Instrument hire improves aircraft inspection flexibility

Amidst recent media attention on aircraft safety, Alan Hasson, general manager at instrumentation specialist Ashtead Technology has highlighted the technological and financial benefits of instrument rental and cites two recent examples in which aircraft inspection has been enhanced by access to a broad range of the latest technologies.

Following the Icelandic volcano eruption, Ashtead Technology was contacted by an aviation maintenance firm looking to hire a high specification endoscope for emergency aircraft engine examinations following the Icelandic volcano eruption.

Avalon Aero, based at Biggin Hill Airport in Kent, performed internal inspections of engines following flights in the ‘red zone'; an area in which ash might be encountered, but was deemed safe to fly by the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre.

Martin Darling, Avalon Aero's technical director, explained: “Ashtead Technology's engineers recommended the IPLEX Videoscope and the device proved extremely useful, providing quick and easy visual access to the internal components of aircraft engines. Our investigations did not find any ash within the engines and this evidence was of course extremely valuable to our clients.”

In the second example, Marshall Aerospace had a short-term requirement to remotely monitor the temperature of landing gear and tyres. This necessitated the use of an infrared camera with the ability to take high definition images from an aircraft. In this instance, Ashtead recommended the FLIR P620 thermal camera.

Without the deployment of hand-held thermal imaging equipment, thermal instrumentation would have had to be installed onto the undercarriage of the aircraft which would be both costly and time consuming. Alternative methods involving temperatures being taken by hand are too dangerous due to the risk of tyre explosion.

The trial sessions involved the aircraft carrying out an abortive take-off on the runway having reached speeds of up to 100knots.

After each session, the P620 camera enabled engineers to take images showing pinpoint temperature levels from as far as 65ft away, thereby improving both the safety and efficiency of the trial.

Jon Gorman, principal flight dynamics engineer at Marshall Aerospace, said: “The trials in which we used the FLIR P620 ThermaCAM for thermal imaging of the aircraft's key components worked extremely well. The entire trial process went seamlessly, from assessing temperatures directly after the taxi run, through to easily identifying when the brakes and tyres were at a suitable temperature for trials to resume.”

Alan Hasson believes that the initial inclination for many engineers, when they have an instrument requirement, is to consider purchase. However, he said: “The problem with this is that the best technology might be the most expensive, so inspection engineers might be tempted to make do with what they've got or to buy a cheaper, less appropriate instrument.

“Ashtead Technology was created to address this issue – to put the best technologies into the hands of those that need them, with a financial package that also meets their needs. We achieve this by offering short-term instrument hire at one end of the spectrum and full instrument purchase at the other, but we have a wide range of options in-between that enable customers to balance operational and capital costs whilst also choosing the maintenance and calibration regime that best suits their needs.”

www.ashtead-technology.com