Qantas Strives Ahead in Engineering Services

Serving outside clients is big business for Qantas and a market that the carrier is striving to develop in the years ahead. The advantages for both the airline and Australia are obvious. Increased foreign exchange, better productivity of the Sydney Mascot jet base and the longer-term opportunity for employing and training more Australians to engineering standards is all part and parcel of the many benefits of an expanded engineering and maintenance facility.

Right from the early days Qantas took a totally self-sufficient attitude towards maintaining its aircraft. This policy was expanded in the war years to assist in aircraft production and service and support of RAAF and visiting US Forces’ combat aircraft. Following the end of hostilities, Qantas found itself with a new breed of long-haul multi-engined aircraft that would not have been dreamed of a decade earlier. The introduction of the Lockheed Constellation in 1947 ushered in an era of true deluxe passenger services that were destined to ultimately open up the world to the travelling public. With it grew the engineering support so necessary to keep such relatively complex aircraft operational, safe and reliable. Gradually the jet base grew in size and experience as state-of-the-art equipment was added to support an expanding fleet. With the eventual introduction of jets and the high level of expertise then in existence, it was decided to more than ever capture a slice of the offshore engineering services market.

Nowadays the jet base is not just a support environment for Qantas but a true foreign exchange earner in addition to having a significant defence support capability unequalled elsewhere in Australia. Covering an area of some 32 hectares (imagine moving that lot to Sydney’s proposed new airport!) and employing more than 2500 highly trained specialists, the Mascot jet base is the largest of its type in the southern hemisphere.

Airframe maintenance and repair is provided in a hangar complex of nine bays which have been designed to accept up to 747 size aircraft. The bays are equipped with docking which allows easy access to all areas of the aircraft and thus enables repainting to be readily achieved. Currently, major structural work is carried out on Qantas’ 747 fleet as well as RAAF Boeing 707 and C-130 Hercules aircraft. The all important D service, which is carried out around every 25,000 hours on a 747, takes four weeks and employs a team of around fifty working two shifts. If capacity is demanded, this could be reduced to two weeks, though Qantas at this stage does not look like gaining D service airframe and systems work as most regional operators now possess this capability themselves.

Support shops provide the necessary back-up to the aircraft maintenance teams enabling in-house repair of fibreglass and sheet metal items, survival equipment and aircraft furnishings. Thus customers can have their aircraft completely refurbished from interior to exterior, including any specialised modifications. Recent examples of this service in action were the effective refurbishments of 747-200s destined for Air Lanka and People Express. The RAAF also had Qantas perform major D servicing of each of their four 707s in addition to modifying the aircraft for military use. In the past Qantas has also designed exteriors for the VIP fleet of Mysteres, BAe748s and BAC-111 aircraft of No. 34 Squadron.

For power plant overhaul, repair and testing there is a modern facility of some 23,600 sq metres of floor area with three power plant test cells. Qantas can service a number of engines in the facility including the Pratt & Whitney JT9, JT3 and J52 (A-4 Skyhawk). Allison T56 (C-130, P-3) and 501-D13 (L. 188 Electra), General Electric CF700, CJ610 (Mystere) and J52-14 in addition to the Rolls Royce RB211-524. This latter engine has won for Qantas much component work in recent years as Qantas was the first, and most technologically advanced operator in the region to introduce the “Roller”. Nowadays Qantas overhauls components for RB211 engines for Malaysian. Cathay and Saudia. So reliable has been Qantas’ RB211 overhauls that the airline itself recently ran a twelve-month period without one single unscheduled maintenance stop on the engine. To quote this as a record of reliability, particularly in view of the high utilisation of Qantas 747s is to say the least an understatement! Saudia are now using Qantas’ RB211 overhaul parameters as benchmarks with which to compare competing overhaul facilities while Rolls Royce themselves have taken on some of the service procedures that Qantas in typical style has pioneered since the type entered service in the late seventies.

In addition to engines, Qantas also operates a burgeoning APU overhaul service for both civilian and military operators. To fully support engine overhauls and repairs, specialist shops covering most of the processes necessary to maintain modern engines are located adjacent to the engine line.

The machine shop operates more than 50 specialist state-of-the-art machines including the latest generation of computer-guided, numerically controlled mills, lathes, and a jig bore capable of ultra-fine tolerances. Other facilities include plasma flame metal spraying, welding, heat treatment (including vacuum and hydrogen atmosphere furnaces), a plating shop with large capacity tanks and balancing equipment. All these shops are designed to handle parts up to those of the large fan engines.

A range of non-destructive tests, eg: X-Ray, isotope. borescope, eddy current, ultrasonic, magnetic particle and fluorescent magnetic particle inspections plus dye penetrant are used to check parts for faults prior to repair. This equipment is essential for ensuring a high level of reliability in overhauled components. Qantas have found, time and again, that an overhauled component from another source is not up to standard and cannot be fitted back into the engine, or whatever, until it is serviced correctly.

