The Digital Edge: New Solutions for Proactive Engine Maintenance

Mining a Rich Vein of Flight Data on PW300 Engines

Thanks to new technologies, today's flight data is more comprehensive and precise than ever. When combined with sophisticated algorithms, analysis techniques and aviation expertise, it can provide a wealth of valuable information about engine and aircraft health.

P&WC's Proactive-Help Desk team is helping PW300-powered aircraft operators by mining this rich source of data to extract precious information. The dedicated team of technicians and analysts closely monitors a variety of key parameters linked to dispatch availability. The data they extract is used to optimize maintenance planning and operations to help reduce costs, avoid flight delays and cancellations, and move to on-condition maintenance environments.

The team conducts daily reviews of customer data from sources such as the FAST™ prognostics solution to identify and flag maintenance requirements, which can then be addressed during scheduled field interventions. The Proactive-Help Desk Team pinpoints 'digital signatures' which indicate the potential for the occurrence of a future event well in advance, so the matter can be addressed proactively or the event can be averted entirely.

The initiative was first introduced as an added feature for PW300 engine customers enrolled in the Eagle Service™ Plan (ESP™) pay-per-hour maintenance program.

Reduction in Unscheduled Events for Key Availability Drivers for Customers of PW307-Powered Aircraft.

Digital Insights on Aircraft Engine Health and Maintenance

The Proactive-Help Desk is part of P&WC's growing suite of Digital Engine Services. These services are putting P&WC's customer support at the forefront of major technological shift in aviation, such as engine and aircraft connectivity and use of big data to support on-condition maintenance. Also, they are making it easier for customers to plan ahead.

To analyze engine health, the Help Desk team draws extensively on full-flight data captured using FAST™ technology. P&WC's new Oil Analysis Technology plays a role too, giving analysts detailed insights into the condition of key oil-wetted components.

Today, over 1,200 FAST™ solutions have been delivered. They are capturing more than a million flight hours of full-flight data each year. When you look at P&WC's Digital Engine Services as a whole, approximately 20,000 engines are being trended through FAST™ as well as P&WC's other engine health management systems.

The team also uses up-to-the-minute data analysis from P&WC's health management collaborator CAMP Systems International to address customer needs with data-driven decisions, preventative maintenance tools and best practices.

The numbers testify to the difference that high-quality data and predictive analytics can make when it comes to creating a planned maintenance environment. From 2015 to 2017, the Proactive-Help Desk has helped customers reduce unscheduled interventions for key availability drivers on PW307-powered aircraft from 85% to 20%. This is on top of an already impressive dispatch reliability rate.

"We already deliver benchmark powerplant dispatch reliability of 99.94% on the PW300-powered Falcon 7X and 8X—and with the predictive and preventive approach to engine health our customers are seeing the additional benefit of reduced variability and maintenance burden. "

- TIM SWAIL, VICE PRESIDENT, CUSTOMER PROGRAMS, P&WC

Together with complementary initiatives such as the FAST™ solution and Oil Analysis Technology, plus other exciting new developments like propeller vibration trend monitoring, the Proactive-Help Desk is providing new insights to deepen customers' understanding of engine health, performance and maintenance needs.