Between the Wings: Improving reliability for legacy avionics

In the commercial aircraft industry, the life extension of aging assets is as much a key to success as on-time departures or a robust talent pipeline for pilots. At BAE Systems, we have turned decades of data collected from air transport returns into solutions that keep our airline customers flying.

One of those solutions is a product refresh plan for our Slat/Flap Control Computers (SFCC), which are aboard more than 4,000 Airbus A320s. The SFCC may also be referred to as a high lift or secondary flight control, and is used during take-off and landing to control speed.

Throughout the more than 25 years of in-service experience with our SFCC, we have supported our customers by providing world class repair capability while continuing to evaluate and identify areas where we can upgrade our equipment. With this experience in hand, we instituted a service bulletin to maximize the reliability of SFCCs in service.

Under this modification, we take in-service units from the airline and implement a number of changes, which improve the operation, including adding protection to the unit against tough operating environments. Using this overhaul approach on flight controls is a benefit for our customers and improves reliability of the in-service units, by curbing failure rates and improving aircraft availability for airlines around the world.

Service on SFCCs is performed at our site in Rochester, United Kingdom which is the only shop in the world capable of performing this latest modification. For more information on our aftermarket and asset management services, visit: www.baesystems.com/flightcontrols.