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This approach is global for all systemsinstalled on Airbus aircraft and includesIFE (In Flight Entertainment) systems. Both proposals in the previous articlefrom Emirates Airline are very valid ones,which in their principle complementinvestigation paths under study in

Airbus. In the next issue of FASTMagazine, we will share in more detailAirbus vision for the future for IFESystems trend monitoring and enhancedmaintenance processes using theaircraft as a major node of a network asshown above.

CONTACT DETAILS

Marc VirilliHead of Cabin and Cargo SystemsAirbus Customer ServicesTel: +33 (0)5 61 93 46 41Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 44 [email protected]

Conclusion

PERFORMANCE MONITORING OF IFE SYSTEMS - AIRBUS VISION FOR THE FUTURE

Performance monitoringof IFE systems

Airbus vision for the future

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THE A380 MAINTENANCE PROGRAMME IS BORN! - A MAJOR SUCCESS BY ALL INVOLVED

Christian DelmasDirector Maintainability

and Maintenance EngineeringAirbus Customer Services

The A380maintenanceprogramme is born!A major success by all involved

On 23 December 2005, Airbus received accep-tance of the A380 Maintenance Review BoardReport (MRBR) from the European AviationSafety Agency (EASA). This significant achieve-ment is one major step in the A380 scheduledmaintenance activity, but not the first, nor the last.

This article describes the way this milestone wasachieved thanks to the very active and dedicatedinvolvement of hundreds of people from opera-tors, authorities, suppliers and Airbus in the MRBprocess.

Régis BrouteeDirector Maintenance Planning & ServicesAirbus Customer Services

Aircraft Health Monitoring and Management hasbeen a constant major subject for Airbus for someyears now and solutions for both raw OMS(Onboard Maintenance System) data acquisitionsuch as BITE (Build In Test Equipment) andACMS (Aircraft Condition Monitoring System)plus on-ground processing (AIRMAN*) have beendeveloped and are available on all the Airbus cur-rent product line. Enhancements of these systemsare implemented at the opportunity of each newaircraft as well as new services aimed at improv-ing pro-active and predictive maintenance basedon performance monitoring and other state-of-the-art technologies.

* AIRMAN (Aircraft Maintenance Analysis) is a real-time health monitoring andtroubleshooting solution developed by Airbus.AIRMAN constantly analyses the statusmessages sent by aircraft systems and helpsairlines to optimize their maintenance andtroubleshoot their aircraft to:• Better anticipate possible aircraft technical

events.• Improve their aircraft dispatch reliability.• Cut their maintenance and operational costs.• Improve their maintenance task efficiency.

Marc Virilli


Lufthansa Technik was nominatedISC chair by the operators panel,Airbus co-chaired the ISC andGSAC was nominated MRB chairby the JAA.

The ISC also gave the A380 PPHpreliminary acceptance and vali-dated the overall planning defini-tion to help the first A380 operatorSingapore Airlines to get a CAASapproved Operator MaintenanceProgramme for EIS (Entry IntoService). As a consequence, theoverall MRBR planning highlight-ed the need for the first MPP sub-mission to the MRBs for approval12 months before EIS.

The ISC also defined the organi-zation in charge of the develop-ment of the MRBR, relying onnine MWGs.

To ensure an optimized contribu-tion from all ISC/MWG and MRBparticipants, the ISC also set up anintensive planning for trainingsessions.

FEBRUARY TO JULY 2003:THE TRAINING SESSIONS AND A380 PPH APPROVAL

From February to July 2003,Airbus Maintenance Engineeringorganized five one-week trainingsessions around the world with thesupport of hosting customers,Airbus Engineering and A380Programme organizations. All inall, more than 350 people fromcustomers, airworthiness authori-ties, vendors and suppliers weregiven a general familiarization ofthe A380 design and trained onthe A380 PPH.

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The A380 MRBR

APPLICATION FOR THEMAINTENANCE REVIEW BOARDPROCESS

In December 2000, Airbus official-ly launched the A380 maintenanceprogramme. To meet certificationtargets, Airbus must comply withthe JAR/FAR 25-1529 Instructionsfor Continued Airworthinessapplicable at that time. As theA380 Type Certification (TC)holder, Airbus must prepare, reviseas necessary and submit forapproval to the relevant airworthi-ness authorities the initial mini-mum scheduled maintenance/inspection requirements that areapplicable to the A380 aircraft.

