Avionics News July 2013 - 50

The new Flight Logs subapplication
allows the crew to track flight legs,
aircraft times, fuel burn, passenger
information, pilot currency and
expenses. This application is a
replacement for the traditional
paper flight logs.

IPADS IN MAINTENANCE
Continued from page 49

keeps record of the instance in
its archives. “If you write it on a
squawk sheet, someone has to remember when it last happened,”
he said. “With the digital file, you
can use the search function to
enter some general information,
and the system will bring up all
the write-ups associated with that
kind of issue.”
While we’re on the subject of
saving maintainers time and effort,
another sub-app that Flightdocs offers is its Work Flow Manager.
“Work Flow Manager lets the director of maintenance electronically assign tasks to specific technicians by using a simple
pull-down menu,” Heine said. “You simply go in and checkoff
specific tasks, then go select the technician, and those task cards
are automatically sent to that technician’s iPad. When they login,
those task cards are waiting for them.
“As the technician completes and signs off each task, it is automatically updated in real time on the DOM’s master list. No
one has to try and read what the technician has hand written on
a printed task sheet. Most technicians have the penmanship of a
doctor. So it saves a lot of time and eliminates the errors of re-

Instead of wasting time and money searching for documentation on
how a particular inspection or service is to be performed, technicians
can instantly access instructions at the aircraft through the iCAMP app.

avionics news

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july

2013

entering incorrect information. It’s
been a big help to our customers.”
New Apps for Heavy
Metal Fans
As you would expect, thirdparty providers like Flightdocs
and CAMP are not the only ones
catching the iPad wave. Avionics giant Honeywell Aerospace
is expected to introduce its new
tablet application in the near future.
While they wouldn’t delve too deep into the details, Warren
Nechtman, Honeywell’s director of integrated avionics management, gave us a bit of a product preview. “From our perspective,
(avionics) maintenance has changed so much faster than anyone
ever anticipated. It used to be if you wanted to get any maintenance data off the aircraft, it required some very specific test
equipment and specialized training for the maintenance crew so
they knew how to make all the connections and then have the
ability to interpolate what that data actually meant.
“Today, we’re evolving to a point where we can actually
use data to diagnose problems and, in many cases, even before the flight crew even knows about it. The first step is to
make all that valuable data easier to access. That’s where the
new apps come in.”
As Nechtman described it, Honeywell’s new app will tie
wirelessly into the central maintenance computer found on
the Epic avionics suite. “Instead of the technician having to
directly connect a laptop to the CMC, they just connect the
tablet to the aircraft’s wireless network and download the data
they want. It will greatly simplify the diagnostics process.
“Now that the aircraft is what we call ‘app ready’ – we
don’t just stop at pulling the data off and emailing it wherever
you need it to go – and now that we have easy access to the
data, the question is, ‘What can we do with that information
in the moment?’ It opens up a world of opportunities. We see
a time and place where that raw data can be quickly translated
into maintenance actions right on the iPad. We’re looking for
ways to help simplify the process, while helping maintainers
do their job better.”
Continued on page 52

Avionics News July 2013

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