyze 10 different scenarios collected from aircraft maintenance engineers. A total of 11 contextual factors were elicited from which seven specific emotions emerged: anger, frustration, pride, hope, guilt, fear, and contempt. In most instances, the emotion was found to be incidental, meaning that the feelings at the time of the decision were not normatively relevant for deciding. Anger and contempt created action tendencies for risk taking, while feelings of pride were found to have a protective effect. The findings suggest that affect regulation is an inherent part of the system, such that affect dysregulation may represent a potential contributing factor for negative outcomes arising from action tendencies associated with other complex system influences. Future research directions are given.

Relationship between work position and the occurence of low back pain among aircraft maintenance engineer of PT. GMF AeroAsia at Ngurah Rai International Airport

Low back pain is the most common musculoskeletal disorders, with the prevalence of 60% -70% in industrial countries. Working position, repetitive work, load, vibration are major risk factors of low back pain. Worker as an aircraft maintenance engineer is thought to be one of the risk factors for low back pain. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between working position with the occurence of low back pain in aircraft maintenance engineers. This study used cross-sectional analytic design. The variables studied in this study were working position as independent variable and lower back pain as dependent variable. The samples of this reseach were aircraft maintenance engineers of PT. GMF AeroAsia at Ngurah Rai International Airport, comprising 48 employees selected by simple random sampling from 100 employees in the population. The data collected were primary data obtained by observation and questionnaires of Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire and REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment). Data analysis was performed by using cross-tab with chi square test (α = 0,05). The results showed that most respondents aged 45-54 years (37.5%), working with high risk work position (56.3%), complaining minimal disability of low back pain 30 (62.5%). The analysis results indicated a moderate andsignificant positive correlation (p = 0,029; r = 0,337).