Damage outside Structural Repair Manual limits, found on day four of a C-check.
How many days of the slot do you actually budget for getting "extra" approved repair data?
The mechanics are familiar. Perhaps you want to avoid to approach the TC holder directly; the finding goes to an EASA-approved design organisation you work with. Maybe your own DOA? Meanwhile the aircraft sits open, the hangar plan is built around a re-delivery date, and the operator's planning has been re-arranged. So far, so good: unexpected findings during heavy maintenance is the daily life of many 145. But then, in my experience, is where the mechanism starts grinding and sometime comes to a painful halt: when it comes to designing the repair solution and the DOA gets involved... or at least that it is how it feels...
Because, from the design side, I rarely see the turnaround lost in the engineering. A DOA with primary structure in its Terms of Approval normally knows what to do and doesn't need weeks to find a design solution. No, the time is lost in the handover:
- incomplete damage descriptions
- missing photos or measurements
- doubt about the aircraft's exact configuration
- questions bouncing across time zones Every loop costs a day.
Some MROs agree a standard damage report package with their DOA partners before the check starts. Others treat every finding as a fresh conversation. A question for Part 145 planners and CAMO engineers heading to MRO Europe in Amsterdam at the end of the month: what is the one piece of information your DOA always ends up asking for twice?