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Module 7 (Maintenance Practices) Sub Module 7.18 (Aircraft Disassembly, Inspection, Repair and Assembly Techniques) PDF
Module 7 (Maintenance Practices) Sub Module 7.18 (Aircraft Disassembly, Inspection, Repair and Assembly Techniques) PDF
Category A/B1
MODULE 7
Sub Module 7.18
7.18
Contents
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 1
TYPES OF DEFECTS............................................................... 1
VISUAL INSPECTION TECHNIQUES .................................... 10
CORROSION REMOVAL, ASSESSMENT AND
REPROTECTION ................................................................... 14
GENERAL REPAIR METHODS .............................................. 19
STRUCTURAL REPAIR MANUAL (SRM) ............................... 23
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING/INSPECTION (NDT/NDI)
TECHNIQUES ........................................................................ 25
REMOTE VIEWING INSTRUMENTS ...................................... 27
PENETRANT FLAW DETECTION (PFD)................................ 31
ULTRASONIC FLAW DETECTION (UFD) .............................. 32
EDDY CURRENT FLAW DETECTION (ECFD) ...................... 39
RADIOGRAPHIC FLAW DETECTION (RFD) ......................... 42
DISASSEMBLY AND RE-ASSEMBLY TECHNIQUES ............ 44
TROUBLESHOOTING ............................................................ 51
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INTRODUCTION
TYPES OF DEFECTS
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External Damage
Correct alignment no fouling
Free movement, distortion, evidence of
bowing
Scores, chafing, fraying, kinking
Evidence of wear, flattening
Cracks, loose rivets, deterioration of
protective treatment and corrosion
Electrical bonding correctly positioned,
undamaged and secure
Attachments, end connections and locking
secure.
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Dimensions
There are a number of places where checking the measurement
of a component can establish its serviceability. Landing gear
oleo shock struts can be checked for correct inflation, by
measuring their extension. If the dimension is less than quoted
in the manual, then it may be low on pressure and further
checks will be required. These checks are usually only done
during line maintenance, with checking of the pressure being
required for trouble shooting or hangar maintenance.
Combined hydraulic and spring dampers, fitted to some landing
gears, often have one or more engraved lines on the sliding
portion of the unit. This can indicate whether the hydraulic precharge is correct or requires replenishment.
Tyres
Tyres have their serviceability indicated by the depth of the
groove in the tyre tread. The AMM gives information of what
constitutes a worn or damaged tyre.
Apart from normal wear, other defects, that can affect a tyre, are
cuts, blisters, creep and low pressure.
Most tyres can be re-treaded a number of times after they have
reached their wear limits, but the retread can only be completed
if the complete tyre has not been damaged badly.
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Brakes
Brake units are normally attached onto the axle of an
undercarriage leg, and located inside the well of the main
wheels. During braking operation they absorb large amounts of
energy as heat. This results in the brake rotors and stators
wearing away and, if they become too hot, the stator material
may break up.
Inspection of brake units between flights is essential, to check
for signs of excessive heating and to ensure that they have not
worn beyond their limits.
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Retaining Ring
The reason for the ruptured disc (refer Fig. 1) could be due to a
fire extinguisher having been operated or the extinguishant
having been discharged due to an excessive pressure being
reached.
Frangible Disc
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Fig. 1
External Probes
There are several different types of probe, projecting into the
airflow, to send information to the flight deck. These can include
the pitot/static probes and the angle-of attack (AOA) probes.
To prevent these from freezing they have electrical heating
elements built into them and, occasionally, they can become
overheated. Usually this is when they are left switched on on
the ground with a faulty weigh-on-wheels (WOW) switch.
These items can be of any size and can be faulty for several
reasons. They can be damaged by excessive use and their
frames can become damaged where items have to be passed
through them (such as with baggage hold doors).
If the latches are poorly designed or badly adjusted, they may
have been operated with incorrect tools during service and may
have been damaged.
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Light Bulbs
Lifed Items
There are a number of items on the aircraft that have a specific
length of time in service (known as a life). They would be major
airframe and engine components with finite fatigue lives. The
company technical department monitors these and they will be
replaced during major servicing.
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Figure A
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The most vulnerable skins are those which have been integrally
machined, usually in main-plane structures. Due to the alloys
and to the manufacturing processes used, they can be
susceptible to intergranular and exfoliation corrosion.
Small bumps or raised areas under the paint sometimes
indicate exfoliation of the actual metal. Treatment requires
removal of all exfoliated metal followed by blending and
restoration of the finish.