Just after the A380 first metal cut(Jan 2002), Airbus officiallyapplied for the MaintenanceReview Board (MRB) process tothe Joint Airworthiness Authorities(JAA) in June 2002. At this timeAirbus initiated an MRB processcompliant with:• JAA OPS Administrative &

Guidance Material Section 2-Part 2 – Chapter 16

• FAR 121 AC 121-22A

At the time of application, theapplicable Maintenance SteeringGroup method was MSG3 Rev2002.1. This is the revision that wasused to develop the A380 MRBR.

THE A380 POLICY AND PROCEDURES HANDBOOK

From June to November 2002Airbus Maintenance Engineeringdeveloped the A380 Policy andProcedures Handbook (PPH)which, compared to the MSG3document, provides additionalprocedures, details, guidance,interpretation of the rules, mainte-nance interval selection, formsheets, etc. necessary for analysis.The PPH also provides detailedwork steps, responsibilities andscheduling. Between November2002 and January 2003, Airbus

Maintenance Engineering orga-nized three working sessions withthe airworthiness authorities tofinalize the preparation of the PPHbefore submission to the IndustrySteering Committee.

The European JAA represented bythe GSAC (France), the LBA(Germany), the CAA (UK) andalso the FAA (USA) and the CASA(AUS) contributed to the A380PPH preparation.

FEBRUARY 2003:THE FIRST INDUSTRY STEERINGCOMMITTEE

From 18 to 20 February 2003,Airbus organized the first A380Industry Steering Commitee (ISC),whose responsibilities were:• To approve the A380 PPH.• To monitor the development

of the A380 MRBR and the different Maintenance WorkingGroups (MWG) activities.

• To submit the A380Maintenance ProgrammeProposal to the MRBs forapproval.

First ISC meeting participants

For more details on the MRB process

and ISC organizationsee the article in

FAST31 December 2002.

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Airbus maintenance training sessions

Industry Steering Committee schedule

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This was not achieved by chance.First of all, the active involvementof Airbus maintenance engineers inthe very early stages of the aircraftdesign development was essential.The A380 maintenance tasks inter-val targets had been selected at thebeginning of the ‘A3XX’ story,well before it became the A380. Allthrough the concept and designphases of the A380 programme,Airbus maintenance and designengineers worked together to opti-mize scheduled and unscheduledmaintenance. Their target was tooffer an A380 with optimizedmaintenance costs to operators,while maintaining safety as the pri-mary objective. All design specifi-cations are defined so that theA380 design fulfils the initialMRBR targets and also remainscompatible with future mainte-nance programme evolutionsaccording to in-service experience.

All through the A380 design devel-opment and the MRB process,operators, airworthiness authoritiesand Airbus challenged each other,contributing to the continuousimprovement of the overall MRBprocess with the common objectiveto offer the A380 with the mostappropriate maintenance pro-gramme to support a safe, reliableand economical aircraft operation.This led to the development of verythorough MSG3 analyses and theselection of the most appropriatetasks and intervals.

Consequences of the A380 MRBR proposalacceptance versusthe MRBR approval

Readers familiar with the MRBProcess may wonder why ‘MRBRProposal’ acceptance is mentionedinstead of ‘MRBR approval’ in thisarticle.

According to the Instructions forContinued Airworthiness (ICA)JAR/FAR 25-1529, an approvedMRBR is required at the latest foraircraft EIS. However, as agreed bythe ISC the A380 MRBR planninghas been developed in such a waythat enough time is provided to thefirst operator to get approval for itsOperator Maintenance Programme(OMP) by its local authorities.

Consequently, review of the MSG3analyses started in July 2003 basedon the design known at that time.Because of this and the numerousdesign changes that typically hap-pen during the design and flighttest phases, the MRBs were not ina position to approve a documentcovering the aircraft EIS designstandard at this time.

In addition, during the develop-ment and review of the MSG3analyses by the MWGs, some

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JUNE 2003:THE PPH APPROVAL

In the mean time, thanks to thelessons learned during the trainingsessions, the PPH was updated andgot its first approval by the ISC andacceptance by the MRBs in June2003. The major highlights of thisPPH are the aircraft yearly utiliza-tion for medium/long haul routes.

The A380 PPH becomes theindustry benchmark in the opin-ion of the MRBs and operatorswho report it as the best they haveever seen.

The MWG activityFrom June 2003 to March 2005, thenine MWGs reviewed the MSG3analyses for A380 systems, struc-tures and zones selecting the mostappropriate scheduled maintenancetasks to ensure a safe, reliable andeconomical aircraft operation.

During this 21 month period, morethan 900 MSG3 dossiers preparedby Airbus and major vendors main-tenance engineers, representing theequivalent of more than 30,000MSG3 analysis pages (equivalent)were reviewed during 54 MWGmeetings from which close to1,000 scheduled maintenance taskswere selected.

