ACE 2001 highlights
Five of SAE's largest aerospace conferences—Aviation Safety Conference, Aerospace Automated Fastening Conference, Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Conference, International Conference on Lightning and Static Electricity, and the World Aviation Congress—are being held in conjunction with the Aerospace Congress & Exhibition. The following is a preview of some issues and technical discussions to be explored at ACE.
People are key in airplane maintenance
Getting a fleet of more than 600 aircraft up into the friendly skies and back down safely 2300 times a day involves a great many moving parts. United Airlines' Lou Mancini believes the most important of those moving parts are members of the company's workforce.
 Lou Mancini: "I was in my early 40s when I realized that people could outmanage gizmos." |
As Vice President of Engineering and Technical Support, Mancini knows the technical side of airplane maintenance inside and out, and he appreciates technology's value. What good is it, though, without qualified people to apply it?
When he was in his 30s, Mancini sized things up differently than he does now at age 51. "I started off as an extremely technical person," he said. "I got a Ph.D. in operations research and thought that success would come through technology, that we could leverage technology to become a world-class organization. Although technology is an enormous enabler for us, I've come to the conclusion that success lies in people. More and more I see that's the case."
In his youthful, tech-focused incarnation, Mancini used to attack problems by first exploring technological solutions, then worrying about the ability of workers to deliver them. Using a boxing analogy to illustrate how his approach has changed, he said, "I lead with people now and use my right arm as the technology punch."
Mancini will talk about his philosophy with regard to people and technology during presentation of the William Littlewood Memorial Lecture September 11 as a special feature of ACE. Established in 1971, the Lecture perpetuates the memory of Littlewood, who was renowned for his contributions to the design of, and operational requirements for, civil transport aircraft.
In his presentation, Mancini will talk about United's overall philosophy regarding maintenance and repair. He plans to first spell out the life-cycle requirements of an airplane—"how we spec them before taking delivery, how we operate them, what we do in the operations of an airplane, how we conduct reliability analysis, how we take care of an airplane, and I'll even discuss how to replace an airplane."
 Almost 500 service bulletins have been issued for the Boeing 777. There will be between 1000 and 2000 of them over the airplane's life, according to Lou Mancini." |
Then, he said, he'll go into more detail about maintenance and repair operations—"listening to the airplane telling you what it wants to happen to it every day." He will emphasize how things can be done better by emphasizing the role of people. "If your product is an operational airplane at the gate, the way you get at it is processes, and the way you get at processes is people," said Mancini, noting that the processes employed must be "repeatable, sustainable, efficient, and stakeholder-involved."
Mancini will address United's vision of a new air traffic management system in which communications, navigation, and surveillance technologies make the airplane more autonomous, hence more efficient, he said.
At United, the 600 engineers on Mancini's staff handle issues related to new airplane specs, maintenance, repairs, and enhancements (e.g., seat modifications, entertainment systems, phone systems). Over the years, he said, the company's engineering department has become more focused on operations rather than on specs for new airplanes. Only about a half dozen of the 600 engineers are working in the "design space," he said. The remainder are involved in modifications and daily support operations, with 50-70 engineers "right in the hangars developing repairs as Inspection does write-ups on the airplanes."
In terms of the amount of modifications the engineering department does, a typical 10-year-old 747-400 has "a whole new interior" with in-seat video and PC power, an enhanced ground-proximity warning system, and predictive wind shear capability, according to Mancini. In addition, hundreds of service bulletins have been issued, and the airplane's FAA-approved maintenance program "has been tweaked since the day we got the airplane," he said.
Retaining a well-qualified workforce and attracting new recruits being "absolutely critical," Mancini said the situation at the moment is positive. Some of the engineers who left the company for "dotcoms" over the past few years are asking for their jobs back, he noted. And, he added, "there's still a love for aviation" among many young engineers.
In fact, one of the reasons he accepts speaking engagements such as the Littlewood Lecture is to promote the industry by explaining its allure, Mancini said.
