Few technological advances have made a pilot’s life easier than the invention of the electronic flight bag (EFB). Rather than having to haul a manual-packed suitcase onboard weighing 40 or more lbs, pilots can now carry this data in digital form using a lightweight tablet computer. Better yet, the data within an EFB can be searched electronically, eliminating the need to rifle through indexes and masses of pages whenever an answer is needed – often in short order.
The formal name for this digital approach is Flight Operations Document Management Systems (Flight Ops Docs), which are evolving away from the strictly EFB focus to encompass other aspects of aircraft flight management. In this article, we’ll dig deeper into Flight Ops Docs to get a better understanding of what they are, what they offer, and a sense of what’s available on the market today.
Three Key Players
To get a better sense of what is happening in the Flight Ops Docs world, we spoke with executives at three key players in this industry. The first was Daniel Cook, Head of Marketing with Bytron Aviation Systems. The second was Tom Samuel, CEO of Comply365. And the third was Krister Genmark, VP of Sales with Web Manuals.
To put them in context, Bytron Aviation Systems (bytron.aero) is a UK company specializing in flight data management solutions for commercial airlines, cargo airlines and business aviation. It is known for its skybook Aviation Cloud and EFB (electronic flight bag), which integrates flight dispatch, crew briefing and EFB functions onto a tablet-usable platform.
Krister Genmark Web Manuals
“Simply put, our document management library is a central repository to store and distribute flight operation documents and manuals that can be updated and accessed by ground operations, and sent to EFB devices for pilots and aircraft operators,” said Cook. “This offers the ability for pilots to quickly view digital manuals and documents and have the ability to make annotations for other users to view.”
Comply365 (comply365.com) got its start working with several US airlines and the FAA to release the first approved electronic document reader, “thus helping airlines replace the 40 pounds of paper manuals pilots were required to carry on each flight,” Samuel said. The company has evolved since then and now serves the industry with an end-to-end operational content management, authoring and distribution platform.
When it comes to the electronic information that Comply365 offers to its customers, “I’d rather refer to the broader definition of Operational Content Management Systems, which are solutions to author, revise and distribute operational content to the frontline operational staff – including but not limited to Flight Operations,” he explained.
In the case of pilots, Comply365’s operational content includes mission-critical documents such as Flight Crew and Flight Operations Manuals (FCOM and FOM), Quick Reference Handbooks (QRH) and Minimum Equipment Lists (MEL). “These manuals are required to be always compliant with the applicable regulatory, manufacturer and aircraft operator standards, and are to be easily accessible by pilots before, during and post-flight,” said Samuel.
Meanwhile, the company’s integration of all relevant data into a central Operational Content Management System is meant to make life easier for aircraft operators. They want to rely on “a single platform that can efficiently manage the authoring, revision and distribution processes across all their manuals — OEM or company — and do so across all their departments such as flight operations, cabin operations, ground operations, and or maintenance operations,” he said.
Web Manuals (webmanuals.aero) specializes in developing digital document management solutions for the aviation industry. Its digital flight operations document management systems have been designed to condense compliance documents and safety regulations into one accessible place.
“Web Manuals’ Document Management System enables aviation professionals to edit, distribute and monitor manuals, all on one platform,” said Genmark. “The platform provides users with direct access to documents and allows them to easily view updated revisions, thereby enabling pilots and aircraft operators to streamline their regulatory processes and save valuable time. The result is better compliance, efficient management and safer operations.”
Aircraft operators are looking forward to having all their OEM, company, flight, and technical operations manuals — all schemas and fleet — in a single system. Shown here is the Delta Air Lines Operations Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Delta Air Lines image.
The Push for Digital Solutions
At the outset of this article, we noted that EFBs and Flight Ops Docs were developed to replace heavy, manual-crammed flight bags with lightweight, searchable documentation systems. However, the answer is a bit more complicated than that.
Certainly weight and data access were issues. But so too was ensuring that pilots and aircraft operators had access to the most up-to-date information sources, which has been a constant priority and challenge since the aviation industry was born.
“There’s no doubt that the aviation industry implements some of the most stringent safety regulations,” said Genmark. “With aviation companies often operating under multiple authorities, operators are tasked with keeping up with a variety of changing guidelines on a regular basis. [Unfortunately], the administrative task of searching through lengthy paper manuals can be extremely time-consuming for operators and imposes the risk of missing critical information.”
“Until about a decade ago, this process was very paper-based and manual: It required different data sources, quite often housed and managed in disparate systems,” Samuel agreed. To make matters even more challenging, “Some of those systems were proprietary and required specialized knowledge to manage — and potentially had individual workstreams, data duplication and a lot of manual processes. The end result of updating paper documents required a painstaking process to deliver new pages to all crews across the airline.”
The need to balance all of these demands — in addition to sparing pilots’ backs from constantly carrying overloaded flight bags — is what spurred the development of Flight Ops Docs. “Digital document management systems were designed to reduce this burden, minimizing the risk of human error and improving overall safety processes,” said Genmark.
A case in point: Web Manuals are designed to provide pilots and aircraft managers with easy-to-follow guidelines, thus enabling their companies to focus on other business areas without compromising regulatory compliance or safety. This platform (and other Flight Ops Docs systems) can also be updated as required, which is vital to achieving those two goals on an ongoing basis. “Flight manuals are continually evolving,” Genmark noted. “Every year, new regulations and increasingly complex guidelines are published to serve our dynamic industry.
In a larger yet similar context, “Operational Content Management systems were developed to better manage what used to be a complex, costly, very manual and error-prone process, and whose end goal is to deliver content to frontline crews who rely on it to conduct safe and efficient operations in accordance with regulations,” said Samuel. As well, the Document Management solution was developed to reduce the need for paper,” Cook said, “therefore saving time and money for the airlines.”
Trends Driving Flight Ops Docs
Today’s Flight Ops Docs systems are far more sophisticated than their predecessors, which basically swapped paper documents for electronic versions.
“EFB applications are a lot more interactive nowadays,” Cook noted, with the inclusion of Search and other user-driven functions. “Document management systems can also utilize a digital document to its full potential with highlighting, annotations and bookmarking, thus saving time for pilots. When there are updates to the digital document, these can be sent straight to the pilot’s EFB. If an aircraft operator annotates a manual on the EFB, this can then be synced to their pilots’ EFBs and to the flight ops team.”
These expanded capabilities in Bytron’s products have been spurred by customer demand. “User experience is one of our most important factors, which is why we always involve our customers in the roadmap development process,” said Cook. “This is why digital documents are stored and available on web-based platforms, and are sent to EFB devices on either iPads or Android tablets.”
Historically, these digital documents have been delivered to pilots as PDFs, although “the industry is now seeing its next wave of advancement by delivering XML-based content in HTML format,” said Samuel. “Today, Comply365’s mobile solution delivers smart HTML content — i.e., relevant, easily findable, and highly personalized — and is available on iOS, Android and Windows platforms”
Going digital has allowed companies like Comply365 to tailor their offerings to specific sectors within the aviation industry, rather than taking the ‘one size fits all’ approach of paper-based manuals. “The move to digital has created many efficiencies and reduced some of the complexity involved,” Samuel observed. “Documents can now be targeted to specific end-user groups, providing each user with more specific content that applies — more of what they need and less of what they don’t need.”
Then there’s the cloud, which is a force multiplier for Flight Ops Docs suppliers. When manuals and other documents are stored in the cloud, they are available to users on demand, and updated by document managers as required. Moreover, if the users download this data to their personal tablets, they can even access it while offline. The payoff: “By incorporating such technology into aviation manual management, companies can increase capacity, enhance functionality and add additional services, without having to commit to potentially expensive infrastructure costs or hire and train existing in-house support staff,” said Genmark.
All told, “document management IT systems today are very technologically sophisticated,” he observed. “As soon as a revised manual is published, users of Web Manuals’ document management platform can receive push notifications, making them aware of the most recent amendment. With direct access to the changes, users can easily export copy for wider company distribution — all in a matter of minutes. Adjusting an overall flight operation so seamlessly and quickly has the potential to significantly improve company compliance.”