The first A380MaintenanceProgrammeProposal (MPP)Thanks to the efficient MSG3analyses production and qualitymonitoring process controlled bythe ISC, the initial target was met:The A380 MPP is ready for reviewand acceptance by the A380 ISCin March 2005.

During the tenth meeting in March2005 the ISC completed review ofthe MWG results and concluded thatthe selected scheduled maintenancetasks and associated intervals are themost appropriate ones. The ISC thenaccepted the compiled MPP.

On 8 April 2005, some days prior tothe A380 maiden flight, the firstA380 MPP was submitted to theMRBs for acceptance according tothe planning set up more than twoyears earlier. Early involvement indesign phases and very active opera-tor involvement were two key issues.

Most of the initial technical objec-tives were met in the A380 MRBRproposal, particularly the objec-tives associated with task selectionand interval definition.

During Maintenance Working Groups activities

Task completion progress

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A380 PPH aircraft utilization assumptions

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• In-service experience(AD/CN, Service Bulletins (SB), Service Information Letters (SIL), All Operators Telex (AOT)…)

The MPD provides additionalinformation for each sched-uled maintenance task suchas, access, zones, source data,preparation work, man hours,elapsed time and reference tothe associated AircraftMaintenance Manual (AMM)procedure.

Similar requirements for dif-ferent sources are consolidat-ed in the MPD at task and/orThreshold/ Interval level.

At this stage of the A380 pro-gramme, the MPD containsonly data coming from theMRBR proposal.

A SIMPLIFIED MPD WITH NEW FEATURES

Compared to other Airbus pro-grammes, the A380 MPD is sim-plified. Volume 2 is deleted as:• The zoning and access

illustrations previously coveredin section 10 and 11 areredundant with AMM Chapter06 information.

• The illustrations of the StructureSignificant Items (SSI) from theMRBR structures section,previously covered in section 12are now available in the relevantAMM procedures.

With experience gained from otherAirbus programmes and in agree-ment with the A380 ISC, a newtask numbering concept was intro-duced to be self-explanatory andremain compatible with futuremaintenance programme and plan-ning evolution. To assist operatorsmaintenance planning organiza-tions, a new appendix for mainte-nance planning is available. In this, all MPD tasks whatever the source,are packaged into maintenancechecks according to typical aircraftoperations.

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assumptions on Flight Manual(FM) and Master MinimumEquipment List (MMEL) aremade. These assumptions must becleared for the MRBR approval. Toprotect the first A380 operator’sinterests an agreement is thereforefound between operators, MRBsand Airbus:• The first MRBR will be called

‘MRBR proposal’ and will notbe approved but accepted by theEASA. It will thus berecognized as an acceptablebasis by the first operators localairworthiness authority forapproval of the first OMP.

• All design changes will beanalysed by Airbus maintenanceengineering for MSG3 analysesupdate and review by therelevant MWG prior tosubmission of the MPP to the MRBR for approval. This process is a standard onethat remains applicablethroughout the aircraft life inthe MRBR revision process.

• All assumptions taken andrecorded during review of theMSG3 analyses must beconfirmed, if not, MSG3analyses and MRBR must bereviewed and updatedaccordingly.

• The ‘MRBR Proposal’ will be updated according to thechanges identified during theMarch 2005 - June 2006 MWGand ISC meetings andsubmitted to the MRBs to be approved prior to EIS. This will become the firstA380 approved MRBR.

• The first A380 operator, at thattime, will only have to integratethe changes in its OMP in orderto get approval from its localairworthiness authority.

This agreement offers benefits:• To the first A380 operator who

can anticipate their programmeand planning to minimize workload just prior to EIS andlimit it to a programme revision.

• To all A380 operators whocan prepare in advance theirmaintenance programme andplanning.

• To local authorities who havecontributed to the MRB processand can approve their operatorsOMP more quickly.

The A380MaintenancePlanningDocumentA SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE DATA REPOSITORY

Parallel to the A380 MRB process,Airbus Maintenance Planningorganization prepared the A380Maintenance Planning Document(MPD) with new and enhancedfeatures. The MPD is a single ref-erence for all repetitive tasks recommended by Airbus and is anon-approved document that con-tains approved and non approvedscheduled maintenance require-ments from:• The MRBR• The Airworthiness

Limitation Items document(ALI)

• The Certification Maintenance Requirements document (CMR)

New task numbering concept

New appendix for maintenance planning

Maintenance Planning Document on CD

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A marvellous experience and a real teamspirit. The acceptance of the A380 MRBRproposal by EASA is a major step in theA380 maintenance programmedevelopment. This was achieved thanks toa very efficient ISC organization whereoperators, airworthiness authorities, majorsuppliers and Airbus joined efforts to givethe A380 a maintenance programme atthe same level as the aircraft: A referencein the industry.

