The reason for the deadly airplane crash in South Korea final month remains to be to be decided, however it thrust into the highlight a topic little understood by most people: how airplanes are maintained.
Jeju Air, the airline that operated the flight wherein 179 individuals died, mentioned that checks earlier than the flight had raised no issues and that the jet, a Boeing 737-800 that was about 15 years outdated, had no historical past of accidents.
Whereas there isn’t any proof that poor repairs performed a task within the crash, consultants say that the airplane’s restore historical past, which incorporates work carried out by upkeep corporations in different international locations, shall be an vital a part of the crash investigation, as is usually the case.
Right here’s what it is best to find out about how airplanes are maintained.
The Fundamentals
Airline executives, pilots, mechanics, regulators and others play very important, and overlapping, roles in caring for industrial jets.
On the entrance line is a apply that shall be acquainted to many vacationers even when they don’t know what it’s known as: line upkeep, which includes common inspections and repairs between flights. Earlier than a jet takes off, pilots carry out visible and different inspections for injury or different issues. Airline mechanics additionally conduct periodic checks. Typically, a mechanic can troubleshoot an issue rapidly, fixing it or safely patching it up till the difficulty may be addressed later. Critical issues can lead to an extended delay or cancellation.
As well as, each a part of a airplane, right down to the nuts and bolts, is subjected to routine inspections, restore or alternative. These checks are usually scheduled based mostly on what number of hours the airplane has been used, the variety of flights, time or some mixture of these elements. These inspections are overseen by aviation authorities all over the world, with many following the lead of regulators on the Federal Aviation Administration or its European Union counterpart.
Relating to extra intensive upkeep which may take a airplane out of service for days or even weeks, the world’s largest airways carry out a lot of that work on their very own. Some, together with Lufthansa and Delta Air Traces, even promote these companies to others. However each airline outsources at the least some work to the businesses that make elements and planes, like Boeing and Airbus, or to 3rd events. Small carriers, particularly, depend upon the apply.
“Should you have a look at the lengthy tail of plane operators, the bulk are very small, so it by no means made sense for them to speculate the capital,” mentioned Jonathan Berger, a founding companion of Alton Aviation, a consulting agency. “Outsourcing has been happening for the reason that daybreak of time.”
The Rise of Outsourcing
Whereas it has at all times performed a task in aviation, outsourcing accelerated in current many years. In america, the share of spending on airline upkeep that was outsourced greater than doubled from 1990 to 2011, rising from about 20 p.c to greater than 44 p.c, according to a 2012 Congressional Research Service report. Airways don’t usually disclose such spending and few exterior the business observe or estimate it.
Worldwide, airways nonetheless conduct virtually all of their very own line upkeep. However they typically ship out extra complete work to corporations focusing on upkeep, restore and overhaul of planes. That work is often divided into three classes, overlaying the airframe — or physique, wings and tail of a airplane — the engine and varied different parts.
Labor accounts for many of the price of airframe upkeep, so airways in wealthier international locations typically ship that work to international locations the place wages are decrease. Some U.S. airways ship planes to El Salvador, for instance, and Western European carriers ship them to Jap Europe.
With engines, supplies make up extra of the price of repairs, so outsourcing to lower-income international locations doesn’t save airways as a lot. Nonetheless, the a lot of that work can be outsourced, typically to engine producers, as a result of fixing these giant machines is dear and complicated, in line with Mr. Berger. Most jet engines for big industrial planes are made by a number of U.S. and European corporations.
The worldwide community of upkeep suppliers is a rising market valued at more than $100 billion. Proponents say that it permits airways, notably finances carriers, to plan prices and concentrate on what they do finest: plan, promote and function flights effectively. Airways additionally profit as a result of they’ll flip to specialists who could concentrate on sure sorts of upkeep or plane.
Is Outsourcing Secure?
Many aviation business consultants say that outsourcing is secure and crucial and word that the F.A.A. nonetheless oversees upkeep of U.S. planes wherever it happens. However some client teams and labor unions representing American mechanics have raised issues about it.
“There’s a high quality challenge and for the business to disclaim that’s simply false,” mentioned William J. McGee, who has spent many years as a passenger advocate earlier than lawmakers and regulators and is a senior fellow on the American Financial Liberties Venture, a progressive group.
Within the 2000s and early 2010s, the Transportation Division’s inspector normal looked into the F.A.A.’s oversight of foreign and domestic repair stations and located it missing. Airline mechanics have reported discovering apparent errors in planes getting back from international restore retailers. And their unions, together with the Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Transport Staff Union, have raised issues that staff overseas will not be topic to the identical rigorous requirements as these in america.
The F.A.A. not too long ago addressed a few of these issues. This month, a brand new company rule will begin requiring international restore websites to hold out drug and alcohol checks of staff who carry out sure safety-sensitive upkeep, affecting as many as 977 places in 65 international locations.
“This rule will guarantee these staff are held to the equal excessive degree of security requirements, no matter the place they’re bodily situated,” Mike Whitaker, the outgoing F.A.A. administrator, said in a statement last month.
Defenders of outsourcing say that oversight by airways and the F.A.A. right now is rigorous, noting that regardless of a number of stunning crashes and incidents, flying on industrial planes is much safer than different frequent modes of journey, together with vehicles, buses or trains.
Upkeep Wants Are Rising
Regardless of a considerable slowdown early within the pandemic, air journey got here roaring again rather more rapidly than the business had anticipated. Airways are actually wanting to broaden and improve their fleets.
However Boeing and Airbus, the 2 large jet producers, have struggled to churn out planes. Boeing has needed to gradual manufacturing lately, first after two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019 of its hottest airplane, the 737 Max. Final 12 months, it was compelled to try this once more after a panel blew off a Max jet in flight, and within the fall it largely stopped manufacturing of the Max throughout a seven-week strike.
Airways have additionally needed to pull Airbus jets from service to hold out surprising inspections of Pratt & Whitney engines after the engine producer found a high quality defect. Airbus and Boeing have additionally struggled with lingering pandemic-era issues, together with shortages of elements and expert staff.
The gradual supply of latest planes has compelled airways to make use of older planes longer, which is secure however typically requires extra upkeep. Newer engines, that are full of new know-how that makes them extra environment friendly, have additionally required extra fixes and maintenance than anticipated.
However the variety of individuals pursuing careers in airplane upkeep has lagged behind demand.
“Not solely are the airways hiring, however normal aviation is hiring, company aviation is hiring,” Chuck Horning, a professor of aviation upkeep at Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical College, mentioned referring to planes utilized by many companies to move individuals and items. “And then you definitely’ve acquired industries that didn’t even actually exist after I graduated in 1986, just like the house business and unmanned aerial programs.”