This being said, Flight Ops Docs systems are only as good as the content stored in them and the intuitiveness of the tools they offer to users. It’s the old computer programmer’s mantra of ‘Garbage In, Garbage Out’: If the data going onto the program is substandard, then what comes out will be just as bad.
This is why creating a truly useful Flight Ops Docs system is as much an art as it is a science. “The ideal system should be simple enough for any contributor to participate but sophisticated enough that tech writing professionals can have control over the document and its structures,” said Samuel. “The authoring process must be efficient, with integrated workflows and a common, easy to use and learn editor. Finally, end-users need to receive smart content in a mobile environment that they quickly adopt and love.”
Challenges That Remain
As advanced as Flight Ops Docs systems have become in recent years, there are still challenges limiting the ability of this technology to meet all the needs of pilots, aircraft owners, and anyone else who can benefit from electronic document management systems.
A case in point: “I think a large challenge is fitting so much information into one application and ensuring that everything still runs smoothly,” Cook said. As well, “development of new modules can be a lengthy process and technology is always changing and improving so it means that staying ahead is an ongoing challenge.”
The steady adoption of digitally-driven processes and systems across business as a whole imposes challenges of its own. “As digitalization gains greater momentum across all industries, it’s important that document management IT systems are continually updating to compete with new technology and interface capabilities,” said Genmark. For example, “at Web Manuals, we consistently look for ways in which we can improve our product and user interface. To do this, our customer support team works closely alongside our partners to gain insight into how they use the tool, its benefits and areas that need improving.”
Finally, the desire by business managers for an overarching business overview system — one that allows them to see the interplay of all factors in a single space in order to inform and aid their decision-making — is another challenge for these software companies to overcome. “Aircraft operators are looking forward to having all their OEM, company, flight, and technical operations manuals — all schemas and fleet — in a single system,” Samuel said. “That’s a challenge for many who are still operating with legacy systems, plus multiple disparate systems that bog down operations. A single, simple, unified platform for managing operational content is a foundational requirement to be able to deliver non-PDF, ‘smart’ content to frontline operational staff.”
“We believe that, over time, operational content will not be delivered in document format, but rather, increasingly as ‘context-sensitive content’,” he added. “By that we mean just the information that operational staff need for their operational environment, whether it be specific aircraft type or aircraft tail they are operating, airport they are approaching, and the preferred language in which they would like to review operational content. Such personalized information can have a big positive impact on operational reliability and safety.”
All told, the development of Flight Ops Docs systems have been a real benefit for pilots, aircraft operators, aviation compliance officers, and anyone else in the industry whose job touches on flight manuals. Perhaps the only ones not to benefit from this technology are chiropractors: With fewer pilots toting 40 lb bags of books, fewer of them need relief from the back and shoulder injuries caused by carrying such heavy loads daily.
Whether during fabrication, manufacturing, or in actual service, the parts that are combined to create aircraft need to be tested for composition and shape, structural strength and integrity, and analysis to detect wear and damage.
This is where Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) comes to the fore. NDT is used to assess the real-time condition of aircraft parts, without damaging them in any way. The science behind NDT is complex, innovative, and ingenious – and it constantly evolves to keep up with leaps in aircraft construction such as composite materials. Companies who provide NDT services to the global aerospace industry include Eddyfi Technologies, EVIDENT Europe GmbH (formerly Olympus), Nextant Aerospace, Waygate Technologies (a Baker Hughes business) and WeaverNDT, among others.
A Range of Testing Methods
Aircraft are an amazing amalgam of materials, architectures and technologies. This is why NDT companies employ a range of methods to test them, because a “one size fits all” approach simply wouldn’t work.
For instance, Eddyfi Technologies uses “ultrasonic testing (phased array) and eddy current testing (conventional and arrays),” said Christophe Piron, the company’s NDT sales manager. Evident employs “high/low frequency eddy current and phased array ultrasonic testing,” said Angelique Raude, the company’s strategic marketing manager for advanced NDT – EMEA. Meanwhile, Nextant Aerospace uses eddy current, ultrasound, liquid penetrant and magnetic particle testing methods; Waygate Technologies deploys ultrasonics, industrial X-rays and remote visual inspection; and WeaverNDT uses ultrasonic, eddy current, X-rays, and visual inspections.
NDT Methods Explained
To help put them in context, here’s a breakdown of the most popular NDT methods mentioned above.
Let’s begin with eddy current testing. According to The Welding Institute website (at twi-global.com), “When an alternating current is passed through a conductor – a copper coil for example – an alternating magnetic field is developed around the coil and the field expands and contracts as the alternating current rises and falls. If the coil is then brought close to another electrical conductor, the fluctuating magnetic field surrounding the coil permeates the material and, by Lenz’s Law, induces an eddy current to flow in the conductor. … Any changes in the conductivity of the material being examined, such as near-surface defects or differences in thickness, will affect the magnitude of the eddy current.”
At Nextant Aerospace, “Eddy current testing is used for the majority of our aircraft inspections and we employ high frequency surface scan, low frequency second/third layer scans, and bolt hole eddy current techniques,” said Shawn Ehrhart, the company’s director of NDT. “These techniques are all used to detect flaws like fatigue cracks and corrosion. We also utilize eddy current conductivity testing to determine if materials have been adversely affected by heat input from things like lightning strikes or exhaust gas exposure.”
Shawn Ehrhart Nextant Aerospace
According to Ehrhart, the biggest benefit of eddy current testing is how quickly the instrument and probe testing combination can be set up, without having to remove paint/primer from the inspection surface in most cases. “Another benefit is that properly trained and experienced technicians can easily reproduce test setups and verify inspection results,” he said. “Typically, there is not a lot of error from individual interpretation of test results, and confident pass/fail dispositions are achieved quickly.”
Waygate Technologies uses eddy current testing along with industrial X-ray and remote visual inspections. Modern IXS uses computed tomography — a series of X-rays captured from various angles and locations — to compile complex, detailed 3D images of objects in a range of informative colors.
Nextant Aerospace’s Shawn Ehrhart says the company is currently experiencing a high demand for both field and laboratory services, as travelers return to the skies. Nextant Aerospace image.
According to a company spokesperson, “Waygate Technologies’ advanced CT solutions are a powerful quality control and process optimization tool, helping customers meet and exceed standard compliance regulations by providing fast inspection and accurate 3D measurement of components that are difficult to examine by conventional two dimensional (2D) radiography or coordinate measuring machines (CMMs).”
In partnership with Rolls-Royce, Waygate is supporting sophisticated remote visual inspections using 3D scanning/measurement tools to examine aircraft engines, plus AI-enabled apps to compile, analyze, and assess the testing data. This can be done wherever the aircraft is located, which is extremely helpful during unexpected AOG events.
Waygate Technologies’ Everest Mentor Visual iQ VideoProbe eliminates the need to transport or carry additional IT equipment to the engine. Waygate image.
“Each inspection step is carried out with Waygate Technologies’ Everest Mentor Visual iQ VideoProbe, eliminating the need to transport or carry additional IT equipment to the engine,” said a Waygate spokesperson. “A process that previously took 90 minutes now takes just five. Once all data is processed and reported, users can simply push a button to send the data directly to the Rolls-Royce Inspection Insight platform, providing tremendous efficiency by removing this burden from the inspector.”
AI plays a big role in Waygate’s data analysis and actionable recommendations to aircraft technicians. “Waygate Technologies’ InspectionWorks Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) software platform is built to simplify the NDT inspection process, from data collection to analysis and file management,” said the company spokesperson. “The software helps to transform inspections from a necessary cost to a critical flow of data enabling better product design and optimization.
Fluorescent liquid penetrant and magnetic particles are used for other kinds of NDT inspections. At Nextant Aerospace, “medium to ultra-high sensitivity penetrants are used to inspect aircraft wheels, combustion engine parts, turbine engine parts, landing gear components, and various other items,” Ehrhart said. “Penetrant testing allows for an easier inspection of large parts and objects with complicated geometry. However, these techniques will only detect surface breaking flaws.”
