Commercial technology for aviation configuration management.

Abstract

This thesis examines the current policy and procedures used to manage naval aviation configuration control. It recommends that the Navy consult with SABRE Decision Technologies, or a company with a similar background, to re- engineer the process for approving configuration changes and create an information technology system to manage the process. During this study, I have identified two major challenges to naval aviation configuration policy. They are: (1) the process used to review and approve Engineering Change Proposals (ECPs) is too complex and has too many stakeholders and (2) the current method for management of approved configuration changes is man-hour intensive, has potential for administrative error, and requires physical inspection to positively verify aircraft and equipment configurations. Finally, this study presents the theory that there are many common requirements between naval aviation maintenance and commercial airline maintenance. We should take advantage of the experience and technological innovations of industry and use them to make our configuration policy, and our entire maintenance effort, more effective for the users in the fleet