An example of this very situation occurred during my most recent visit to the jet base. Qantas had been overhauling a variety of 747 components for Cathay Pacific. Upon reassembly. Qantas technicians found that one key component of a brake assembly, a French-built brake temperature indicator, was not working as advertised on its self-test mode. The situation would have had Cathay with an aircraft AOG within thirty-six hours, if Qantas had not been able to rectify the problem with the temperature gauge. While this, at least on the surface, may sound low key, bear in mind that with little product support being available from the original manufacturer and the language problems ever present when dealing with a non-English speaking country, it was imperative that Qantas was able to fix the ailing component itself in order to keep a client operational. Qantas had some time ago come up against this inherent fault in this particular component and had developed a ‘fix’ on its own in the best Australian tradition. Working through the night, the engineering team involved were able to get the unit working, fit- ted, tested and ready for that morning’s departure for Hong Kong. It is this ‘can do’ ability that has seen Qantas’ turnover from external engineering support grow by more than 100% in less than three years!

Additionally, Qantas’ expertise in on-wing performance and condition monitoring utilises some of the above techniques. This has resulted in a better-than-world average engine removal rate. Another item of equipment used for defect analysis is an electron scanning microscope. This microscope is available to determine the composition, structure, defects and texture of engine debris and oil analysis. Constant engine monitoring using these methods prevents problems before they begin and helps provide the airline with its above-average engine reliability record.

As part of the ongoing programme to keep abreast of the latest in technological advances in workshop equipment, a computerised co-ordinate dimensional measuring machine was purchased for checking complex parts quickly and accurately. Additionally, robotics are currently being studied for future applications in the repair and overhaul processes.

Qantas also operates three engine test cells which are capable of operating turboprop engines of up to 5,000eshp and jet engines of 100,000lb thrust.

Well-equipped component overhaul shops, located in both the aircraft maintenance and engine overhaul areas, provide the third major area for aircraft work. Practically any type of component from wheels and tyres to complex mechanical units like fuel control units to sophisticated and delicate electronic components such as inertial navigation systems can be handled. Test cells for hydraulic and pneumatic components are distributed throughout the workshop.

Specialised facilities such as the Class 100 Avionics Clean Room where temperature, humidity and cleanliness are strictly controlled, enable gyros and flight instruments such as attitude direction indicators to be repaired in a virtual dust-free environment. Qantas is also investing heavily in new digital test equipment to support the latest generation of specialist avionics aboard the airline’s Boeing 767 twinjets.

In addition to the task of performing major airframe, engine overhaul and component rebuilds, the engineering and support facility can assist an operator with a customer-developed technical support system which includes maintenance training and if necessary, the establishment of a fully developed overhaul facility in that operator’s host country. Qantas did just this with the Royal Malaysian Air Force back in the seventies. The RMAF needed a modem engine overhaul facility in which to overhaul their air arm’s jet engines. Qantas designed the facility and developed it into a fully operational autonomous workshop which today is busy servicing Pratt & Whitney turbojets from the RMAF A-4 Skyhawk inventory. Similarly, Qantas is working with the Indonesian Air Force (AURI) to develop a like facility for overhauling J52s and Allison T56s (C-130) at Malang Air Base at Surabaya.

Qantas is presently performing J52 engine rebuilds for AURI and used to handle similar work for the RMAF prior to their own facility becoming fully operational. One might ask why Qantas bothers to teach its customers how to do it themselves in view of the eventual loss of work that such a scheme guarantees. Qantas points out philosophically that if they don’t do it, then somebody else will and in the interim, a reasonable amount of work flows into Mascot as a result of the tie-up between the two organisations.

In the past this sort of co-operation has extended beyond the realms of the engineering sector. Readers, no doubt, will not need to be reminded that the Australian airline was largely responsible for originally setting up Malaysia Singapore Airlines in the sixties and later providing similar support for the Malaysian Airline System when Singapore and Malaysia split MSA a decade ago. Today Qantas is performing a similar operation with ailing Air Pacific, an airline which perhaps in ten years’ time will also be an aggressive competitor of the Flying Kangaroo in regional markets.

Qantas’ customers extend far and wide. In the past the airline has maintained Rolls Royce Dart turboprops for the Royal Thai and Royal Malaysian air forces. Additionally over the years much work has been done for the USAF, French Navy, RNZAF and the Canadian Air Force.

Nowadays Qantas is responsible for full airframe maintenance of the RAAF C-130E/H fleet in addition to supporting the Allison T56 turboprops from both the Hercules and the P-3 Orion. Qantas also similarly look after the RAAF’s four long-range Boeing 707s in addition to fully supporting the service’s CF700 engines and specialised avionics equipment. Much workload was lost of course when the Royal Australian Navy formally lost their fixed wing Fleet Air Arm in 1983. Qantas was at that stage responsible for both airframe and engine overhaul for the A-4 Skyhawk.

Qantas is presently bidding aggressively for a contract to support the 150 or more C-130 aircraft used by USAF in the Pacific Region, something that if it comes off would be a coup for the Australian airline. Other present military customers are the Indonesian Air Force, USAF, RNZAF, NASA and the USMC. Commercial clients number many dozen and include Cathay Pacific, Saudia, British Airways, East West, Malaysian, Pelita, Garuda, Kuwait Airways and Air Pacific. For the future Qantas is hoping to expand its turnover in the Arabian Gulf region in addition to making headway in China.

Qantas engineering and maintenance services may not be the best-known area of operations of our largest airline, though in terms of overall importance to the well-being of the airline, it must rank equal first with crew training. The pool of experience available through this professional organisation is available virtually on an export basis can only serve to strengthen the airline, earn export dollars and provide for a greater level of employment opportunities here in Australia.