43inches
Couldn't agree more. Any operation still in business has to look at every avenue to survive.
The old adage of run smarter not faster applies. A little education and keeping up with maintenance trends can help make better informed decisions and a fuller understanding of both planned and past unplanned maintenance can make for a safer operation.
Its the lot of little things that save big time and money.
Trend monitoring now using downloaded EDM data can help find little problems way before they raise their head at some isolated strip and become a big problem.
What is the option to try and maintain a profit? The only option is to reduce pilots wages. This is always the option of the uneducated, unscrupulous and the cowboy operations and has bought a bad reputations down on all of us operators that, like us, look upon our staff as family and the most important asset in the company. We pride ourselves on always paying award wages, because we have all come up the hard way of no money but lots of passion. Happy well paid, good trained pilots save lives and build companies.
I think the APS course or simular should be mandatory for every young budding pilot/LAME and CFI in Australia nothing to do with LOP but just to get a better understanding of what's under the cowls and how to read and understand what the EDM is telling them in front of them.
I for one, if I read on a CV from a pilot that they had attended a engine management course run by a company with a reputation as the APS has then they would certainly get a call back. Wouldn't guarantee a job but certainly a second look.
Please don't think I am in anyway that I am part of APS or get any kickbacks. I attended a course some years ago when new engine management was first being discussed in Australia through the CPA and what I learnt from them, and then the next 8 or so years of trying to put some of AAAHA moments together that came as revelations of running a steady growing aviation business.