‘Home Handyman Maintenance’
 

Moving the work from Philippines to Singapore is hardly going to solve the problem.

Reminds m of the time when a member of the ALEAA crossed the wiring on one of our company Metros after a major inspection and the test flight nearly wound up in a smoking hole off the end of the runway at Bankstown.

Many duplicate inspections and they still got it wrong

TBM-Legebd you probably shouldn't have Al Bundy working on your Metros as i don't think a shoe salesman is qualified to do the work. I bet he had a badass pair of ballet shoes on why he did the work but

Don't blame Virgin, CASA sits idly by while Aussie airlines cut corners with cheap and dodgy maintenance. A regulator with a spine would ground anything that has been maintained in the Philippines.

Here you go again. Australia best at this best at that. Remember your only a remote socialist Island in the SouthWest Pacific. Tens of thousands of Jet Transports flying around the world with their foreign dodgy maintenance ? If the Maintenance was so bad from the Philippine EASA/FAA Maintenance facility one should be asking who were the " AUSTRALIAN MAINTENANCE REPS ". Australia will always be a backwater with little man syndrome. There should only be one Airline Qantas you cannot manage anything else look what happened when there were 4 banks hahaha... 3rd World Muppet land.

JPJP...

Seems to be a logical summation. :ok:

To be fair - The report is implicates SIA Engineering Philippines, which is obviously different from Lufthansa Technic Philippines (LTP) and not involved in this.

One of my previous employers Airbuses went to LTP for C checks and above, and after the initial difficulties of a new contract, they did start producing some good work with very few issues. But, it depends on what level of oversight you put in place. We had a team of guys based there for all checks to keep an eye on things, but we did that for all outsourced checks no matter where they were carried out in the world.

Not had any dealings with SIAEP, but I have had dealings with SIA/SIAEC...........wasn't overly impressed and can't say I'm too surprised by the report!

My first question would be, were there ANY Tigerair/Virgin engineers (be they LAMES or unlicenced engineers) present to oversee this check? And if not, then who, and what was their qualifications?

McHale.

I have a banking background. During the depths of the GFC (caused by dodgy banking practices in the US largely) - there were only 10 banks worldwide that maintained the maximum 3 star rating - our big 4 banks were 4 of that 10. But - don't let facts get in the way of your rant.

Would imagine there would have been a Tech Rep or equivalent overseeing the maintenance input. But how many and what was their responsibilities?

Some airlines send reasonably large teams, technical, materials and commercial people to these inputs, others just send the bare minimum (even just one) so potentially they have to be a jack of all trades.

From personal experience doing checks on your own is a mammoth undertaking and whilst I set boundaries with the MRO to witness close up inspections, be out when functional tests are being performed and witness final engine runs etc, you cannot be everywhere 24/7 during however long the input is. Not trying to justify anything but if there was only one Tech Rep onsite then there is absolutely no chance they can keep a full eye out on the maintenance being performed when having to deal with everything else.

Evening all.....

Oh- dear......

Shall just leave the 'User Name' here..........., cannot rebut any of the above- are 'these' airframes VH registered.....?????

Rgds all
Section28- BE (ref: the Act)

Seems strange that the 737s operated by Virgin still have their heavy done at CHC and Tiger sends the ones in their colours to SIAEP. Tiger did sign a deal in 2016 with SIAEC for heavy on the A320 fleet, so obviously they were hoping to snare more work as the fleet transition gets underway. This episode looks like Air NZ may be the default provider for some time, but I guess ST Aero, GMF and many other Asian shops will also be eyeing the business.

Section etc.,
You clearly do not understand the system, provisions like S.28BE are only applicable to operators who do not have a well resourced legal department, or who outsource not only maintenance, but legal maintenance to suitably resourced and capable licensed (usually) multi-national law firms.
It is only "tiddlers" without resources to battle CASA that "feel the full weight of the law" ( I probably should have said "mass")
Tootle pip!!

All because Australian airplane mechanics ( "engineers" no idea why they are called engineers they don't design anything) cannot function in a practical and efficient manner, everything so dramatic.

4 Holer.
It's a bit more complex than that, don't blame the individuals, but the "system" which effectively prohibits productivity levels that would make MRO in Australia competitive.
Contrary to popular myth/ conventional wisdom, it is not "high wages" in Australia that are the problem, but what you get for the money, and the "system", substantially but not only the CASA "regulation/micro management" that is the problem.
If you have a search around, I have made several more comprehensive posts on exactly this point.
Tootle pip!!

PS: For goodness sake, don't tell Rod the Con he is only a mechanic and not an "Engineer", he gets quite bitter and twisted about it --- indeed the history of how mechanics became engineers in aviation is quite instructive. You have heard of "bracket creep", this is "title creep".

Lead

Well said & thanks.

Ref- "You clearly do not understand the system"...... reckon, 'we' may well understand.

Rgds and have a good weekend.
S28- BE

Gordon FR at al.
Or simply does not have the expertise, much less the will, to do anything about it, I really don't like "buzzword bullsh1t", but this is a multi-factorial problem ( eat your heart out, Sir Humphrey) with no simple or short term solution, and sadly, with little likelihood that anybody in Australia will even try to sort out the problem.

After all, "Safety Is Our First Priority" is a catch-all cover for bureaucratic and political paralysis, an unfortunate but probably accurate belief that a "do nothing" policy has the least political risk for the bureaucrats, and hence advice to the Minister that the current "regulatory and administrative frame work is optimum", as we have the "world's best air safety" ----- fiction, as we all know (or should know, the facts are very public) but convenient.

After all, what are a few thousand relatively high skilled jobs and million, maybe billions saved on the current account, compared to bureaucratic comfort. I believe I can say that, in my opinion, the current Minister and his aviation advisor don't have a clue about this, and the bureaucracy is not about to tell him.

Sadly, Barnaby Joyce did understand, be we have lost him.

In short, serious aviation MRO as an industry in Australia has been lost, to the degree that quite small aircraft (Kingairs, small jets) are now being ferried out of Australia for routine maintenance, and not just "deep" maintenance.

To see how to do it right, have a good look at NZ/Canada/US. There are good reasons for the new major Qantas MRO investment in Los Angeles, but everybody here seem oblivious, with Qantas hiding these major capital developments in plain sight.

As to maintenance errors, nobody in immune from mistakes, I could catalogue some rippers in Australia, over the years, bad enough to potentially cause the loss of an aircraft.

Tootle pip!!

Is it not CASA's role to oversee in some manner the maintenance of VH registered aircraft? They must have at some stage approved the overseas maintenance shop. If the work is being done by shoddy overseas shops should CASA not be saying enough is enough? Or don't political relationships allow that?

As long as the paperwork is fine - so is the aircraft.

Folks,
In a nutshell, that is the CASA "process based system", as opposed to an "outcome" based system, where the criteria is: "Does the aircraft conform to its type design and certification standard".
Tootle pip!!

PS: "Pencil whipping" ---- reminds me of a certain WA based LAME who was widely recognised as:" The Fastest Pen In The West".