MAEL is a division of Monarch, the UK’s longest-established, privately owned travel group. MAEL provides base and line maintenance, continuing airworthiness, design, technical training and component support.
As a leading provider of MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul), MAEL focuses on cost-efficient service delivery to both Monarch and blue-chip third-party customers. Operating globally, MAEL provides aircraft maintenance services to clients located in east and west Europe, the Middle East, Australia and North America. With superior knowledge in maintaining legacy fleets MAEL is also a leading MRO for new technology aircraft, including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, for which it is one of a small group of worldwide Boeing-approved GoldCare providers.
The quality of MAEL’s services is underpinned by a highly effective test and inspection capability which utilises the latest technologies to comply with all regulatory requirements. For example: thermal cameras are employed to identify potential weaknesses, corrosion or poor electrical connections; ultrasonic instruments enable the detection of flaws or cracks that are not visible to the human eye, and borescopes enable the internal inspection of aircraft components.
Borescopes are commonly employed to inspect engines, auxiliary power units and other difficult to access locations. “The latest borescopes are extremely small and have particularly good articulation, which means that it is becoming easier to generate high quality reports,” Barry Lee, MAEL tooling co-ordinator said.
One of Lee’s main responsibilities is to ensure that MAEL’s engineers are provided with the best available inspection technologies. “We maintain a stock of the instruments that we use most frequently and this is regularly supplemented by rented equipment from Ashtead Technology,” he said.
In order for MAEL’s customers to make informed decisions on how best to proceed following an inspection, it is necessary for them to be provided with clear, accurate information on any identified defects such as cracks. MAEL’s engineers may offer advice following an inspection, but the aircraft owner will decide on the most appropriate course of action. For example, it may be necessary for a specific defect to be inspected more frequently, in order to assess crack propagation for example, or, if the defect is significant, the part (E.g. engine blade) may need to be replaced. If the problem is more serious, it may be necessary to lease a replacement engine whilst the other is repaired. Clearly, there are major safety and financial implications for this work and all inspection information therefore has to be traceable and logged.
“The creation of digital reports, complemented by detailed images and video means that this information can be easily shared, so that different people can contribute to the decision making process, which is a major benefit,” Lee added.
In recent years, advances in borescope technology have greatly improved the quality of inspection reports. For example, Stereo Borescopes such as the IPLEX RX provide an advanced imaging capability, and a screen switching system that enables users to employ stereo measurement technology. Stereo measurement offers a number of important advantages. For example, a ‘distance’ mode enables the measurement of defect length by clicking the cursor at both ends of the defect. In the ‘point-to-line’ mode it is possible to create a reference line and then measure a distance from that line. Similarly, a ‘depth’ mode enables the measurement of depth or height from a specified reference surface to any point, and an ‘area/lines’ mode can be employed to measure the circumference or area between marker points.
Typical applications for borescopes include the inspection of the inside of a reciprocating engine cylinder, by inserting the flexible probe into an open spark plug hole to detect damaged pistons, cylinder walls, or valves. Similarly, the hot section of a turbine engine can be assessed by inserting a probe through the hole of a removed igniter or via the access plugs which are designed into many engines, specifically to enable borescope inspections.
As an airline MRO with a large number of line maintenance clients MAEL is acutely aware of the significant damage to airline operations and revenue that limiting defects represent. In order to ensure that the necessary action is taken to manage these operational limitations, a Specialised Monarch AOG Response Team (SMART) was created, comprising highly qualified engineers who are available 24/7 to meet up with the relevant aircraft, equipped with the necessary tools to carry out the maintenance requirement. “All of the SMART team have been trained on the use of borescopes. In some cases this training was provided by the instrument manufacturer, but for others, it was supplied by Ashtead Technology,” lee concluded.