I am wondering if anyone knows of the name of the software used to track / use for progressive inspections? The flight school I work at is thinking about moving to progressive inspections, and I am trying to figure out how it works, and what makes it easier to work..
Any info / help would be great...
Thanks.

 

I don't know if they'll be able to help you at all, but I went to Purdue University, and they are on progressive maintenance. As far as software, I'm not sure if they use it now, it was all paper/grease-board based in the dispatch area while I was there. I'm assuming this is a college based/high-usage type of program to warrent such a use. I know they had a 4-"event" inspection schedule done each 100hrs, and once the 4 "events" were completed, it counts as an annual. In between "events", were "cycles" were performed, which pretty much was an oil change every 50 hrs.

 

Yeah, that is exactly what is going down here, we have about 20 planes + and we were looking at changing to progressive, but I am not sure exactly how it would be organized to run properly.
Thanks...

 

Depending on the aircraft, progressives can be quite expensive. Check carefully to ensure the aircraft owners don't mind paying for any or all service bulletins, or that you can change the wording of the inspection program so as to not need to comply with all service bulletins. Piper has this little gotcha in their program.

We use MyFBO.com to track the maintenance on hobbs and/or tach times. We use the dispatch feature and the maintenance upcoming calendar is updated with check-in.

Cirrus' program is 8 phases to complete an annual cycle. Every phase is due 50 hours apart with a ten hour window on either side to allow for the occasional early schedule or .2 over to still keep the same 50 hour spacing. The beauty of the program is, with good mechanics and cooperative airplanes, it takes 8 man hours for a phase. This means it is 16 man hours for two phases instead of 24 man hours for a 100 hour inspection with a 50 hour oil change. One overnight shift (6 PM - 8 AM) can return an airplane to service versus the thing being down for 3 days or more.

If you don’t have one already, use the progressive to get a PMI at the local FSDO instead of whomever had the duty hat. It was one letter with an explanation instead of multiple letters and briefings to a bunch of different Feds. If something were to happen, you’ll get someone that has at least a vague familiarity with your operation.

Just make sure you get a letter of response or the official FAA "received" stamp on your notification letter to the FSDO. Despite it not being a requirement, if something were to happen, you'll want to prove you put the aircraft on progressive AND the local FSDO knows about it. This will save hours of lawyer fees in violation proceedings should you get a flaming idiot for a Fed as the investigating inspector.

 

Do not use GenAv software. We all hate it. It requires a lot of stupid info and is constantly in disagreement with other information. Plus, the support is lame and it can be horribly user-unfriendly.