AIRCRAFT POWER PLANT MAINTENANCE: SPECTROMETRIC AND SONIC OILS ANALYSIS

A PAPER by A. E. Davies, C.Eng., A.F.R.Ae.S. to The Institute of Marine Engineers on 14th March 1972 titled Principles and Practice of Aircraft Powerplant Maintenance examined the development of maintenance practices from early days to the radical changes in philosophy and applications brought about by realization of the heavy cost of maintenance and its apparently low efficiency. Particular attention was paid to methods of testing and inspection to determine periods between overhauls. The author points out that ‘overhaul’ as a means of maintaining and restoring performance and reliability is a dying concept. We have moved to better techniques based on a deeper understanding of failure modes, interactions between Reliability and Maintainability and actual defect analysis.