Hundreds of thousands of working hourshave been invested in the A380 MRBR,more than 8,000 meeting man-days, morethan 30,000 equivalent pages ofdocuments prepared, reviewed andvalidated by hundreds of people. All thiswas performed in a very professional andvery friendly atmosphere.

The result is that the A380 has amaintenance programme ready forimplementation. The MPD provides thetools to help operators develop theirmaintenance programme (OMP) get itapproved by their local airworthinessauthority and prepare the associated A380maintenance schedule. AirbusMaintenance Planning Organization offerscustomized services to help operators inthese activities.

The A380 has not yet been delivered to itsfirst customer but the MRBR and the MPDhave already switched from thedevelopment to the revision phase.

Airbus Maintenance Planning organizationhas developed a specific assistance forthe Flight Test department. The A380 flighttest aircraft scheduled maintenance isalready performed according to the A380MPD, customized to the aircraft definitionand operation.

A very efficient resultFirst technical evaluations of the A380maintenance programme, based onstandard aircraft operation confirms thatthe initial MRBR targets are met:• An equivalent A check can be scheduled

every 750fh• An equivalent C check can be

scheduled every 24 months/6,000fh• Structure inspections can be scheduled

every 6 and 12 years

This leads to significant maintenanceman-hours and maintenance cost savingscompared to aircraft with similaroperations.

Conclusion

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AirN@v module ‘AirN@v / Planning’


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A SIMPLIFIED MPD AVAILABLE IN MULTIPLE FORMATS

The A380 MPD and associatedfeatures are available in multipleformats to meet operators expecta-tions and provide an easy interfacewith their systems.

In particular, the AirN@v module‘AirN@v / Planning’ offers thepossibility to be 100% compatiblewith the other AirN@v new gener-ation of technical data browsingtools, which are easy to use andinteractive (see article in FAST 35).

Next steps

As previously mentioned the A380MRBR Proposal acceptance byEASA is the first major step in thedevelopment of the A380 sched-uled maintenance documentation.It was not the first one, and it willnot be the last.

THE MRB PROCESS

Following ISC, MRBs and Airbusagreement, the A380 MRBR willbe updated according to designchanges to obtain a formal approvalfor EIS of the first aircraft. Then,once the A380 becomes an in ser-vice aircraft, the MRBR will fol-low a standard revision processaccording to:• Design changes• New regulations• In-service experience feedback

For this, it is essential that from dayone, A380 operators collect inappropriate databases the results ofthe scheduled maintenance tasks(findings and nil findings) to latersupport MRBR evolution exercises.

THE AIRWORTHINESSLIMITATION ITEM

The Airworthness Limitation Item(ALI) process has also started withthe target to get the A380 ALI document approved for the A380type certification (compliance toJAR/FAR 25-571).

A380 fatigue and damage toler-ance evaluations will be performedand associated scheduled mainte-nance requirements will be pub-lished in the A380 document attype certification. The ALI willlater be updated once results fromthe fatigue test cell are available.

THE CERTIFICATION MAINTENANCEREQUIREMENT

The process has also started. TwoCertification Maintenance Coordi-nation Committee meetings havetaken place with operators and air-

worthiness authorities to performthe MSG3/SSA (System SafetyAssessment) compatibility checkthat leads to selection of theCertification Maintenance Requi-rement (CMR) (compliance withJAR/FAR 25-1309). As with theMRBR development process, earlyinvolvement of Airbus maintenanceengineers during the design phasesis essential to reduce the number ofCMRs to the minimum.

THE MPD

The A380 MPD will be revisedevery time one of the source docu-ments is revised. To minimize theburden on operator’s maintenanceplanning organizations, MPD revi-

sions will combine source docu-ment revisions as much as possibleaccording to the different planningand document approvals.


CONTACT DETAILS

Christian DelmasDirector Maintainability and Maintenance EngineeringAirbus Customer ServicesTel: +33 (0)5 61 93 14 04Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 28 [email protected]

Régis BrouteeDirector MaintenancePlanning & ServicesAirbus Customer ServicesTel: +33 (0)5 67 19 02 13Fax: +33 (0)5 61 93 22 [email protected]

media object file fast38 a380 maintenance

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