DEFERRED AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE IMPACT ASSESSMENT APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD

• US 20160055461A1
• Filed: 08/19/2014
• Published: 02/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Bouvier, Ken D., Greene, Scott R., Wojczyk, William E. Jr., Nann, Stephen E., Arrow, Kevin M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,665,853 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance

Abstract

Described herein is an apparatus that includes a minimum equipment list (MEL) data module and an impact assessment module. The MEL data module determines at least one operational limitation associated with deferred maintenance on a vehicle. The impact assessment module determines an operational impact associated with the deferred maintenance based on the at least one operational limitation.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a minimum equipment list (MEL) data module that determines at least one operational limitation associated with deferred maintenance on a vehicle; and

an impact assessment module that determines an operational impact associated with the deferred maintenance based on the at least one operational limitation;

wherein at least one of the MEL data module and impact assessment module comprises one or more of hardware and executable code, the executable code stored on one or more computer readable storage media.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the MEL data module categorizes the at least one operational limitation into one of a plurality of operational impact categories, and wherein the operational impact is associated with the one of the plurality of operational impact categories.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plurality of operational impact categories comprises at least two operational impact categories selected from the group consisting of maintenance impact, crew impact, passenger impact, and economic impact.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

the MEL data module determines a plurality of operational limitations;

the MEL data module categorizes at least one of the plurality of operational limitations in a first operational impact category of the plurality of operational impact categories and at least one of the plurality of operational limitations in a second operational impact category of the plurality of operational impact categories; and

the operational impact comprises a first operational impact associated with the first operational impact category and a second operational impact associated with the second operational impact category.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the impact assessment module assigns one of a plurality of operational impact values to the operational limitation, and wherein the operational impact is determined based on an assigned operational impact value.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the MEL data module determines a plurality of operational limitations, and wherein the impact assessment module assigns one of a plurality of operational impact values to each of the plurality of operational limitations, the operational impact being based on an aggregation of the operational impact values assigned to each of the plurality of operational limitations.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the operational impact is one of a plurality of operational impacts, each of the plurality of operational impacts being associated with a different aggregated operational impact value threshold.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a maintenance query module that accesses at least one deferred maintenance record associated with the deferred maintenance from a maintenance information system and determines an MEL item from the at least one deferred maintenance record, wherein the MEL data module locates the MEL item in an MEL document and determines the at least one operational limitation from the MEL item.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

the maintenance query module accesses a plurality of deferred maintenance records from the maintenance information system and determines an MEL item from each of the plurality of deferred maintenance records;

the MEL data module determines at least one operational limitation associated with each of the MEL items; and

the operational impact is associated with the plurality of deferred maintenance records based on the at least one operational limitation associated with each of the MEL items.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operational impact corresponds with an impact of operating the vehicle.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein:

the vehicle comprises one of a plurality of vehicles of a vehicle fleet;

the maintenance query module accesses at least one deferred maintenance record for each of the plurality of vehicles from a maintenance information system and determines an MEL item from each of the deferred maintenance records;

the MEL data module locates the MEL items in respective MEL documents each associated with one of the plurality of vehicles and determines at least one operational limitation associated with each MEL item; and

the impact assessment module determines an operational impact associated with the at least one deferred maintenance record for each of the plurality of vehicles, the impact assessment module further configured to determine a fleet operational impact associated with the deferred maintenance records of the plurality of vehicles based on an aggregation of the operational impacts of the plurality of vehicles.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the MEL data module searches the MEL item in the MEL document for key terms, and wherein the at least one operational limitation is determined based on results of the search for the key terms.

13. A system, comprising:

a maintenance information system that stores a deferred maintenance record comprising a minimum equipment list (MEL) item identifier associated with a deferral of maintenance of a system fault on a vehicle; and

a deferred maintenance apparatus that determines the MEL item identifier, locates an MEL item associated with the MEL item identifier in an MEL document, determines at least one operational limitation associated with the MEL item, and determines an operational impact associated with the deferral of maintenance of the system fault based on the at least one operational limitation.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the deferred maintenance apparatus automatically queries the maintenance information system to determine the MEL item identifier.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising a data network, wherein the maintenance information system and deferred maintenance apparatus communicate with each other over the data network.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the maintenance information system stores a plurality of deferred maintenance records each associated with a deferral of maintenance of the system fault associated with a respective vehicle of a plurality of vehicles of a vehicle fleet, and wherein the deferred maintenance apparatus determines the MEL item identifier for each of the plurality of deferred maintenance records, locates the MEL items associated with the MEL item identifiers in respective MEL documents, determines at least one operational limitation associated with each MEL item, and determines an operational impact associated with the deferral of maintenance of the system fault for each of the plurality of vehicles of the vehicle fleet based on the at least one operational limitation associated with the respective MEL item.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the deferred maintenance apparatus determines a fleet operational impact based on an aggregation of the operational impacts associated with the deferral of maintenance of the system faults for all vehicles of the vehicle fleet.

18. A method, comprising:

obtaining at least one operational limitation associated with deferred maintenance of a vehicle; and

determining an operational impact associated with the at least one deferred maintenance based on the at least one operational limitation.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining a minimum equipment list (MEL) item identifier from a deferred maintenance record, wherein the at least one operational limitation is obtained from an MEL document based on the MEL item identifier.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising querying a vehicle maintenance information system to access the deferred maintenance record.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

categorizing the at least one operational limitation into one of a plurality of operational impact categories;

comparing the at least one operational limitation to at least one predetermined impact factor associated with the one of the plurality of operational impact categories; and

assigning an impact value to the at least one predetermined impact factor based on the comparison of the at least one operational limitation to the at least one predetermined impact factor;

wherein the operational impact is determined based on the impact value, and the operational impact identifies an operational impact associated with the one of the plurality of operational impact categories.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein:

the at least one operational limitation comprises a plurality of operational limitations and the at least one predetermined impact factor comprises a first predetermined impact factor associated with a first operational impact category of the plurality of operational impact categories and a second predetermined impact factor associated with a second operational impact category of the plurality of operational impact categories;

categorizing the plurality of operational limitations comprises categorizing a first operational limitation of the plurality of operational limitations into the first operational impact category of the plurality of operational impact categories and categorizing a second operational limitation of the plurality of operational limitations into the second operational impact category of the plurality of operational impact categories;

an impact value is assigned to the first predetermined impact factor based on a comparison of the first operational limitation to the first predetermined impact factor and an impact value is assigned to the second predetermined impact factor based on a comparison of the second operational limitation to the second predetermined impact factor; and

the operational impact comprises a first operational impact based on the first impact value and a second operational impact based on the second impact value, the first operational impact being associated with the first operational impact category and the second operational impact being associated with the second operational impact category.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein:

the at least one operational limitation comprises a plurality of operational limitations each categorized into the one of the plurality of operational impact categories;

the at least one predetermined impact factor comprises a plurality of predetermined impact factors associated with the one of the plurality of operational impact categories;

the plurality of operational limitations are compared to respective predetermined impact factors of the plurality of predetermined impact factors;

impact values are assigned to each of the plurality of predetermined impact factors based on respective comparisons of each of the operational limitations to an associated one of the plurality of predetermined impact factors; and

wherein the operational impact is determined based on an aggregation of the impact values.