Line Maintenance

Most aircraft (although there are exceptions, like many business jets for example) require line
maintenance tasks to be performed quite frequently. In many aircraft types, typical line maintenance
tasks would include a daily check (performed anywhere from every 24 to every 48 hours) and a
weekly check (every 7-8 days). Apart from that, there may be several OOP (out of phase)
maintenance tasks which can be considered to be line maintenance and carried out by a line
maintenance provider.

So how can we define line maintenance? The Part 145 regulation defines line maintenance as any
maintenance tasks which can be performed outside of a hangar (under open skies) except for
situations in which the weather deteriorates to such conditions, that a hangar becomes mandatory.
Are you confused? No wonder – a typical example of a legal definition which means precisely
nothing. Technically, one could do any maintenance task under the open sky in the Caribbean
assuming the weather is nice and warm and there’s no wind.

So what can we do? Many airline professionals have a good “feel” for the line / base distinction and
know by heart which is which, especially if they have years of practical experience on a given aircraft
type. However, if you’re new to the business there’s still hope J

First of all, for some aircraft, the scope of line maintenance is specified in the MPD or MS
(Maintenance Planning Document or Maintenance Schedule). Those documents may either bluntly
tell you that line maintenance is for every check up to and including the 500 HR A-check, for
instance. Or for any A-check. On top of that, the same documentation will specify components which
are known as LRU – Line Replaceable Unit. This implies that the replacement of such components
can be done during line maintenance. Be careful with oversimplification though – an engine is
generally considered to be an LRU and as much as you’re allowed to replace it during line
maintenance (for instance, if you get FOD – Foreign Object Damage – such as a bird ingestion, at
an airport where no hangar facility is available) you should probably stick to a base maintenance
facility for this job if there is one nearby.

On the other hand, most modern aircraft tend to define their maintenance programs as stand-alone
tasks rather than complete work packages. In this case, you will not get a definition of an A-check or
C-check, and therefore also no distinction as to which one of them can be assumed line
maintenance. Then, the definition needs to be created by you and approved by your local aviation
authority. In other words:

 If you’re running an airline or an independent airworthiness management organization, you need

to define a Maintenance Program specific to the given aircraft in your fleet. This maintenance
program should define which tasks you consider to be line maintenance. There are various ways
to define such tasks. The easiest one (although also the one with least common sense) is to
define line maintenance as maintenance tasks limited by a certain interval (for instance all tasks
with an interval of up to 500 flight hours, 500 flight cycles and 1 calendar year may be
considered line maintenance).
 If you’re running an MRO, you will need to specify your so-called scope of approval, which
defines what maintenance you’re actually allowed to do. In your internal documentation (the
MOE – Maintenance Organization Exposition – chapter 1.9) you will need to define whether you
do line or both line and base (I have yet to see someone who does only base, although it’s
possible) and also what that means to you. Of course, your local authority needs to approve your
ideas.

Another important thing to note regarding line maintenance is that it is fairly easy to set up from an
airline perspective. Airlines operate to and from various airports around the world and they need
maintenance support for their fleet. Furthermore, some operators (especially charter and ACMI
providers) fly to airports on an ad-hoc basis, so establishing steady relationships with maintenance
providers may prove difficult. In those cases, line maintenance providers come in handy because a
you can hire those companies often via one email and one work order for a simple check on your
aircraft and they will be there to assist.