3 Common Maintenance Issues With Aircraft (And How to Avoid Them!)

If you’ve ever flown on an airplane, you might think, “How do these things get repaired?

After all, aircraft travel is huge throughout the United States and throughout the world. In 2015, 24 million general aviation flight hours were logged and in 2011 it was estimated that there were roughly 224,000 total active general aviation craft in the United States.

That’s a lot of planes.

And for every plane, there’s at least one person providing maintenance for them. It’s a full-time job with strong pay. There are an inherent risk and responsibility to it as well. Maintenance for aircrafts means keeping people safe and that’s often the bottom line when it comes to travel.

But what goes into maintenance for aircrafts? Here are three components.

The Vibration Analaysis

Vibration is never good for an airplane and can be caused by numerous factors. These include propeller assembly imbalance, weak cylinders, cracked intake hoses, issues with alternators, issues with the gearbox, and more.

None of this should be ignored. Any vibration is a sign that the force and energy of the propeller are being directed into the aircraft, which is a sign that something needs to be repaired. This problem shouldn’t be ignored.

To diagnose the problem, you can use a portable vibration analyzer and fix the problem, portable vibration balancing equipment. There is also the option for a propeller balancer.
Contaminated Fuel Tanks

One issue that often occurs with aircraft happens with a shift in climate. This is the contaminated fuel tank. A contaminated fuel tank can happen for a few reasons but sometimes it is the result of an aircraft moving from a certain climate to a warmer, more humid climate.

One way to solve this or to prevent this is to drain fuel more frequently or use scientific tools to perform test samples of the fuel. This can give you an idea of the problem just as it is starting.

This can go along with your routine maintenance of the aircraft or as a general part of aircraft maintenance.

Worn Engine Fan Blades

A major cause for concern, especially with aircraft that fly through inclement weather, is the issue of the engine fan blades. Often, these fan blades can become worn or damaged during rough weather, to the point where they might need to be replaced.

One option here for preventing the costly damage of replacing the fan blades is to inspect them often. Doing this will catch any problems and allow for any maintenance of the fan blades that’s necessary before you have to replace them.

In these cases, you might want to look for a tool that measures fan balance or something along the lines of fan trim balance testing. These should help you get an idea of the state of the engine fans before needing to replace them.

Those are three common maintenance problems with aircraft. As always with maintenance for aircrafts, it’s important to perform it often, which could save a large amount of money if you need to replace parts.