TROUBLESHOOTING
Joe Escobar
Good mechanical skills are essential to a successful career as a helicopter mechanic. Repairing or
replacing damaged parts and equipment is part of the job. If there is a damaged stringer, we repair or replace it. We fi nd, remove and treat corrosion. We perform routine maintenance tasks. But if we want to excel as helicopter maintenance
professionals, even more important than having good mechanical skills is having good troubleshooting skills. Unlike a damaged part or component, a system malfunction requires us to use troubleshooting skills to correct the problem. If we are working on our company’s helicopter, eff ective troubleshooting skills means less downtime and decreased maintenance and inventory costs. If we are working on a customers’ helicopter, good troubleshooting skills results in better customer relations and retention. After all, customers don’t want to take fi nancial hits because of misdiagnosed problems or an unnecessary “shotgun” approach to changing parts. They will go to our competitors to have it done right the fi rst time.
20
HelicopterMaintenanceMagazine.com June | July 2016
FlightSafety International Before we dig into some basic troubleshooting tips, I need to give a huge shout out to FlightSafety International. When I fi rst decided to write an article on the subject, I contacted FlightSafety for assistance. I had heard great things about FlightSafety’s Principles of Troubleshooting course, and decided touching base with them would be a good place to start. I talked to Keith McGann, director of Regional Airline Maintenance Sales and Professional Development at FlightSafety, to discuss my interest in publishing an article on troubleshooting and see if he could recommend one of their experts to help me with my research. He graciously off ered me the opportunity to sit in on one of the company’s courses in its Wichita Learning Center to get a better understanding of the troubleshooting process. I sat in on the course, and all I can say is I wish I would have taken it early in my career. The Principles of Troubleshooting course is appropriate for any mechanic who wants to be a better troubleshooter. I had two
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36