Airworthiness and maintenance risks continue to affect gliding, especially with older aircraft and limited maintenance resources.
Participants discussed challenges with ageing aircraft, including tow planes such as Pawnees and older gliders. Common issues include:
- limited parts availability
- ageing structures
- maintenance workforce constraints.
The workshop also noted rare events involving flight control disconnections and canopy problems. While uncommon, these highlight the need for:
- thorough inspections
- independent checks
- strong maintenance oversight.
In some areas, there are not enough qualified and experienced maintainers, which can affect how quickly and effectively maintenance happens.
What you can do
You can support airworthiness by:
- using strong inspection and maintenance practices
- good supervision
- sharing knowledge between experienced and less experienced maintenance staff.
You should:
- maintain strong inspection and maintenance practices for ageing aircraft and systems
- ensure proper oversight and independent checks of flight control assembly and inspections
- include canopy inspection, locking, and emergency release procedures in maintenance and operations
- support training and knowledge sharing for maintenance staff
- plan for and manage maintenance workforce capability through supervision and safety systems.
What we have done
We continue to monitor aircraft maintenance and airworthiness through checks and working with industry to support safe operations. This includes monitoring maintenance organisations, engineering practices, and continuing airworthiness processes to ensure they meet regulatory requirements.
We also provide guidance and education material to help industry understand and meet their maintenance responsibilities, including:
- inspections
- defect management
- maintenance control
- record keeping.
We continue to work with industry on key airworthiness risks, including ageing aircraft, maintenance workforce capability, parts availability, and other emerging engineering issues that may affect safe aircraft operation.