“Magnetic particle (MT) techniques include full wave, direct current, wet, horizontal bench testing in our laboratory and field portable yoke and coil testing,” he continued. “ Much of our MT time is spent using the wet bench to inspect ferrous landing gear components, combustion engine parts, and starter/generator components. MT provides a fairly quick inspection of all exposed surfaces, with the possibility of detecting both surface and near-surface flaws. But the test objects must be ferrous. Materials like Inconel, which are weakly affected by magnetic fields, are not good candidates for MT inspection.”
Much future NDT work will be doable using digital applications that can be accessed remotely. Nextant Aerospace image.
The increasing usage of composite materials in aircraft has required a shift to new NDT methods such as ultrasonic testing using phased arrays. The reason: “Carbon fiber composites are not electrically conductive, which eliminates eddy current and magnetic particle testing,” said Ehrhart. “Liquid intrusion into a composite material or assembly would have detrimental effects, thus eliminating liquid penetrant testing. And flaws in carbon fibers are often in parallel to the major axis to the part surface (disbonding between two or more layers) making them extremely difficult or impossible to detect using radiography (X-ray/Gamma ray testing).”
“The application of phased array ultrasonics for non-destructive testing composites is probably the biggest advance in NDT over the past decade,” said Greg Weaver, president of WeaverNDT. “Using an array of ultrasonic probes, you can compile a detailed 3D image of the part being tested in full color, rather than just getting a pulse indication on a screen. This gives you a clear visual interpretation of what you’re looking at, where many people can look at and see color differences that indicate defects.”
“The development of phased array ultrasonics for composite inspection, together with adaptive methods for complex surfaces/geometries (e.g. radii inspection) has increased the productivity and reliability of aircraft inspections, both at manufacturing and maintenance stages,” Eddyfi’s Piron said. But older NDT methods still matter: “In the aircraft engine industry, eddy current array has enabled simplified disks and blades inspections directly at the workshop with portable inspection kits, and without using complex inspection machines,” he said.
Although WeaverNDT does not use phased array ultrasonic testing, it does use ultrasonic resonance to map and measure the natural resonance of parts being tested. Deviations from the norm can indicate differences in the part’s material composition, including defects not visible to the naked eye.
The same approach is used by Nextant Aerospace. “We use longitudinal beam and angle beam ultrasonic testing techniques for flaw detection in metal and composite materials,” said Ehrhart. “We spend much of our time utilizing Ultrasonic Thickness Testing (UTT) for measuring remaining material thickness on aircraft structure where corrosion was removed, on aging airframes. We also utilize low frequency ultrasonic techniques on carbon fiber and other composite components (flight controls, cowlings, fairings, doors, and so forth) to detect disbonds and delaminations between layers and crushing of the honeycomb core, under the surface.”
Impact of COVID-19
The various NDT methods used by the aerospace industry are complex to administer and manage during normal times. However, the past three years have been anything but normal thanks to the pandemic, which led to many of the world’s commercial airliners being grounded and their maintenance postponed for months, followed by a rushed return to service. So how have NDT providers coped with the chaos?
For Eddyfi Technologies, the answer is: surprisingly well. “The inspection capabilities already in place were quite sufficient to ensure the return to service of aircraft after COVID,” Piron said. “Actually, the bottleneck seems to be more related to the availability of qualified NDT operators than instruments, inspection kits or probes.”
“I’d say there was a bit of a rush for NDT testing, but not a huge one,” said Weaver. “Actually, the biggest issue was the possibility of contaminated fuel that had been sitting in parked aircraft, plus those engines that had not been run for a while in desert storage conditions.”
The situation was different for Nextant Aerospace. “There was an increase in demand for inspection services throughout our service areas,” Ehrhart said. “Emergency inspection service (AOG) situations markedly increased as the public began to choose flying on private charter aircraft, versus commercial aircraft. The increased demand for private charter flying led to more incidents with bird strikes, ground support equipment accidents with aircraft, weather-related damage, and maintenance error damage that required NDT inspections as part of the repair process. (As such) We are currently experiencing a high demand for both our field and laboratory services.”
Challenges and Advances Ahead
Now that the global aviation industry appears to be returning to normal — airport delays notwithstanding — people in the NDT industry foresee a number of challenges ahead, none of which relate to their actual testing methods and equipment.
According to Raude, the biggest challenge going forward is a shortage of NDT inspectors. Her concern is echoed by Weaver. “There doesn’t seem to be a real focus in this industry in replacing what we’ll call the ‘seasoned gray hair inspectors’ that have been around a long time. That’s going to provide a real crunch moving forward. It’s been talked about now for a decade: Post-COVID, the registration for classes aimed at people entering the NDT inspection market and achieving different levels of certification has dropped dramatically.”
Weaver is also concerned that the approach in which commercial aircraft were returned to service will result in a situation where “all the planes being flown now will all need to come into the shops for maintenance at their required and maximum service intervals,” he said. “So it’s going to be a real load on the shops to be able to handle all that work.”
This backlog will force airlines to shuffle their remaining aircraft around to cover these gaps as best they can, but it won’t be enough, Weaver predicted. “You’ve already seen flight cancellations due to pilot shortages. I think you’re going to see the number of cancellations increase.”
Ehrhart fears that the increased use of private aircraft since the beginning of COVID-19 will result in more corrosion and metal fatigue in their airframes. “Many operators are flying at record rates, and the physical and operational environmental stresses put on every airframe increases the chances of flaws being induced on parts and assemblies,” he warned. “Now, more than ever, the NDT technician must be fully engaged and vigilant while performing their duties. Sooner or later, we will begin detecting defects in parts where we’ve never seen them before.”
On the bright side, the experts interviewed for this article expect the state of NDT to continue to advance, no matter what else plays out in the aviation industry.
“Fluorescent penetrant testing and magnetic particles are going to be replaced by eddy current array testing in the coming five to 10 years,” said Piron. “The development of ultrasonic phased arrays, especially the Total Focusing Method, will enable new manufacturing processes to arise such as additive manufacturing and friction stir welding.”
“With the advances in eddy current and ultrasonic testing, coupled with increased use of composite materials, I believe X-ray testing will be phased out with each new airframe that gets type certificated,” Ehrhart said. “Most new business jets do not have specific X-ray inspections in their NDT manuals; only a short ‘Standard Practice’ section for situations like damage to the aircraft that requires the use of an X-ray technique.”
“I expect some NDT programs to start to be overtaken by Structural Health Monitoring; SHM is what they’re calling that,” said Weaver. “With SHM, you place a continual-service transducer or a monitor in a hard-to-access area, one where you’d have to take down walls to physically inspect the structure. The SHM transducer’s compiled data can be accessed either by wire or wirelessly. After a certain amount of flights or a certain amount of cycles, the technician can just connect to it and collect the data — saving an enormous amount of labor and time to understand if there’s anything structurally occurring in the plane.”
In a similar vein, Raude predicted that much future NDT work will be doable using digital applications that can be accessed remotely. The Waygate Technologies spokesperson agreed: “In remote visual inspection, further exploitation of a range of technologies to further streamline in-situ inspection workflows is an emerging trend that we have identified,” the spokesperson said. “As in all our main technologies (IXS, UT and RVI), digital connectivity will continue to be a key aspect to connect inspection data output into a centralized cloud platform to enable further insights and analyses.”
The bottom line: The power, performance and complexity of nondestructive testing appear destined to grow in the years to come. As such, it will speed the ongoing evolution of aircraft maintenance from a reactive to a preventive basis.
Iilot training has come a long way from the wooden Link Trainers of World War II vintage. For many years, full-flight simulators (FFS) such as those made by CAE — with their realistic interactive cockpits, wraparound high-fidelity projection screens, and 6-axis range of motion — have defined the state of the art in immersive flight training, an experience that is as close as possible to the real thing.
