If you’re like me, you likely read the title as “Automatic” rather than “Autonomic”. On closer examination of the term, I had flashbacks to my youthful days in Biology class. For those physiology aficionados among us, the term “Autonomic Nervous System” will be familiar. The organs of our body, such as the heart, stomach and intestines, are regulated by a part of the nervous system called the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is part of the peripheral nervous system and it controls many or...

Permit me a momentary departure from my usual blog themes with this one. For those of you who enjoy aviation history, I hope you’ll enjoy it.   I have a few pieces of aviation art I would consider to be collectables. A numbered print I have is called “The Doolittle Mission”. It is signed by one of my hero’s, Jimmy Doolittle. I purchased it the day after he passed away. It shows a B-25 Bomber lifting off the Aircraft Carrier Enterprise followed by the others on their way to a secret mission for a...

In a letter written in 1796 by the famous British Admiral Horatio Nelson, he makes an appeal to the ruling politicians to reconsider an order they had given for the Navy to evacuate the Mediterranean; the reconsideration based on a change of affaires in the region. In fact, rather than withdrawing, he recommends making a vigorous and desperate attempt to defend the area, led by Naval Officers exhibiting “more than common resolution”. It is in this letter that he utters his famous quote “desperat...

We continue to hear reports that operators are bleeding cash, and that every aspect of spending is being reviewed. With this in mind, we’re seeing airlines open up to using PMA parts, parts traced to foreign airlines, and increasing use of aftermarket parts (AKA the ‘surplus’ market). With the proper controls in place, these practices save the operators considerable expense and lead time. And so it could be with two other sacred cows I’ll challenge: When buying aftermarket spares other than new,...

Reducing Turn Around Time (TAT) seems to be on a perpetual hit list among writers of journals, case studies, and contracts. Indeed, what a nobler topic to champion? Speedier TAT’s result in greater availability of the asset being turned around. For aircraft this means more Revenue Kilometer Miles; for engines and components, greater availability of spares, or a reduction in spares inventory- music to the ears of CFO’s. What irks me however, and compels me to pen this blog, is that most of what h...