Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) operations play a pivotal role in the aerospace industry by ensuring the safety, reliability, and longevity of aircraft and their components. MRO practices encompass a diverse set of activities, ranging from inspecting and repairing fan blades to overhauling jet engines and maintaining safety equipment. In this blog, we will delve into the world of aviation MRO operations and explore how certain areas and assemblies of a typical aircraft are cared for.

Hydraulic cylinders are devices made of a series of interconnected tubes that pressurize liquid or gas to create motion. They are often used to power pumps, fans, and motors, but can also be used to move objects or fluids in a controlled manner. When a hydraulic cylinder begins to malfunction, one common fix is to bleed the device. Bleeding your cylinders will help free up any debris that may be blocking the pistons and valves. To learn more about bleeding hydraulic cylinders, read on as we discuss this vital form of maintenance.

On January 31, 2000, just off the coast of California, flight 261 lost pitch control because of damaged jack screws. One may assume that the malfunctioning of these tiny machine elements would not have much effect on a large aircraft, but this incident resulted in all 88 passengers on board dying upon impact. This tragedy left aircraft engineers, pilots, and people across the country stunned.

To ensure that people and cargo are transported safely, aircraft must be durable, strong, and reliable. For the manufacturer of dependable airplanes, aerospace engineers and other aviation professionals utilize specific metals for certain engine parts and other components. In this blog, we will cover the four most common metals used in the aviation industry.

Piloting an aircraft is quite a complex endeavor, requiring one to govern the trajectory of the vehicle, manage various systems, maintain communication with ATC, keep awareness of their surroundings, and so much more at once. One of the most important things that pilots must do to ensure a safe flight is to be constantly aware of their position in the atmosphere, as many things are dependent on altitude, ranging from engine performance to collision avoidance. In order to monitor the aircraft’s exact altitude at all times, one must rely on a standard cockpit instrument known as the altimeter. This instrument is always present in some shape or form within the aircraft, regardless of the type of aircraft you are flying or the type of cockpit your model features. As such, it is important that any current or prospective pilot has a good understanding of such instruments, and how their readings are obtained.

All aircraft are dependent on quality design and fabrication for even their smallest hardware to run effectively. One important advancement in hardware design which is still used in most aircraft today is the acme thread form used in screws. Despite being developed more than 100 years ago, the acme thread form has proven to be such a reliable and effective design. As such, it has become a staple form of threading design used in hardware to support actuators in many of today’s modern aircraft.

Aircraft often feature a large number of cable assemblies, those of which serve a variety of systems and applications. A stark majority of aircraft cable assemblies fall into one of two categories, those of which are power cables and control cables. As both have similar appearances yet play very different roles, it can be very beneficial to have a basic understanding of each and what they do.

The aircraft wheels are one of the most durable components on an aircraft and also one of the most abused. During each flight, the six wheels are responsible for supporting over 150,000 loads during taxiing, takeoff, and landing. In order to continuously perform under such conditions, aircraft wheels must be strong yet lightweight. In this blog, we will discuss everything you need to know about aircraft wheels, including their design, manufacturing process, and varying types.

Counterweights are common to aircraft manufacturing and operations, serving to provide an opposing force that balances and stabilizes mechanical systems. Counterweights may be used in numerous ways, often being relied on for the balancing of control surfaces, the management of propeller pitches, and for balancing the crankshafts of piston-powered aircraft. To help you better understand how such components are used, we will discuss aircraft counterweight components in more detail.

The heads-up display, or HUD, of an aircraft is an extremely useful display, allowing for pilots to view important data without having to stray their eyes from their typical viewpoints. These displays are transparent in design, ensuring that a pilot can look at data and maintain eyesight out of the cockpit windshield at the same time for safety. A combiner is a standard element of any aircraft heads-up display, working alongside projector units and video generation computers to provide information on the display. In this blog, we will discuss combiner aircraft parts and assemblies, allowing you to better understand how they promote the functionality of a HUD.