The advent of virtual reality (VR) goggles is taking education to a new and more affordable level. Today, a new student can put on a pair of VR goggles, sit down and take hold of realistic, yet simplified aircraft controls, and begin their journey to the skies. This provides a more affordable path to earning wings, because VR-based education can reduce the time in class and makes training in the aircraft more effective.
VR-based training can also help existing pilots maintain or upgrade their skills wherever they may be, rather than having to pack their bags and head to flight school. This saves time and money and allows these pilots to remain available for their regular duties.
Philippe Perey
Philippe Perey is head of technology, defense and security with CAE Inc. He recently spoke with Aerospace Tech Review magazine about the progress of VR in pilot training.
ATR: Is it true that VR is now becoming an integrated element of modern pilot training at CAE?
Perey: Yes. Although we have been working with VR in our labs going back to 2014, this technology is just now emerging into real training opportunities and programs for CAE and their customers.
The proof is the CAE Trax Academy, which uses VR as a central part of its training approach. Launched by CAE at I/ITSEC 2019, the CAE Trax Academy is the culmination of extensive market assessment and end customer interviews. Students were keen to embrace new training methodologies in a complete training ecosystem centered around the individual learner.
The CAE Trax Academy allows each student to progress through the segments of Learn, Practice and Perform.
During the “Learn” phase, the student gains knowledge through a mobile app that provides computer-based training. When they are ready, the student can visualize the maneuver using embedded immersive courseware seen through a COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) VR headset. The courseware includes instructional voice and text callouts to guide the student. The courseware is also interactive, so the student may need to select specific buttons or switches to continue through the training sequence.
CAE has been contracted by the U. S. Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), as part of the USAF Pilot Training Transformation, to provide a knowledge management component. CAE has delivered Augmented Reality (AR) training suites for rear-crew training, as well. CAE images.
During the “Practice” segment, the student moves to the CAE Sprint Virtual Reality training device. Wearing their VR goggles and using simulated physical aircraft controls and seating, they can practice a specific maneuver with the assistance of an AI virtual coach. Progress on skills acquisition is assessed and tracked. In this segment, a very high-end VR headset with eye-limiting acuity in the central area and high refresh rate is used. The student also experiences force-feedback cueing to the stick and rudders, seat vibration and audio/sound cueing.
All of the aircraft controls are functional in the CAE Sprint VR trainer, and the student can select modes and controls via CAE’s cockpit interaction software.
Finally, during the “Perform” segment, the student will typically join the instructor in a traditional high-end flight training device or full-flight simulator to show what they’ve learned and be evaluated. All the student’s performance data is available to the instructor prior to the session to better guide and prioritize the areas for review and instructor assessment.
ATR: CAE is also providing AI-based training to the U. S. Department of Defense.
Perey: That is correct. CAE has been contracted by the U. S. Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), as part of the USAF Pilot Training Transformation (PTT) 2.5., to deliver a knowledge management component. This component uses an AI engine to analyze students’ progress relative to the cohort and recommends detailed micro-learning events the student needs to address specific performance issues.
CAE also provides more traditional, immersive full-flight simulators like these shown here at the CAE London Gatwick training center that opened in 2019. CAE image.
The objective of CAE’s role in this project is to provide better insight into the progression of student pilots, and to identify students who are underperforming and provide immediate remediation recommendations based on the nature of performance metrics such as knowledge, skill, or ability.
This adaptive learning approach has the potential to personalize the training for each student based on their profile, experience, and proficiency. This reduces costs, accelerates training, and leads to better student engagement.
CAE has also delivered sophisticated Augmented Reality (AR) training suites for rear-crew training and is currently working on the second-generation system to be delivered to customers in Europe and the Middle East in the coming year. This solution provides multi-crew operation, and tasks such as hoisting, gunnery and support for confined area landings.
ATR: How have these advances translated to the personal pilot end of the market? Can training now be done with VR goggles?
Perey: We view the VR-based training as a complement to the overall training program and other training aids (e.g., full-flight simulators). Currently, most aviation authorities do not yet recognize VR-based training. This is changing, and we expect regulatory guidance in the coming year for how and where VR-based training can be used as part of a complete pilot training curriculum.
ATR: Just how far has simulator-based flight training advanced, in terms of its ability to properly train pilots?
Perey: Modern full-flight simulators are now so representative and immersive that 100% of civil aircraft conversion training can be performed in the simulator. The first time a new pilot flies a specific transport aircraft, it is with a full load of passengers. This may seem risky to some readers, but this approach has been in use for many decades and the safety record of airlines using this approach is outstanding.
However, in the early phases of a student pilot’s career, real aircraft flight is essential to feel — and be comfortable with — the subtle flight cues and the sense of flight. New pilots must be able to deal emotionally with the potential risks of flying and ensure they can tolerate sustained turbulence and stressful situations while maintaining focus and adherence to standard operating procedures. We do not expect this to change significantly, regardless of current or future advances in simulator technology. On the military side, pilots will also spend many hours flying their aircraft to ensure they are fully mission-ready.
ATR: Are these lower-cost VR simulators making it easier to train new pilots, and making flight school more affordable?
Perey: Yes. We fully expect that once these new VR-based training devices (and the supporting training performance analytics) are approved by the regulatory authorities that this will help reduce pilot training costs, increase throughput, and shorten the overall training program.
We anticipate this to be an iterative approach where such VR-based training devices are initially used as a complement to traditional ground-based devices, and that over time selective training tasks are “downloaded” from the aircraft and/or higher-end simulators.
Downloading is not new: CAE has many “lower end” training devices such as Desktop Trainers, Cockpit Procedure Trainers, Integrated Procedure Trainers and Part-Task Trainers. Each of these allows specific training to be performed. The advent of VR trainers adds to that suite of possibilities.
ATR: Finally, what are the limits of these advanced systems of pilot training? What still has to be done in an actual aircraft?
Perey: My earlier answer addressed the need for live flight experience as it relates to training new pilots. For conversion training — going from one type of aircraft model to another — this can currently be performed 100% in high-fidelity (Level-D) full-flight simulators.
We don’t see the limits in this educational approach as being tied to the fidelity of simulators, but rather the necessity to validate that the student pilot can operate safely in the real aircraft. Given the need for regulatory authorities to maintain the highest safety standards — for both the student and the general population — we do not expect this to change significantly in the years ahead as it relates to training brand new pilots.
VRM Switzerland Committed to VR Training
VR-based flight training is all that VRM Switzerland does. And they do it well: The company has successfully qualified its first VR flight simulator training device as a Robinson R22 FNPT II VR helicopter trainer under EASA regulations.
Ground-level maneuvers that require a 3D display and high-resolution imagery, such as hovering and slope operations, can be performed just like in the real helicopter, VRM Switzerland says. VRM image.
VRM Switzerland has since developed an Airbus H125 VR helicopter trainer. Both models are now being used at the Heli Austria Flight Academy, while another H125 VR Trainer has been purchased by Colorado Highland Helicopters, the company’s first U. S. customer. Both trainers combine VR head-mounted displays with a 6DoF full motion chair and helicopter control system that the student interacts with, connected to a computer and three monitors at an adjacent instructor’s table. Thanks to this combination, students can feel their simulated helicopter’s motion while physically operating the controls that they see in VR, resulting in a truly immersive training simulation experience
VRM’s visual system is easy to use and has photorealistic scenery, responsive reaction, a high-resolution virtual cockpit and an animated avatar. VRM image.
“Our team’s passion at VRM Switzerland is to build the most realistic and affordable flight simulation training device in the helicopter market today,” said company founder and CEO Fabi Riesen. “Our goal is to provide a true flight experience in virtual reality for demanding pilots.”
According to Riesen, the fact that VRM Switzerland’s simulators are VR-based does not make them less capable than traditional FFS trainers. “In fact, with our VR approach to training, the pilot can see a full 360-degree view of their surroundings by moving their head,” he said. “In a traditional FFS, the visuals are shown on projection screens, so there isn’t the same level of 360-degree situational awareness.”