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Electrical Equipment
Sealing, venting and protective paint cannot wholly obviate the
corrosion in battery compartments. Spray, from electrolyte,
spreads to adjacent cavities and causes rapid attack on
unprotected surfaces. Inspection should also be extended to all
vent systems associated with battery bays.
Circuit-breakers, contacts and switches are extremely sensitive
to the effects of corrosion and need close inspection.
Control Cables
Loss of protective coatings, on carbon steel control cables can,
over a period of time, lead to mechanical problems and system
failure. Corrosion-resistant cables, can also be affected by
corrosive, marine environments.
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
PTC/CM/B1.1 Basic/M7/04
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Sub Module 7.18 - Aircraft disassembly, inspection, repair and assembly techniques
Category A/B1
CORROSION
REMOVAL,
REPROTECTION
ASSESSMENT
AND
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Acid Spillage
An acid spillage, on aircraft components, can cause severe
damage. Acids will corrode most metals used in the
construction of aircraft. They will also destroy wood and most
other fabrics. Correct Health and Safety procedures must be
followed when working with such spillages.
Aircraft batteries, of the lead/acid type, give off acidic fumes and
battery bays should be well ventilated, while surfaces in the
area should be treated with anti-acid paint. Vigilance is required
of everyone working in the vicinity of batteries, to detect (as
early as possible) the signs of acid spillage. The correct
procedure to be taken, in the event of an acid spillage, is as
follows:
Alkali Spillage
This is most likely to occur from the alternative Nickel-Cadmium
(Ni-Cd) or Nickel-Iron (Ni-Fe) type of batteries, containing an
electrolyte of Potassium Hydroxide (or Potassium Hydrate).
The compartments of these batteries should also be painted
with anti-corrosive paint and adequate ventilation is as
important as with the lead/acid type of batteries. Proper Health
and Safety procedures are, again, imperative.
Removal of the alkali spillage, and subsequent protective
treatment, follows the same basic steps as outlined in acid
spillage, with the exception that the alkali is neutralised with a
solution of 5% (by weight) of chromic acid crystals in water.
Wash the area using this mixture and rinse with cold
water
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Mercury Spillage
WARNING: MERCURY (AND ITS VAPOUR) IS EXTREMELY
TOXIC. INSTANCES OF MERCURY POISONING MUST, BY
LAW, BE REPORTED TO THE HEALTH AND SAFETY
EXECUTIVE. ALL SAFETY PRECAUTIONS RELATING TO
THE SAFE HANDLING OF MERCURY MUST BE STRICTLY
FOLLOWED.
Mercury contamination is far more serious than any of the
battery spillages and prompt action is required to ensure the
integrity of the aircraft structure.
While contamination from mercury is extremely rare on
passenger aircraft, sources of mercury spillage result from the
breakage of (or leakage from) containers, instruments, switches
and certain test equipment. The spilled mercury can, quickly,
separate into small globules, which have the capability of
flowing (hence its name Quick Silver) into the tiniest of
crevices, to create damage.
Mercury can rapidly attack bare light alloys (it forms an
amalgam with metals), causing intergranular penetration and
embrittlement which can start cracks and accelerate powder
propagation, resulting in a potentially catastrophic weakening of
the aircraft structure.
Signs of mercury attack on aluminium alloys are greyish
powder, whiskery growths, or fuzzy deposits. If mercury
corrosion is found, or suspected, then it must be assumed that
intergranular penetration has occurred and the structural
strength is impaired. The metal in that area should be removed
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
PTC/CM/B1.1 Basic/M7/04
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For Category B repairs, the threshold starts from the time the
repair was installed if the repair fasteners in the critical rows
have been installed in new fastener holes or existing fastener
holes that have been zero-timed. If the repair fasteners are
installed in existing fastener holes that have not been zerotimed, the inspection threshold will start from the time the
airplane was delivered.
(7) Time-Limit: The maximum period in flight cycles, flight hours
or calendar time that is permitted until it is necessary to replace
or rework a time-limited repair.
(8) Zero-Timing: The process used to improve the repair
durability in order to make the inspection threshold start from
the time the repair is installed. This involves the removal of
small cracks and fatigue damaged material by over sizing the
existing fastener holes before the repair is installed as given in
GENERAL. Zero-timing must only be used where specifically
permitted in an SRM chapter-section-repair. Also zero-timing
must not cause short edge margin and fastener spacing, and
knife-edging on the repair fasteners.
(9) Critical Fastener Row: Fastener row to be inspected to meet
damage tolerance requirements.
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Cladding
The hot rolling of pure aluminium onto aluminium alloy (Alclad)
has already been discussed, as has the problem associated
with the cladding becoming damaged, exposing the core, and
the resulting corrosion of the core alloy.
