Sep 11 - Indian Airforce

a machine in times of scarcity. We have an AFOwhich deals with the concessions and also directsthe members of the group to take responsibilityfor the same.The ageing fleet of a large number ofaircraft in the Air Force face the problems of nonavailability of mandatory, ARS/ Non ARS sparespublications/testers causing the units to raisedemands and take concessions on the same.The procurement procedures involved in theirbulk purchase from foreign vendors /originalequipment manufacturer often takes months dueto obsolesce and outdated requirements whichare no more in use in other countries. Hence,it is the responsibility of the units to conserveand preserve them as far as possible and alsopredict their advance requirements to concernedagencies.Frequent grant of Concessions certainly leadsto lowering down of the Quality of the productand may result in jeopardising aviation safety.Therefore, the following points needs to be strictlycompiled while granting concessions: Ensure that strength, functioning, interchangeability or safety of aircraft and or personnelis not affected.Clearly indicate the period of concession Concessions for transport aircraft are to begranted for periods of not more than 6 months/ next 250 hours/nearest minor servicing whichever is earlier For fighter / bomber aircraft concessions areto be taken for periods not more than 6 months/ next 125 hours / nearest minor servicing whichever is earlierThus, the only remedy in such dire situationsis to fly the aircraft on concession for a particularperiod. This is often resorted to withoutconsidering the overall effect of the concessionand may lead to disastrous situation on the whole.An example of a fall out of concession is a case offire which took place in one of the MI-17 unit thisyear, where the loom of a cable passing beside theengine panel had shorted, causing a fire during DIof the ac. The anti icing system was on concession.Thus, its cable loom was not being inspected dueto its difficult location. Eventually it shorted dueto a cut on its insulating sheath. The other tradesmen too were not cautious as the disused cablewas not in the sight but hidden under the panel.Thus, a total insight in to a concession is requiredto be taken. A concession should be in all casescoupled with a secondary maintenance activity ifthe main cannot be performed. For example, thesystem be checked by possible alternate methodsat a given periodicity in case of concessionsfor the main activity is not possible due to nonavailability of tester and spare with more stress onsafety and integrity. This alternate activity couldbe thought at unit /BRD level in consultation withall the ‘USTADs’ of all trades including aircrew fortheir valuable inputs. This is the concept of QualityCircle on Concessions and is more apt in the timesof scarcity as it gives positive directions to themaintenance staff in absence of the spare/ tester.There are a large number of concessions onthe ageing fleet of MI-17, AVRO, AN32, MI-8 etcwhich have been taken for a long period due tovarious non availability of spares and should betackled in a two pronged attack. Firstly, our effortshould be to procure the items or indigenise thesame in the BRD / HAL. Secondly, form a ‘Qualitycircle’ to suggest alternate and equivalent methodsof testing the same in the fleet. Initially theconcessions should be granted for a period of twomonths in which necessary important inputs fromthe field units are taken and an alternate servicingplan with necessary justification is approved bythe BRD/HAL before finalising the concession fora longer period. The implementation of thesepolicies will go a long way in preventing incidentsin our ageing fleets.- Wg Cdr V MathurINDIAN AIR FORCE 2 0 1 1 S e p t e m b e r Aerospace Safety 9