In this VR training world, the student doesn’t see their own body in the aircraft. Instead, they see an avatar that interacts with the cockpit environment. This avatar is accurately synchronized to the student’s actual body positions and movements, thanks to a “Pose Tracking System” that monitors their body in real time.
VRM Switzerland says it has conducted countless tests with professional helicopter pilots to reach its most realistic simulation level ever. VRM image.
“The Pose Tracking System creates a virtual skeleton that it uses to create and animate the avatar,” said Riesen. “As a result, the avatar’s motions are an accurate reflection of what the student is doing in real-time.”
Given VRM Switzerland’s success in gaining EASA approval for its R22 trainer, achieving the same for its H125 model is only a matter of time. Going forward, the company can keep developing other type-specific VR trainers as the market demands them, because the overall VR training approach would be common to them all.
Suspected Unapproved Parts (SUPs) is the FAA’s polite term for counterfeit aerospace parts — almost always of inferior quality — that have made their way into the supply chain, and into aircraft. If an MRO unintentionally uses SUPs, the dangers range from unexpected technical issues, causing Aircraft on Ground delays, to aircraft failures and fatalities.
SUPs are just one issue in the aircraft part supply chain. Another challenge for aircraft operators and MROs to contend with is the theft and resale of legitimate parts. The same is true for authentic parts that are either unserviceable or too old for use, whose provenances are then forged so that they can be resold to unsuspecting customers.
One possible solution to these problems is to assign every legitimate part a unique, easily accessible and fake-proof digital identity that accompanies it from manufacture to eventual disposal/destruction. Fortunately, such a solution already exists: Blockchain.
Mark Roboff , CEO and co-founder of SkyThread, stressed that aviation blockchains are private, not public and very different than those that are used in crypto. Image by Joy Finnegan.
Originally created to provide a public ledger system for the sale and ownership of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, the secure accounting software that underpins Blockchain can be used to track and authenticate all kinds of real and virtual properties, including aircraft parts.
Blockchain Basics
First things first: What exactly is blockchain? According to the Lisk Foundation, the nonprofit group behind the Lisk blockchain application platform, “Blockchain owes its name to how it works and the manner in which it stores data, namely that the information is packaged into blocks, which link to form a chain with other blocks of similar information.”
“It is this act of linking blocks into a chain that makes the information stored on a blockchain so trustworthy,” according to the foundation. “Once the data is recorded in a block it cannot be altered without having to change every block that came after it, making it impossible to do so without it being seen by the other participants on the network.”
Saravanan Rajarajan, Ramco
Saravanan Rajarajan is director of aerospace & sefense aolution consulting & presales at Ramco Systems. He offers a simpler answer: “Blockchain can be described as a digital way of managing information neutrally for all by decentralizing it, thereby ensuring that the information cannot be manipulated.”
Mark Roboff, SkyThread
Mark Roboff is CEO and co-founder of SkyThread, a company that is building a blockchain data exchange network for commercial aviation. “I believe it’s very important to highlight that the blockchains being used in aviation are very different from those that are used in crypto,” he noted. “Aviation blockchains are private in nature, not public. Information in an aviation blockchain will be secure, controlled by the data owners and originators, and only available to those that data owners grant access to see.”
Blockchain in an Aviation Context
Blockchain can provide a trustworthy, robust solution to tracking all kinds of items and information, and this includes aircraft parts. They can be given distinct digital blockchain identities by recording their serial numbers along with all the data created about serialized parts — including transactional data, maintenance records, and 8130 tags.
Aircraft parts can be given distinct digital blockchain identities by recording their serial numbers along with all the data created about serialized parts — including transactional data, maintenance records and 8130 tags.
“Serialized parts are already tracked per regulatory requirements,” said Roboff. “The issues blockchain solves include reducing the costs associated with tracking those parts, and avoiding the costs (which are very substantial) that occur when parts can’t be suitably tracked via today’s offline and often disorganized means. Hundreds of millions of dollars in perfectly good, serviceable parts are being scrapped or set aside because of missing data, which is required to sign off on airworthiness. Creating an industry recording of all this data eliminates this in its entirety.”
The efficiency of this solution explains why accounting and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers is working with airlines, OEMs and MROs to evaluate blockchain’s use in the aviation industry, along with larger digital strategies such as digital twins and data analytics.
Blockchain is particularly well-suited to aircraft parts registration, tracking and authentication — even across multiple owners and territories — because it is “a distributed digital ledger,” said Scott Thompson, PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Aerospace and Defense leader. “Each transaction, or ‘link’ in the chain is recorded and securely locked. This information is then shared on a ledger to users with access or permission to the information.” Since transactions recorded in blockchain ledgers are “securely locked very quickly, it is considered nearly impossible to hack, therefore creating a reliable and trusted source of information,” he said.
Scott Thompson, PwC
This strong resistance to hacking means that parts with blockchain identities can generally be trusted to be what they claim to be. The reason: “Blockchain creates an immutable, shared ledger that can provide a history of parts transactions back to manufacture,” said Roboff.
In contrast, “the reason fraud can exist today is because the tracking of parts as required by regulators is offline, disjointed, and fraught with mistakes,” he said. “Bad actors take advantage of this scenario by passing off old parts as new, or by forging 8130 tags. Again, it’s about the data more than the physical part itself. By having everything in a secure blockchain, we eliminate the vectors in which fraud can occur, solving what you correctly identify is a critical safety risk.”
SUPs or stolen parts won’t be able to pass the blockchain test. Their falsified documentation won’t stand up to a search of the appropriate blockchain ledger, if they appear in it at all.
Jeff Staub, Maine Pointe
“Blockchain promises to give aviation consumers the confidence of knowing the provenance of the parts they want to purchase,” said Jeff Staub, CEO of Maine Pointe, a global supply chain and operations management consulting firm. “It has the potential to be a single source of truth to monitor each part through every transaction that it goes through. In doing so, blockchain makes it easier to automate and collaborate in the platform, systems, and parts procurement process across the aerospace industry, especially when it comes to multi-party arrangements (e.g. JVs, fragmented ownership), MRO, performance-based logistics, and maintenance efforts.”
Aviation Blockchain in Action
Let’s get specific about what blockchain could do for aviation.
“At this stage, blockchain is only being used in aviation in very limited test cases,” noted Thompson. “However, the technology is being evaluated because blockchain has the potential to create an enormous data-lake for aircraft information. This information could be used to automate many transactions which are currently manual, thus improving efficiency and accuracy.”
“For example, blockchain has the potential to provide a complete dataset about every aircraft and every flight,” he said. “It could tell you the history of every part of an aircraft — and there are tens of thousands of parts on an aircraft and its engines.”
Blockchain is particularly well-suited to aircraft parts registration, tracking and authentication — even across multiple owners and territories — because it is “a distributed digital ledger,” according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Scott Thompson. The ledger can then be shared with trusted users. PwC image.
Additionally, blockchain could tell aircraft part consumers the entire history of every single part that they buy. This could include “where it was made, who were the workers that made the part, every aircraft and flight that part has been on, where it was maintained, the exact maintenance procedures, who performed the maintenance and where, and their credentials and work history of those employees,” said Thompson. “This information could provide essentially a digital twin of the aircraft.”
Finally, the data collected can be used to spot SUPs at any stage of the procurement process. “Fake parts entering the aviation stream is a real concern for safety, and for military aircraft national security in particular,” he observed. “So having confidence in the source of a part is very valuable.”
Blockchain Benefits
Without a doubt, Benefit No. 1 is restoring trustworthiness to the parts procurement, inventory and usage process. Blockchain incorporates both aspects of the proverb that President Ronald Reagan liked to quote about arms negotiations with the Soviet Union: “Trust, but verify.”
The key to blockchain’s trustworthiness is its use of a distributed digital ledger. “Blockchain has certain properties inherent in its design that enable data to be trusted by multiple parties without there being a central organization managing the data,” Roboff explained. “This enables a shared source of truth.”
