Photos provided by Empire Aerospace.
COVER STORY
One of every five domestic airline passengers will travel on a regional aircraft.
Cohen: This is a complicated
issue and I can comment, but I
probably can't completely answer
this question. I think integration
and globalization is the trend.
Maintenance is becoming a global
industry, as with our airframe
manufacturers which are in Canada,
Brazil, Japan, Western Europe,
and now Russia. The leadership in
building and maintaining aircraft
is a global industry. Maintenance
on both mainline and regional
airlines is being done around the
globe because the level of work has
been outstanding. We now have
common technology and tools to
manage the maintenance process
efficiently and safely.
The issue with MRO business
is that there is no "one size" that
fits all maintenance solutions for
all of our member airlines. It is a
mix and match, customized maintenance world where everybody
that is in this business, or wants to
serve the regional airline business,
can.
take between the regulators and the
regulated. However, the results that
we are seeing point out just how
well the system is working. This
has been the safest period in aviation history. We are identifying and
mitigating risk in advance and catching accidents before they happen.
We are ensuring that small problems
don't turn into large problems. This
is a real testament to everyone in the
industry.
As for trends, I think that the
regulators are also relying more on
data and information when analyzing problems and trying to get out
in front of things. They too are facing continuing resource challenges
and I think that underscores the
need for the government to make a
greater investment in human capital.
This would help people get careers
in maintaining airplanes, as well as
regulating the industry.
We really are all in the same business; the regulators, the maintenance
professionals; the operations managers. We all have the same goal in
mind and that is to ensure that the
system operates as safely as possible
— it's all the same job.
AMT: Do you have any tips, sug-
gestions, recommendations or words
of advice for regional aircraft maintenance technicians or MROs?
Cohen: Yes I do. Get involved
with the RAA. I recommend that
any technician or MRO should
come to our national convention in
Montreal, May 6-9, 2013. AMT
AMT thanks RAA President
Roger Cohen, RAA Media Relations
Kelly Murphy, and Empire Aerospace
General Manager Jim Culora. For more
information visit www.raa.org and
www.empireaerospace.com.
AMT: Are you aware of any regu-
latory changes in the works from
the FAA, EASA, or other regulatory agencies that will impact
regional maintenance operations
or individual aircraft maintenance
technicians?
Cohen: There are always key
issues, but the key to solving
them has been our relationships
with the regulatory agencies. In
any regulated enterprise there is
always going to be that give and
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April 2013
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