Systems analysis for planning of air fleets and maintenance facilities (original) (raw)
Related papers
A Simulation Approach to Enhancing Aircraft Availability
International Journal of Aviation Systems, Operations and Training, 2014
This study presents a simulation approach to evaluate a potential strategy for dispatching aircraft at Embry – Riddle Aeronautical University. The current method of assigning aircraft to students is based on the highest utilization. A new strategy is proposed where the maintenance time is also incorporated into the aircraft utilization. Various performance measures such as aircraft availability, number of cancellations due to unavailability of aircraft, maintenance manpower and number of aircraft at maintenance hangar are examined under both methods. The analysis of the two methods suggests that changing the priority method in aircraft dispatch does not produce significant change in the system. Although both models are similar, the large deviations and variations in the proposed dispatch method discourage it from being implemented in its current form.
Flight and Maintenance Planning of Military Aircraft for Maximum Fleet Availability
2010
Every aircraft, military or civilian, must be grounded for maintenance after it has completed a certain number of flight hours since its last maintenance check. Flight and maintenance planning of military aircraft addresses the problem of deciding which available aircraft to fly and for how long, and which grounded aircraft to perform maintenance operations on, in a set of aircraft that comprise a combat unit. The objective is to achieve maximum availability of the unit over the planning horizon. In this work, we develop a biobjective optimization model of the flight and maintenance planning problem, and we illustrate its application and solution on a real life instance drawn from the Hellenic Air Force. We formulate the flight and maintenance planning problem as a mixed integer linear program, with two objectives: total number of available aircraft and total residual flight time. The residual flight time of an available aircraft is defined as the total remaining time that this aircraft can fly, until it has to be grounded for maintenance check. For the solution of the problem we apply the weighted sums approach and lexicographic optimization. By comparing and analyzing the solutions obtained, we get insight into the behavior of the model. We conclude with a discussion based on these results and suggestions on how the model can be extended in the future.
Heuristics for maximizing fleet availability subject to flight & maintenance requirements
2008
Flight and Maintenance Planning (FMP) addresses the question of which available aircraft should fly and for how long, and which grounded aircraft should perform maintenance operations, in a group of aircraft that comprise a unit. The objective is to achieve maximum availability of the unit over the planning horizon. In this work, we develop three heuristic solution procedures for the FMP problem. We present computational results which illustrate the computational performance of these procedures and evaluate the quality of the solutions that they produce. These results are very satisfactory, because they demonstrate that, under careful consideration, even large FMP instances can be handled quite effectively.
European Journal of Operational Research, 2015
We address the Flight and Maintenance Planning (FMP) problem, i.e., the problem of deciding which available aircraft to fly and for how long, and which grounded aircraft to perform maintenance operations on in a group of aircraft that comprise a unit. The aim is to maximize the unit fleet availability over a multiperiod planning horizon, while also ensuring that certain flight and maintenance requirements are satisfied. Heuristic approaches that are used in practice to solve the FMP problem often perform poorly, generating solutions that are far from the optimum. On the other hand, the exact optimization models that have been developed to tackle the problem handle small problems effectively, but tend to be computationally inefficient for larger problems, such as the ones that arise in practice. With these in mind, we develop an exact solution algorithm for the FMP problem, which is capable of identifying the optimal solution of considerably large realistic problems in reasonable computational times. The algorithm solves suitable relaxations of the original problem, utilizing valid cuts that guide the search towards the optimal solution. We present extensive experimental results, which demonstrate that the algorithm's performance on realistic problems is superior to that of two popular commercial optimization software packages, whereas the opposite is true for a class of problems with special characteristics that deviate considerably from those of realistic problems. The important conclusion of this research is that the proposed algorithm, complemented by generic optimization software, can handle effectively a large variety of FMP problem instances.
This thesis analyzes the impact of reducing transportation cycle time and consolidating aviation electronic component inventory management on the operational availability of the Brazilian Navy and Argentine Air Force A-4 fleets. The research is based on a scenario where the Brazilian Navy operates twenty A-4 aircraft, while the Argentine Air Force operates thirty A-4s, and both countries rely on manufacturers in the United States for depot-level maintenance. The transportation turn-around-time is extremely long and the cost of some inventory items is very high. A simulation model was developed representing the repair process of a selected group of A-4 critical electronic components. This particular model provides an effective managerial resource for long-term decision making to improve the readiness of aircraft fleet for both countries. We also developed a multiple regression analysis model (metamodel) to find the relationship between spare inventory levels and the operational avail...
2004
I am totally thankful with the Argentine Air Force for the unique opportunity that I received of being at AFIT improving my management knowledge. I wish to be able to give what I have learned back in my future assignments in Argentina. I would like to express my sincere appreciation and recognition to my faculty advisor, Lt. Col. Stephen Swartz, for his guidance and support throughout the course of this thesis effort. His insights and experience has led me to understand this exciting area of management in depth. I certainly want to thank my Thesis readers Dr. William Cunningham for his expertise advice and Prof. Daniel Reynolds for his support and patience not only in statistical issues, where he stands out, but also in his constant readiness and enthusiasm every time I needed to consult him. I completely recognize my wife Adriana for accepting postponing her personal realization in the purpose of supporting me during this effort. This accomplishment would not have been possible without you. Moreover, I thank my children Matías, Belén and Milagros who despite of their short ages understood and encouraged me in the most critical and difficult times. Without all you I could not have finished the work. Last, but not least, I would like to recognize the silent support of my parents who from the distance have unconditionally encouraged me with their confidence along the road. Thanks.
Scheduling of an aircraft fleet
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Assessment of aircraft logistics planning models
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