“Blockchain information cannot be manipulated due to the system’s underlying cryptographic technology,” said Rajarajan. “This technology makes it extremely difficult to manipulate the data, including data that is vital from an economical or airworthiness standpoint.”
At the same time, the data within a given blockchain ledger is collected from every single user of the system as they use it. This ensures that users have access to a reliable snapshot of every component in the system in near-real time.
The second benefit offered by blockchain being used for aviation parts tracking is based on the data it collects, which reflects the actual lifespans, performance, and problems of parts within the system. This data can be harnessed to improve predictive maintenance for aircraft, rather than using rigidly defined service/replacement schedules that may be more strict than necessary, and thus cost aircraft owners/operators more money and downtime than needed to keep their airplanes safe.
“By utilizing blockchain to store information that can be assessed using data analytics, it allows us to make much better predictions about that aircraft and its individual components,” Thompson said. “By deploying data analytics and developing artificial intelligence to crunch all of this data, you can improve predictive maintenance and improve aircraft availability, while reducing Aircraft on Ground situations. After all, there are currently mandatory maintenance schedules for aircraft and their components that provide built-in safety buffers. But these maintenance schedules are imperfect, which is why the airline industry still experiences many flight disruptions due to unscheduled maintenance.”
A third area where blockchain could make a difference, and one that is very relevant in a time of overstrained supply chains, is supply chain management. “Start with availability challenges that we are living through with the global semiconductor shortage,” said Staub. “Then factor in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia that is impacting nickel, titanium, tantalum that is used in aircraft parts and capacitors, and others. There are real issues for the aviation industry about how to gain visibility and influence across a multi-tiered and complex supply chain. A blockchain system could help provide a common, trusted and accurate source of visibility to where, how much, and what is the allocation methodology for available demand, while also detecting SUPs and other counterfeits.”
Again, SUPs are a real issue for the aviation industry and one that is difficult to manage using current approaches.
A case in point: Back in the 1990s, the U.S. Department of Defense established a “Trusted Foundry” program to identify and ensure dealings with trustworthy IT suppliers. Unfortunately, the number of microelectronics purchased by the DOD is minuscule when compared with the industry’s other customers. “As a result, they haven’t been investing,” said Mark J. Lewis, then-director of defense research and engineering for modernization at the Pentagon, during a 2020 presentation reported on the DOD’s website. “The chips that we buy, the microelectronic components that we buy from those trusted foundries, are in some cases two generations behind what’s available on commercial state-of-the-art.”
To make matters worse, the trusted foundry approach left DOD open to security risks at a supplier level. “We’ve seen a number of examples where the biggest threats that we face often are the insider threat,” Lewis said. “It’s the people inside the fence line, behind the guards, who we think we’ve cleared. They’re the ones that pose the biggest threats to us.”
As a result of these issues, the DOD has abandoned the Trusted Foundry approach and moved to a “Zero Trust” model instead. This approach assumes that every single part the government buys is suspect until proven otherwise by validation and verification testing.
“You depend on data, you depend on validation and verification, you depend on standards that will make sure that what you have has no surprises, doesn’t have back doors that are going to injure you or damage you, and doesn’t act in a malicious way,” said Lewis. “We’re actually extremely comfortable now — we believe that the technologies already exist for us to be able to do that.”
Staub characterized the DOD’s past and current attempts to keep SUPs out of its equipment as “a very expensive and tedious process. Blockchain would be an option for managing this problem in a much more seamless and efficient way.”
Safety enhancement is a definite blockchain benefit. “Aviation is already incredibly safe — about one in every 16 million flights has a fatality — but data analytics enabled by blockchain could further improve safety,” Thompson said. “Yet again blockchain could lower costs by reducing unnecessary maintenance while improving aircraft availability — thus reducing the disruption, cost and customer service issues associated with unscheduled maintenance.”
Obstacles to Blockchain Deployment
With blockchain offering all these benefits for aircraft parts control, an obvious question emerges: How soon can the aviation industry get this system into place?
It could take awhile, said Thompson, and not just because the system’s software and IT infrastructure have to be fleshed out. There’s also the question of who’s going to pay to build a blockchain system (or systems) for the aviation industry, plus how its ongoing maintenance and operations will be paid for.
“Even in a highly automated environment, there is still a cost to collect and maintain data,” he said. “Then the question becomes: How much of this information is really valuable and worth collecting? Perhaps it is best to just start collecting information that is believed to have the most value, such as data on Life Limited Parts, and expand from there.”
Other issues to be resolved: Who gets access to this data, and under what conditions/restrictions? “Before an airline, OEM or MRO will choose to share their data, they will want to know who gets access, how it will be used, and how they get compensated or otherwise derive value from their data,” said Thompson.
Then there’s the issue of human greed and self-interest: “How will suppliers and customers try to use the data to gain an advantage in commercial transactions?” he asked. “There’s a lot of potential for distrust in the supply chain that could impair the blockchain process. The key is to create win-win scenarios for everyone where airlines can improve reliability and reduce cost, while at the same time OEMs and MROs can increase margins, but that’s easier said than done.”
One way to ensure a level playing field is to create a unified blockchain system for the aviation industry, with a “neutral custodian” accepted by all players in charge of it. “SkyThread is poised to be that neutral custodian — a company of the industry but not in the industry; i.e. not an airline and not in the supply chain,” said Roboff. “With this setup, aviation stakeholders can work together without exposing competitive interests or conflicts.”
One last obstacle to blockchain deployment, which won’t come cheap, is competing priorities. “For the past two years, the aviation industry has been focused on liquidity and surviving COVID,” said Thompson. “Post-COVID, there is an enormous emphasis on achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, or sooner. That’s also going to take a lot of resources — and it’s a market imperative. Of course, there are other priorities as well, such as upgrading aircraft.
“So, the question becomes: How much investment, in time and money, can the industry afford for blockchain development considering competing priorities, and therefore how quickly can it move?”
Where Blockchain Stands Now
Just how close is the industry to an actual blockchain deployment?
“It’s very early days,” Thompson said. “There have been a limited number of blockchain experiments in the aviation industry and those have been internal — namely testing the technology for data collection.”
At Ramco Systems, “we are working on proof of concept to demonstrate the use of blockchain to digitally track and record the movements and maintenance history of parts across airlines, lessors, original equipment manufacturers such as engine producers, logistics suppliers, and maintenance providers,” said Rajarajan. “Results are promising, and we are addressing the challenges of standardization.”
“Blockchain itself is only one element of realizing adoption: It’s getting everybody to come together to agree on what the standards and information should look like,” Staub said. “They also have to agree on how to fund it, and be willing to work together, which can be a problem given the competitive nature of the industry. The capability and infrastructure of the supply chain also dramatically falls off as you transition from OEMs and prime contractors to Tier 2, 3, and 4 suppliers.”
Thompson isn’t even sure that blockchain will catch on. “I firmly believe that the aviation sector will increasingly develop data-lakes and data analytics to improve the safety, reliability, and cost of aviation,” he said. “But it’s still very unclear whether blockchain technology will be dominant or some other technology. It’s also very unclear how fast this will develop, given the challenges around data sharing and competing priorities.”
All these factors considered, blockchain — or an equivalent system — does offer a way for the aviation industry to resolve issues associated with aircraft parts registration, tracking, usage and security.
The IT world is moving to the cloud, and MRO-centric IT systems are no exception. Mindful of the many customer advantages offered by cloud-based solutions, MRO software providers such as IFS, Ramco Systems, Rusada, Swiss Aviation Software’s AMOS, OASES and Ultramain Systems now offer their platforms as both cloud-based and on-premises applications.
Why The Cloud Makes Sense
There are many reasons why cloud-based MRO IT systems make sense for airlines and MROs.
For instance, “by choosing the cloud-based option, customers are relieved from the requirement to operate a technical infrastructure on their own and can use an attractive and cost-effective alternative,” said Chris Clements, AMOS sales representative. “Cloud hosting is not necessarily better, as each option has its own particular advantages. However, with a cloud solution, customers no longer face warranty period expiry deadlines for on-premise computer hardware and the periodical constraint to purchase new hardware is also removed.”
