caliatenza From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (1 year 1 month 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 3016 times:
So im sitting here in the departure hall of BLR waiting for my KA flight to get going to HKG. The flight was initially supposed to leave at 240 am..then it got delayed to 4 am and then now they are saying 5 am cause they need to change the tire..so yeah...how long does it really take?
So i'd be skeptical that a tire change would really take that long. However that being said, there may not be any spare tires at BLR and one is being flown in/driven in which is why it's taking so long.
aussiebrat From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (1 year 1 month 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 2874 times:
The actual changing of the tire doesn’t take that long for the A330.
The most time-consuming part of the whole process (especially for airlines at outports where they don’t have engineering stores readily available) comes from the sourcing of a spare wheel as well as the manpower and equipment to carry out the wheel change.
Tristarsteve From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (1 year 1 month 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2724 times:
Quoting caliatenza (Thread starter): they need to change the tire..so yeah...how long does it really take?
well we always change wheels, and let the tyre shop change the tyre.
But yes if I had to change an A330 wheel today, it would take me about 2 hours.
I would have to go and collect the wheel from the store, the wheel change trolley, jack, and nitrogen bottles, and a couple of mechanics to help. Then get all this gear out to the aircraft. Then disconnect and remove the brake fan, tyre pressure sensor and antiskid transducer, then change the wheel. It's not difficult, just big and heavy, around 200kg and 50in diameter, then put everything back and blow the tyre up.
If I knew in advance and had everything ready, could be done in 40 mins.
Problem on an outstation is that it is a rare event. I have six flights a day, and change one wheel a year, and have never changed an A330 wheel yet. (daily flight).
Roseflyer From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (1 year 1 month 23 hours ago) and read 2547 times:
When I worked in maintenance planning, we would plan for maintenance to require 40 minutes to change a wheel/tire if they knew about it prior to the airplane arriving and could get all the equipment in place.
The problem is that you don't know if you will have the tire. If there is a tire and wheel ready to go that is properly inflated and you have maintenance available, the delay is minimal. If you are at an outstation with contract maintenance it is worse. It is even worse if that specific tire and wheel combination is not available. For our international fleet we made sure that there were spare tires at every airport that we flew to. We'd pay to have the spares available, but it is amazing at how at an airport like Moscow, the tire that had been sitting there for a year mysteriously is not there the day you need it.
airportugal310 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 7, posted (1 year 1 month 22 hours ago) and read 2514 times:
Quoting Roseflyer (Reply 6): We'd pay to have the spares available, but it is amazing at how at an airport like Moscow, the tire that had been sitting there for a year mysteriously is not there the day you need it.
Indeed...with the right "amount" of "coaxing" that same tire would also mysteriously show up. Right where it had been all along
planejamie From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 8, posted (1 year 1 month 22 hours ago) and read 2506 times:
Quoting Starlionblue (Reply 4):
Thx for a quality post as usual Tristarsteve. However this made me laugh:
Quoting Tristarsteve (Reply 3):
blow the tyre up.
I know it is a product of Swedish* but you gave me this image of three guys doing all that work and then making the tire explode at the end.
* "blåsa upp däcket"; while in English you would say "inflate".
I would say "blow it up", 'inflate' whilst correct isn't what most people use (I don't think :S)
I should imagine an A330 tyre would take a while if they're sourcing it from far away (do they not carry a spare? -- joke joke!)
I know when the tyre went on the aircraft I fly in (okay a light aircraft and during taxiing - it picked something up off the taxiway), I think it took about twenty minutes - half an hour to get a spare changed. But that was at the "home" airport and a replacement quickly sourced (and mechanic available)
B727 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 9, posted (1 year 1 month 18 hours ago) and read 2409 times:
Does one airline help another airline?
Lets say a United flight needs a tire changed, and Delta has the parts and people on hand. Can this be done? How is the maintenance documented. Is a bill sent? Will United help Delta on the "next one"
Roseflyer From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 10, posted (1 year 1 month 18 hours ago) and read 2392 times:
Quoting B727 (Reply 9): Does one airline help another airline?
Lets say a United flight needs a tire changed, and Delta has the parts and people on hand. Can this be done? How is the maintenance documented. Is a bill sent? Will United help Delta on the "next one"
Airlines absolutely help each other. It depends on the city how maintenance is contracted, but they always do cooperate. Airlines have maintenance bases, contract bases, and no maintenance stations. Maintenance bases are typically hubs and large operation cities. Contract maintenance is at smaller operation cities. For instance UA does not have any maintenance staff at ATL because it is a small station. They will contract with another airline or third party vendor to do any maintenance required on their airplanes at ATL. At some remote airports, there is no contract other than with a FBO at that airport.
Delta and United pool maintenance parts for airplanes. As the only two US operators of 747, they pool parts in cities like NRT to lower expenses. Airlines also borrow parts from each other and invoice each other for the cost of the part. Airlines regularly work together for maintenance reasons and contrary to popular A.net myth it has nothing to do with what alliance they are in or who they revenue/code share with. United and Delta operate basically the same airplanes, so they heavily work together out of necessity.
One interesting fact is that KLM has basically all of Africa locked up as the maintenance provider of choice. KLM mechanics in LOS can service any widebody even airplanes such as the 767 or A340 that they do not fly.
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