Surface Conversion Coatings
These are produced by chemical action. The treatment changes
the immediate surface layer into a film of metal oxide, which has
better corrosion resistance than the metal. Among those widely
used on aircraft are:
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Sub Module 7.18 - Aircraft disassembly, inspection, repair and assembly techniques
Category A/B1
NON-DESTRUCTIVE
TECHNIQUES
TESTING/INSPECTION
(NDT/NDI)
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Inspection Mirrors
Magnifying Glasses.
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Penetrant flaw detection may be used to detect surfacebreaking discontinuities in any non-porous materials, including
ceramics metals, and plastics. It may also be used to detect
porosity in those materials that should not be porous, leaks in
tanks and cracking of internal bores.
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m/sec
343
1,480
2,680
5,640
5,900
6,350
ft/sec
1,125
4,854
8,793
18,500
19,351
20,827
Back
Wall
Echo
Pulse
Pulse
Generator
Time Base
Controller
Probe
Controller
X-plate
Amplifier
Y-plate
Probe
Back Wall
Component
under
Inspection
Couplant between
Probe and
Inspection Surface
Sound Beam
and
Echo
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Category A/B1
Compressional Wave
Probe
(a)
(b)
Initial
Back Wall
Pulse
(a)
Echo
(c)
Echo from Flaw
Reduction of
(b)
Total Reflection
from Flaw
(c)
with loss of
7.18 - 36
Category A/B1
Shear Wave
Tx
Probe
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Rx
(b
)
Through Transmission or Pitch and Catch
Methods (Fig. 7)
(a)
7.18 - 38
This technique uses the fact that a material will vibrate at its
maximum amplitude when the sound is at the resonant
frequency for a given thickness of that material. Thus a
certain thickness of properly bonded structure will vibrate at
maximum amplitude at a specific frequency when an
ultrasonic transducer is applied to its surface.
The amplitude and frequency of the sound can be displayed
on an oscilloscope and, when the transducer passes over a
de-bonded area, the loss of adhesion will be detected as a
change in thickness of the material. This results in a change
of amplitude and a shift in the frequency range on the
oscilloscope, such that the de-bonded area can be quite
easily located.
Acoustic Emission techniques involve the placing of
piezoelectric transducers at critical positions on spars or
struts and the monitoring of the sounds being given out as a
crack propagates through the metal.
The information is electronically processed and, through
appropriate circuitry, can be linked to recording devices or
real time warning lamps to indicate the progress and
severity of the cracking or wear in the particular structure.
ac Supply
Ferrite Core
Alternating Magnetic
Field around Coil
Conductive Material
under Inspection
Induced Alternating
Electrical Currents
Principles of ECFD
Eddy currents are alternating electrical currents, which are
induced, into a conductive material, by an alternating magnetic
field. They circulate in the material in a plane normal to the field,
which produces them.
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Fig. 8
Conductivity
Permeability
Frequency
Proximity
Probe Handling
Discontinuities.
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Category A/B1
Infra-red
Radar
Radio
Rays
TV
UV Rays
White
Light
Cosmic
Rays
X & Gamma
Rays
1m
10 m
0.01 m
0.1m
100 m
0.001 m
10 m
1 m
10 nm
100 nm
0.1 nm
1nm
10 -3 nm
0.01 nm
10 -5 nm
10 -4 nm
10 -7 nm
10 -6 nm
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Complete Airframes
It may be necessary to dismantle a complete aircraft for the
purpose of transportation by road or by air. This could be for
recovery from an accident site, remote from the airfield or for
movement of the aircraft when it is totally non-airworthy, due
perhaps to severe corrosion or an unknown maintenance
history.
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Main planes
Tail unit
Undercarriage units
Centre section
Fuselage.
7.18 - 46
The full procedure for this type of work will be carried out in
accordance with the CMM. This book will give all the operations
required to dismantle the component and will advise what to
look for whilst the item is undergoing maintenance. It will also
state the re-assembly method, including the fitting of new parts
such as seals, gaskets, oil and other consumables that have to
be replaced, during overhaul.
Disassembly and Re-assembly of Minor Components
A typical passenger aircraft can contain hundreds of small
components that work together as parts of a larger system. This
can include a wide range of hydraulic and pneumatic
components that can be mechanical, electromechanical or
electrical in operation.
Other components might include those installed into fuel, air
conditioning, pressurisation, electrical and electronic systems.
These components have their own CMM to allow maintenance
and trouble-shooting to be done. Some components are only
removed once they fail (On-Condition), while others receive
regular maintenance.