In other words, cloud-based systems allow airlines and MROs to cease provisioning, maintaining and upgrading their own on-premises servers and IT departments, at least to the extent of directly supporting these MRO IT systems. “The obvious advantage to customers is they do not have to purchase, staff, and maintain server facilities,” said John Stone, Ultramain Systems’ vice president of Product Management. “We do that for them by our cloud offering.”
“Hosting in the cloud is proven to have a better value proposition than on-premises,” agreed Saravanan Rajarajan, director of Aerospace & Defense Solution Consulting & Presales at Ramco Systems. “This is due to reduction in both CAPEX and OPEX expenditures. Capital expenses are not required for setting up infrastructure. The service provider takes the end-to-end ownership to monitor and manage cloud infrastructure, database, and applications on a 24×7 basis, thereby enabling MROs to focus on their core operations.”
Another big plus of cloud-based MRO IT systems: Users pay for them via predictable monthly payments, leaving the big costs of new software costs, on-premises system maintenance and upgrades to the vendors to handle. Granted, these costs are passed onto the airlines and MROs as part of their monthly fees, but they are manageably spread over time, rather than turning up every now and then as large CAPEX/OPEX expenses.
“The benefits of cloud-based MRO IT systems are primarily that you as a business don’t then need to worry about maintaining and updating systems and servers yourself,” said David Purfurst, Rusada global pre-sales director. “By choosing a cloud-hosted solution you can guarantee a fixed monthly hosting cost and avoid any large one-off costs that on-premises hosting can incur.”
OASES says they developed their OASES Cloud solution in early 2021 with the aim of offering a solution that is fully based in the Cloud and therefore no server hardware is required by the MRO. “With more people working away from their company network it can be accessed from anywhere with Internet and from any computer with minimal setup,” says Jonathan Wood, Oases GVP Cloud and Infrastructure.
On the technology side, using cloud-based MRO systems allows airlines and MROs to access the latest IT features without having to discover, purchase, and implement these advances themselves.
“With cloud-based solutions, MROs can quickly capitalize on new embedded technologies, so they can hit the ground running on better automating and optimizing processes,” said Michael Egan, IFS’ vice president, Commercial Aviation, Aerospace & Defense. “For example, with digital innovations embedded in the IFS Cloud architecture, new and improved application services for intelligent and autonomous business can be natively leveraged across IFS products. This makes it practical and affordable for MRO customers to take advantage of technologies such as machine learning (ML), augmented and mixed reality (AR/MR), artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT), ready to use ‘out of the box’.”
That’s not all: Cloud-based MRO IT systems make it possible for airlines and MROs to affordably modernize their operations by leveraging the R&D efforts of their software vendors, rather than having to do it all themselves from scratch.
A case in point: “Ramco’s web-centric MRO solution helps in digitally transforming complex MRO processes,” Rajarajan said. “This integrated solution helps in a wide range of functions from work scope induction to customer delivery and invoicing. Advanced capabilities such as digital task cards, kitting and due parts tracking, mobility-based work execution, critical path & turnaround time (TAT) management, helps in eliminating paper and inefficiencies.”
A key advantage, according to OASES, is cloud-based systems are easily scalable when more performance or storage are required. The company also touts increased reliability and availability of the system. “It is much easier for the organization to provide access to OASES, particularly for users working outside their company network,” said OASES’ Wood. “This would include staff deployed to other locations, supervisors and management being able to monitor progress from wherever they are, and customers needing to monitor progress or provide input to processes. Cloud-based systems are also more straightforward for the software vendor to access than on-prem servers which translates to faster turnaround of support tickets.”
Cloud-based MRO IT systems can also make vital airline-related information tracking web-accessible. For instance, “Rusada’s ENVISION solution is used to manage the functions of Airworthiness, MRO and Flight Operations for over 100 aircraft operators and maintainers around the world,” said Purfurst. “In 2017 we introduced the first web-based iteration of ENVISION, and since 2018 this has been available as a cloud-based solution. “Collectively, our ENVISION system enables work to be planned, assigned, executed, and recorded for base, line, and component maintenance, as well as the management of inventory. It also acts as a repository for all documentation, data, records, and processes. Having all this information on one platform allows for sophisticated forecasting and analysis for continual business improvement.”
A further benefit: Relying on cloud-based MRO IT systems puts the onus for cybersecurity and data redundancy on these vendors, relieving airlines and MROs of this essential but non-core responsibility. At Ultramain Systems, “our ULTRAMAIN cloud offering includes state-of-the-art cybersecurity protections that client devices can connect to via the internet,” Stone said. “Our offering comes with a redundant failover environment in a separate facility to reduce the risk associated with server failures or localized internet outages. We also provide managed services to monitor and update the solution as required, including health monitoring for ULTRAMAIN on behalf of our customers.”
IFS’s Allowable Configuration module is an automated solution that incorporates revisions to IPCs directly into the IFS aviation maintenance management system, ensuring that airlines and MROs can maintain real-time, tail-specific compliance. IFS Image.
OASES says many of the benefits of a cloud-based system stem from the fact that the software vendor holds the keys to the system. This means that they are guaranteed access to the system. “There is not an external administrator who can make changes to passwords or configurations that prevents access to all or part of the system,” Wood said. “This opens up opportunities to access the system from web and mobile clients which would be complex, if not impossible, for separate on-prem systems. It offers the possibility to deploy software more regularly and with more certainty. The support team can now always get immediate access to begin diagnosing problems reported by customers much earlier than before.”
Finally, moving to cloud-based MRO IT systems simplifies life for airlines and MROs, freeing them up to focus on other issues during these trying times. “IFS Cloud brings simplicity, choice and innovation to organizations that are juggling their priorities — to evolve to new business models, control costs, expand faster and serve their customers better,” said Egan. “By implementing IFS Cloud, companies can easily scale and simply switch on new functionality such as additional modules or new innovative capabilities, when the time is right for their business.”
What Makes Each System Stand Out?
The makers of cloud-based MRO IT systems are constantly finding ways to update their products, both to stay competitive and to bring more features to airlines and MROs. To help our readers understand the key features of these systems, ATR asked vendors to tell us what makes their particular products stand out.
IFS
According to IFS’ Michael Egan, “there are five recent IFS developments that will help airlines and MROs navigate the post-pandemic recovery and beyond — enabling them to improve technician workflows and maximize aircraft uptime but to balance these advantages with flexible and safe fleet reintroductions.” These IFS features are Aviation Technical Content Manager (ATCM), Practical Augmented Reality for remote assistance, Enhanced Native Mobile Experience, True Planning Optimization, and Applied IoT/Machine Learning for asset in-service optimization.
“Our Allowable Configuration module within IFS Aviation Technical Content Manager (ATCM) is an automated solution that quickly and accurately incorporates revisions to IPCs directly into the IFS aviation maintenance management system, ensuring that airlines and MROs can maintain rock-solid, real-time, tail-specific compliance,” he explained. Adding Practical Augmented Reality (where smart devices can provide remotely-sourced virtual images overlaid on their actual views of reality) to IFS’ Remote Assistance service “lets team members work together over long distances, sharing information in a common view and diagnosing and fixing issues together.”
IFS’ Enhanced Native Mobile Experience is aimed at bringing its cloud-based IT systems to technicians’ mobile phones and tablets. True Planning Optimization refers to IFS improving MRO planning and scheduling functions by making it more interactive and accessible, while Applied IoT and Machine Learning for asset in-service optimization is meant to bring the power of new technologies to keeping aircraft available for flight more often.
Ramco
Ramco Systems’ Saravanan Rajarajan S cites five features that make his company’s MRO IT system distinctive. They start with the company’s mobility applications: “Ramco’s ‘Anywhere’ apps enable managers and mechanics to work on the go,” he said. “Our nine mobile applications are extensively leveraged by customers to gain operational efficiencies.”
