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By Charlotte Adams, Contributing Editor
Hearing the acronym MSG might make some think of the preservative in some take-out food. But in the maintenance world, MSG-3 is the root of all inspection schedules in a process starting before an aircraft enters service. Here is a look at this fascinating process and how manufacturers and operators work to achieve the end result.
Image courtesy of Boeing
The method that aircraft manufacturers, operators and regulators use to develop the manufacturer's initial maintenance schedule, as part of the work towards aircraft certification, is beyond the ken of many in the hands-on maintenance world. It is often a multi-year process, involving the application of rigorous logic, the analysis of reams of data and the interaction of multiple administrative bodies. Many people, hearing the acronym MSG, might think it's a version of the food additive, monosodium glutamate.
All the more reason to know more about aviation's Maintenance Steering Group-3, or MSG-3, process. It starts before an aircraft enters service, when there is no in-service operational data, and continues through the life of the type. MSG-3 practitioners are the Industry Steering Committee (ISC) working groups. Working group members, who are specialists in the various aircraft systems, interact with members of the manufacturer's design group and receive data from the manufacturer, such as mean time between failure. But it is the working group members who do the detailed analysis and generate proposed scheduled maintenance tasks. The working group members - representatives of the manufacturer and operators - present their results to the ISC, which approves it. Representatives of the regulators attend ISC meetings as advisers.
The final output of the ISC for a new aircraft is the Maintenance Review Board Report (MRBR), which outlines the recommended minimum initial maintenance requirements. This document is then approved by the FAA, as the MRB chairman (for a U.S. aircraft). The MSG-3 process provides for tasks, such as lubrication, visual inspections, operational or functional checks, restoration and discard. (Discard refers to removing life-limited parts and replacing them with new ones.)
Although there is no actual in-service operational data available when the ISC process begins for a new aircraft, there is much historical data on the performance of similar components and systems used in earlier designs,...