“Our plane is coming from the hangar…”- nothing struck fear and dread into the hearts of myself and my fellow crewmembers than the utterance of that misfortunate phrase.
Because here’s what that really meant: “Our plane has been in that hangar for about a week and we’ll be lucky if it’s even able to be towed over to us in one piece over the next 3 hours, as the maintenance team struggles to fix all 67 problems on the ride over.”
Or something like that.
Running an airline is incredibly complex- even under ideal conditions. Throw in a snowstorm or a random landing gear malfunction and the ramifications are innumerable; ripple effects that rival that one scene in Jurassic Park.
So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that “Predictive Aircraft Maintenance” is an up-and-coming thing. I’ll chalk it up to being out of the game for a few years, but frankly, this is one of the best things I’ve heard of coming out of the woodwork as staff shortages continue to wage war on smooth operations.