Next comes electronic publications: According to Rajarajan, Ramco’s MRO IT system allows users to receive and manage digital content from their OEMs in XML and SGML file formats. Ramco has also developed automated capabilities to process PDF-based OEM and customer documents to make them easily accessible through their platform.
Ramco says its nine mobile applications are leveraged by customers to gain operational efficiencies. Ramco images.
Ramco’s Inventory Technical Management (ITM) feature handles the complex process of aviation rotable management including pooling, exchanges, part reliability, and repairs, while its third party ecosystem feature enables MRO software interoperability. “The aviation industry is interconnected, and business applications need to be interoperable and integration-ready so that they can transcend organizational boundaries to create a seamless self-orchestrated platform,” Rajarajan explained. “We continue to invest in building native adaptors with industry platforms such as OneAero and Aeroxchange have even deployed these successfully at our customer sites.”
Rusada’s cloud-based system includes a Technical Publications module which allows airlines and MROs to upload aircraft maintenance manuals into the ENVISION system and create a library of electronic task cards. Rusada image.
Finally, Ramco constantly updates its platform to make it more user-friendly based on customer feedback. To this end, “we have introduced five new hubs each one focusing on a specific role,” said Rajarajan. These hubs address Material Demand Management; Customer Requests/Order Management; Fixed Asset and Maintenance Asset Tracking; Component Reliability; and Supplier Repair Order Management.
Rusada says a cloud-hosted solution can help guarantee a fixed monthly hosting cost and avoid any large one-off costs that on-premises hosting can incur.Rusada image.
Rusada
Now on to Rusada. “Since moving to a fully web-based solution we have been able to offer greater functionality and connectivity to our customers,” David Purfurst said. “Faster loading times, streamlined user interfaces, live dashboards, and flexible APIs have all come as a result of this change, creating a significantly improved user experience.”
Swiss-AS is focusing on the development of AMOScentral. The AMOScentral concept will allow AMOS customers to connect with one another for data exchange via a cloud-based message broker. AMOScentral will allow each AMOS customer to individually open its platform to collaborate to the desired extent with other members of the AMOS community and also with external parties. The image above show current package levels for AMOS Cloud. Swiss-AS image.
In 2019, Rusada launched a Technical Publications module on its cloud-based MRO IT system. It allows airlines and MROs to upload aircraft maintenance manuals into the ENVISION system and create an entire library of electronic task cards. “These can then be customized, signed-off electronically, and easily updated upon revision, removing the need for paper task cards,” said Purfurst. “More recently we have increased our customer’s mobility through the release of two new apps in 2021, ENVISION Tasks for maintenance execution and ENVISION Stock for inventory management, and will be releasing more in 2022.”
Swiss Aviation Software
As for Swiss Aviation Software: “In the past few releases of AMOS our MRO customers’ community has grown and MRO providers have gained tools to manage customer inputs from the initial CRM contact, work scope quotation, production planning and finally billing in an end-to end process,” Chris Clements said. “In more recent releases we have continued to build on the paperless processes within AMOS and work with customers to digitalize their business and realize additional value not only in terms of costs, but also in time; thereby potentially increasing productivity whilst maintaining quality, safety and consistency.”
In 2022, the AMOS’ mobility suite will be extended to warehouse (stores) personnel through the AMOSmobile/STORES app. According to Clements, “AMOSmobile/STORES has been optimized for the stores processes and users’ needs and will launch a new tech stack for mobile technology. AMOSmobile/STORES is the first suite of apps to be fully developed with Flutter/Dart technology – the latest tech stack to be rolled out to any targeted future AMOSmobile applications (incl. the Swiss-AS ETLB). The AMOS users can look forward to a completely new user experience due to material design language.”
Ultramain Systems
Ultramain Systems has some standout features. “ULTRAMAIN is intelligent M&E/MRO / ELB software that addresses a broad spectrum of aviation maintenance needs,” said John Stone. “It fully integrates maintenance — line, base, engine, shop — with materials, labor, documentation, ELB and procurement. ULTRAMAIN gets the right parts to the right spot at the right time to support maintenance.” Note: ULTRAMAIN is a suite of applications that can be licensed and implemented individually as needed. This allows small operators to start small then add modules later as desired.
“ULTRAMAIN’s benefits include creation of optimized plans and a process for improving them after each use,” he added. “Being able to know and schedule all resources needed to execute a plan is critical to avoid downtime and delays. Being able to efficiently digitally communicate additional work requirements found during a check to customers and obtain their authorization to proceed, with agreement on additional costs, is critical to minimizing overall check time and receiving timely payment without billing disputes.”
OASES
“OASES Mobile provides a number of features that MROs can exploit to increase their staff’s efficiency,” said Wood. “Stores personnel can issue material, transfer stock between locations and carry out stock takes. Engineers can search inventory, raise material requests, book time, update works order status and view deferred defects.”
ULTRAMAIN is a suite of applications that can be licensed and implemented individually as needed. The company says this allows small operators to start small then add modules later as desired. Ultramain images.
Wood also pointed out two additional useful functions. OASES Web provides a customs tracking feature to ensure compliance with deferral account requirements and there is also a feature for MROs to identify inventory that is not being used.
OASES says it sees an end to paper-driven reporting and a shift to processes where web technologies are exploited to present and distribute information, and mobile devices allow users to interact with OASES from wherever they may be physically located. OASES image.
What’s Next?
As impressive as these cloud-based MRO IT systems are, the companies interviewed for this article foresee many more features becoming available in the years to come.
“I predict that there will be many advances that will radically shape the abilities, efficiencies and costing of MROs in future,” said IFS’ Egan. “IoT, AI and predictive maintenance solutions are certainly developments I see trending widely over the next few years, as the aviation industry increasingly relies upon predictive maintenance solutions to not only increase performance and reduce costs, but to better manage risk and enhance safety. Advantages come into play when applied to aircraft availability and engine time on wing, with data-driven decisions set to translate into fewer delays, less unnecessary or unexpected maintenance expenditure and, ultimately, improved ‘Moments of Service’ for airlines and their passengers.”
“The technologies that stand to make the most impact in the MRO IT space will be AI for planning and prediction models, and VR for remote inspections,” Purfurst projected. “This is another reason why having a modern, web-based platform for MRO IT is vital as it will be much easier to integrate with and adopt these new technologies as they advance.”
On a more strategic global level, “the Swiss-AS team of experts is currently focusing on the development of AMOScentral,” said Clements. “With AMOS having one of the largest global reaches within the MRO software world in terms of customers, the AMOScentral concept will allow AMOS customers to connect with one another for data exchange via a cloud-based message broker. By spanning a virtual cloud over all AMOS instances, AMOScentral allows each AMOS customer to individually open its platform to collaborate to the desired extent with other members of the AMOS community and beyond with external parties.”
OASES says its strategy is to move towards fully digital processes where data is shared between systems to provide it everywhere it is needed. They believe OASES Cloud is a key enabler of that vision. “We see an end to paper-driven reporting and processes where web technologies are exploited to present and distribute information, and mobile devices allow users to interact with OASES from wherever they may be physically located,” Wood said. “We are currently finishing off our new Maintenance Control feature in OASES Web. This will integrate fast-moving operational data to provide situational awareness for short-term planners to make the best decisions to allow defects and maintenance to be scheduled efficiently.”
Wood said they are really excited about the next feature they are working on which will be an electronic workcard. “This will provide all the benefits discussed above to the hangar environment, specifically; reduced non-productive time, real-time progress monitoring, integration with materials and procedure data and lots more,” Wood said.
In closing, Ultramain Systems’ Stone said that “for competitive reasons we cannot disclose new capabilities under development, but we can say there are many of them being worked on.”
The Bottom Line
Taken as a whole, cloud-based MRO IT systems offer clear, tangible and cost-effective benefits to the airlines and MROs who use them. As the IT world continues to move more platforms onto the web, the day will likely come when this is not only the preferred way for users to access these services — but the only way.
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