Maintenance Planning and Scheduling
Core concepts
Maintenance planning translates the approved maintenance programme into scheduled checks, task cards, and work packages. Candidates must understand hard-time tasks (interval-driven replacement or overhaul), on-condition tasks (inspection or test to a limit), and condition-monitoring tasks (data trending without a fixed limit). Know how intervals are set, how escalation or extension is controlled, and the difference between a tolerance permitted by the programme and an unauthorized deferral. Understand deferred defect systems, minimum equipment lists, and how dispatch decisions interact with maintenance scheduling. Also know the role of work package preparation: approved data, parts, tooling, manpower, and access planning must be ready before the aircraft arrives.
Traps in questions
A frequent trap is treating an interval extension as routine; extensions require the authorization defined in the programme and regulator approval where applicable. Another trap conflates the maintenance programme (what must be done and when) with the work package (how a specific visit is executed). Questions may imply that condition monitoring has a fixed threshold; it does not. Watch for scheduling scenarios where a task is due during aircraft unavailability and the candidate must choose the compliant option, often planning the task before the limit rather than deferring it without authority.
Worked example / rule of thumb
Rule of thumb: Plan to the limit, never past it without written authority. Worked example: an inspection is due at 500 flight hours; the aircraft will reach 480 hours before a scheduled ground period and fly 60 hours afterward. Correct answer: the inspection must be accomplished before the aircraft exceeds 500 hours, either in the upcoming ground period or by adjusting the schedule, unless a documented, approved extension applies. Build the plan backward from the due date and protect the margin.