Reliability and maintainability: a common ground for cooperation [aircraft]

Except for flight critical systems and safety, the commercial aircraft manufacturers and the airlines have not placed much emphasis on reliability and maintainability. When they did include reliability, it was mainly in the form of redundant systems rather than more robust and reliable parts. With a worldwide economic slowdown and a declining defense budget, both the commercial airline industry and the US Department of Defense (DoD) have been forced to rethink how they do business and take a closer look at Reliability and Maintainability (R&M). The DoD, particularly the United States Air Force (USAF), are in the midst of lean budget years forcing them to look at ways of extending the life of existing aircraft and reducing support costs. Reliability, maintainability, supportability, and deployability are now on a par with performance. The commercial airlines are also in the midst of an R&M revolution as well. The ability to have reliable aircraft successfully meet scheduled departures is now a key competitive and revenue generating advantage for an airline. Maintainability, the ability to return an aircraft to working order, is also of great concern. A delay to repair, is still a delay that costs money and customers. Additionally, both groups operate older and aging aircraft with many like systems. Therefore, they both need to do things smarter to make their systems more cost effective