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There are many other items that have a given life. This may be
counted in flying hours, calendar time or operating cycles, which
will mean that items have to be replaced throughout the life of
the aircraft.
If aircraft, or major components of them, have been
disassembled, it may be policy to replace components with
zero life items prior to re-assembly. This will allow the aircraft
to fly for considerable time before any parts become due for
replacement.
Freeing Seized Components
that only the correct tools are used for each and every
maintenance task.
When, for example, using a cross point screwdriver, it is
possible to find at least six different types of screw bits, each of
which only fits its own respective screw head slot.
The removal of nuts from bolts is normally accomplished using
a socket and wrench set and these sockets can be of the
twelve-point or six- point type. When spanners need to be used,
preference should be given to a ring spanner rather than an
open-ended spanner. Adjustable spanners or mole grips
should never be used on aircraft.
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TROUBLESHOOTING
Troubleshooting is a form of problem solving, often applied to
repair failed products or processes. It is a logical, systematic
search for the source of a problem so that it can be solved, and
so the product or process can be made operational again.
Troubleshooting is needed to develop and maintain complex
systems where the symptoms of a problem can have many
possible causes. Troubleshooting is used in many fields such
as engineering, system, administration, electronics, automotive
repair, and diagnostic medicine. Troubleshooting requires
identification of the malfunction(s) or symptoms within a system.
Then, experience is commonly used to generate possible
causes of the symptoms. Determining the most likely cause is
a process of elimination - eliminating potential causes of a
problem. Finally, troubleshooting requires confirmation that the
solution restores the product or process to its working state.
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Terminology
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Theory
The AMIT program's strategic goal was to identify a set of
changes to the current AF maintenance environment that would
improve troubleshooters' overall proficiency, thereby increasing
aircraft availability. The team's first challenge was to identify a
set of metrics that establish a baseline, against which
improvement could be measured. It was evident from the
program's outset that the metrics collected during the field
demonstration test (FDT) were vital to the program's credibility
in the scientific community and critical to a business case for
transitioning the solution into the field if the solution were
successful. Those metrics and the practicability of their
collection would be considerations in both the design of the
solution as well as the design of the FDT.
Troubleshooting proficiency, a function of both task accuracy
and task time, would be an ideal metric. Plotting the average
troubleshooters' proficiency quotients over time would yield a
trend line's direction and indicate whether or not changes in the
AF's maintenance environment were beneficial or detrimental.
In addition, its slope would indicate the rate of change. A
positive and large slope would indicate that the changes were
increasing proficiency; aircraft availability trend analyses should
show a corresponding improvement. Since the AF does not
presently derive such a metric, developing and validating a
methodology for doing so was outside the spirit, scope, and
resources of the AMIT program. The team had to identify other
practicable metrics to quantitatively demonstrate any
performance improvements afforded by the solution.
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Extent of Theory
A by-product of the AMIT program was the documented
paradigm of the AF flight maintenance environment shown in
Figure 2. The paradigm provided a working framework within
which the Team could rate and prioritize all change
opportunities for their potential impact.
The three dimensions illustrate the three facets of on-aircraft
maintenance believed to hold the greatest improvement
potential. The x-axis represents the daily operational
environment for a maintainer, predominately a time-based
sequence of prescribed procedures and practices. If it can be
assumed that all flightlines comply with Air Force Instruction
(AFI) 21-101, "Aircraft and Equipment Maintenance
Management," then, arguably, any improvement(s) made by the
AMIT solution along this dimension are extensible across the
entire AF.
The y-axis depicts the event-based nature of each maintenance
scenario. Random failures occurring on an aircraft trigger and
gauge the series of actions along the x-axis. Since random
failures are the result of inherent characteristics in electrical,
electronic, and mechanical devices and are not typically
affected by human performance, the AMIT team left this area to
those involved with the practical applications of probability
theory.
7.18 - 57
Assumptions / Constraints
The z-axis represents the cognitive dimension of maintenance.
Troubleshooters synthesize data and information into
knowledge, and make intuitive leaps from symptoms to
solutions in this dimension. Cyclically, novices mature to experts
as they gain wisdom and that wisdom or corporate knowledge
erodes away as the experts move on with their lives and
careers.
Thus,
the
AMIT
program's
problem/solution
space
encompassed the entire AF maintenance paradigm: doctrine,
organization, training and education, materiel, leadership,
personnel, and facilities; the physical work and information
processing environments; the maintainer's psychological
makeup, including the way they learn and think; their decision
making skills and habits; and their character traits. All were
considered to be within scope during the program's formative
period.
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Process Interviews
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