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Nagpur: Right since its outset Nagpur MIHAN has been plagued with more nay Sayers and pessimistic forecasts. May be one section of Maharashtra politicians did have a stake in putting down MIHAN, or rather Vidarbha itself and therefore such rumours are circulated periodically.
One such rumour doing the round right now is that the Air India MRO placed in Nagpur is in trouble and may not “take off”.
The bad news for such pessimists is that only has it already taken off but working efficiently and well.
Air India MRO at Nagpur has just concluded a Check – D on a Boeing. Check D is the most complex and comprehensive test done on Boeing planes that have finished certain specified flying hours and landings and take off. It requires a month to finish this test.
What are these A B C D checks?
Aircraft maintenance is an area of significant importance because maintaining an aircraft in a good condition increases aviation safety. Modern aviation maintenance is divided into four checks: A; B; C; and D checks. These checks are carried out at predetermined times based on the number of flight cycles (landings and take-offs) or flight time. These checks are performed under a maintenance program founded on MSG-3.
In 1968 the Boeing Company developed the Maintenance Steering Group (MSG), maintenance schedule to ensure the safety of their B747-100 aircraft . This approach moved away from the tradition of “overhaul and replace at time intervals” to one that considered the type of tasks and intervals needed to keep the aircraft safe. MSG was found to be very successful because it saved time, money and unnecessary interference with components therefore, the company found a need to apply the same approach to all their aircraft. Thus, MSG was made applicable to more aircraft by making it more general. This new general version was named as MSG-2. However, over time MSG-2 was found to have some significant drawbacks. To overcome these failures MSG-3 came into existance in 1980. Today, most of the world’s aircraft maintenance organisations are using MSG-3 approach.
Checks are categorized according to complexity as below:
A Check
A Check is a light check carried out usually overnight at an airport gate. This check is carried out every month or every 500 flight hours, however, depending on the aircraft type the timing can change.
B Check
B Check is also a light check carried overnight at an airport gate. This check is normally performed every 3 months.
C Check
C Check is a heavy maintenance check usually carried out every year or every 1.5 years. Since this check requires de assembly of critical parts, this check is performed in a hangar.
D Check
D Check is sometimes called overhaul check or heavy maintenance check. This check is performed in every 4-5 years: inspection of entire aircraft is carried out.
Nagpur Today also learnt from reliable sources that this information was not shared with the press or public by Air India before because there are strict instructions to not talk with the media just so that rumors are avoided.
But this most complex D check being carried out at Nagpur shows the capability of the MRO at Nagpur.
Aviation experts also opine though that more budgetary allocation and encouragement was expected for this sector from the Budget which was lacking.
… Sunita Mudliyar ( Associate Editor )
