Page 38 - World Airnews Magazine July Edition 2020
P. 38
FEATURE
UNPRECEDENTED TIMES IN
COMMERCIAL AVIATION
Dan Dutton, vice operations, but I foresee e-signatures now
hold more value than ever given the current
president research he commercial aviation sector has circumstances we find ourselves in.
Here is why the industry should take full
and development for Tfelt the full force of the coronavi- advantage of e-signature capability both
rus pandemic, with airlines dramatically
Aerospace & Defence reducing their operations and some even during and after the coronavirus pandemic.
The core purpose of e-signature technol-
IFS, explains how a stopping flying completely. Carriers, OEMs ogy is to ultimately eliminate the amount
and MROs alike have had to adapt to meet
combination of increased social distancing measures as they try to of paper in the maintenance process and
help streamline critical processes inside
remote working, social continue business operations. maintenance operations. Organisations
The desire for remote technology to play
distancing and regulatory a greater role in aviation maintenance is can enhance their overall efficiency when
paper is removed from the equation and
something inspectors have supported for
measures could kick-start several years. So the news was well received work is managed electronically. Typical
uses for electronic documents in main-
the use of e-signatures in when the Federal Aviation Administration tenance include airworthiness releases,
(FAA) announced policy at the end of March
maintenance operations which will allow video links and other remote maintenance releases and documents that
support getting aircraft ready for release,
technology to help conduct inspections and
in commercial aviation validate regulatory compliance moving for- such as job cards and technical logbooks.
ward. The policy is in addition to an increas- Here e-signature capability takes away
ing set of procedural changes that have been the time-consuming activities associated
implemented to accommodate social distanc- with paper in terms of data entry, the
ing during the coronavirus pandemic, but the re-keying of inaccurate information into
aviation industry will be thinking longer term, the Management Information System
hoping that this change of direction is a sign (MIS), and inefficient search and retrieval.
of things to come. Paper-free maintenance planning, labour,
With digital and mobile maintenance part and tool scheduling and work assign-
very much top of mind for the FAA, inspec- ment mean that if changes occur, there is
tors and airlines, the use of the already ex- nothing to print, shuffle or distribute. All
isting technology of e-signatures is perhaps stakeholders can immediately see their
something that has gone under the radar in new assignments as planners push elec-
recent times. tronic job cards out to a mechanic’s device.
It is this level of functionality that is
A LOGICAL STEP ON THE JOURNEY helping organisations make great strides to
TO PAPERLESS OPERATIONS achieving paperless maintenance operations
A number of IFS customers have indeed been in the future - while limiting the social inter-
using the technology in their maintenance action between workers in the short term.
World Airnews | July 2020
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