Some best tips and things to think about in maintenance planning for flight training providers.

1. Aircraft Maintenance Tips
and Best Practices for
Flight Training Providers
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Things You Can Do to Maximize “Up
Time” for your Aircraft and Minimize
Maintenance Expenses

2. Not Flying = Not Making Money
• It’s simple, but if the aircraft isn’t generating
revenue, its costing you;
• Maximize in service time whenever possible;
• Minimized maintenance down time.
This generates more revenue generation time
from the aircraft resources you maintain.
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3. Maintenance Based
on Hobbs or Tach?
• Tach runs slower; maintenance
should be done on TACH,
billing on HOBBS
• Hobbs should be connected
to battery power
• Tach should be associated
with engine (other?)
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4. Maintenance Tach Tips
• Tach can be based on in flight
time; eg, off the ground;
• Tach can be associated with
wheels up, doesn’t kill all
that extra taxi time.
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5. The Heater Inspection on “Twins”
• Set up to us separate “Heater Hobbs”;
• Should activate when heater is actually used;
• Some just inspect every 100 hour inspection;
• Some (warm climate aircraft) disable to avoid
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6. Maintenance During Down Days /
Times / Vacation Times
• Overnight Maintenance
• Bad Weather Day Maintenance
• Holiday Maintenance during shutdowns
• Be the boss
of when your
maintenance staff
works; its business.
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7. Schedule Maintenance
• Don’t let an aircraft go down for maintenance
in busy days because you were “waiting for it
to hit the 100-hour inspection”;
• Have common wear items you will need on
hand or get them for JIT maintenance
provision ready;
• Routine maintenance should never be a
surprise.
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8. Tires
• New?
• Retread?
• Big Name Brand?
• Rotate the Tires?
Watch your aircraft; even wear on tires is a big
concern with student landings and can quickly
limit the life of the tires on your aircraft.
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9. Fleet Standardization = Reduced Cost
of Maintenance
• Parts stock needed to keep on hand is
minimized;
• Maintenance staff skills are maximized;
• More effective for training for students also.
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10. Inspections Planning
• 100 hour inspection is almost always the same
as an annual, if your mechanic is an IA have it
signed off as an annual inspection;
• Plan these ahead; early if it maximizes in
service time is OK (nights, bad weather days,
etc.)
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11. Preventative Maintenance Allowances
* 14 CFR Appendix A to Part 43 - Major Alterations,
Major Repairs, and Preventive Maintenance
• Have someone who can do oil changes,
change nav light bulbs, etc.
• This is especially helpful for operation that
doesn’t have maintenance of its own or even
on their airport;
• Utilize the FAA “preventative maintenance”
things a pilot/owner/operator is allowed to do
for a lower cost staff member and to avoid
down time.
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12. Build a Culture of Reporting any
Maintenance Discrepancies
• Broken things get worse, make maintenance
take longer or break more things later;
• Build a culture in instructors and customers
that reporting maintenance discrepancies is
critical;
• Letting broken things go can become a MAJOR
liability issue if it results in
accident/incident/injuries.
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