Lifecycle Information of Aircraft Engine Maintenance

Abstract

When an aircraft component needs replacement of a serially controlled item, the maintenance office uses the Scheduled Removal Component (SRC) card, which is used to track the component's lifecycle, to verify that the part is ready-for-issue and to verify how many flight-hours it still has left. Unfortunately, SRC cards are often missing; when they are present, their information is unreliable, which prevents the part from being immediately installed. This study analyzes the impact of the current paper-based lifecycle management of serially controlled parts in the naval aviation community. It investigates item-unique identification and radio-frequency identification technologies as alternative ways of tracking these parts throughout their lifecycles in order to increase aircraft operational availability.