AoC number
236
Primary domain
MRO
Secondary domain
T
Description
Digital/electronic mock-ups are now being adopted by the industry as substitutes for the physical mock-ups. It should be recognized that the current digital mock-up capability together with available human modeling capability does not permit total maintenance/assembly task simulation (perhaps 2-5 years away). While any safety related risk is low, if a situation is not recognized during design phase, it will not emerge or be addressed until assembly of first aircraft. This results in a cost/schedule penalty and aircraft maintainability issues.
Potential hazard
- Maintenance errors arising from differences between the training environment and real line operations.
- Failure to maintain configuration control between maintenance simulators and actual aircraft physical hardware.
This should not be a hazard if:
- The use of various levels of simulation are carefully assessed and used accordingly.
- Assessment should include testing that ensures there is no negative transfer of learning from simulator to operations.
Last update
2017-08-28
Corroborating sources and comments
http://www.arinc.com/news/2010/02-09-10-maintenance-simulator.html
http://dodreports.com/ada428355