Story ID: 588
ATP's Custom Alerting Reduces Discrepancy Downtime
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: The new custom alerting feature in ATP's ChronicX emails notifications automatically about recurring defects.
Word Count: 762
One of the results of Aircraft Technical Publishers' (ATP) acquiring CaseBank Technologies is the development of new tools using CaseBank's fault detection and troubleshooting software. CaseBank’s ChronicX, for example, equips aircraft operators to set up automatic detection of recurring defects so they can be tackled before they cause bigger problems. Now ATP has released a new function for ChronicX: custom alerting that sends notifications via email to warn about problems before the aircraft needs to be grounded.  

Designed for fleet operators, ChronicX is currently used by many airlines and is under evaluation by large business aircraft fleet operators. “We’ve already started conversations with [business aviation providers],” said Steve Lightstone, ATP’s v-p of the ChronicX business. “It’s for any organization where reliability is important.”
 
ATP has long been known for distribution of regulatory and maintenance publications and for ATP maintenance tracking software, but the acquisition of CaseBank gave the company new products to offer its customers. “It’s much more than just regulatory and technical publications,” he said. “A lot of customers don’t know that.” CaseBank’s SpotLight troubleshooting software is used by many business jet OEMs, among them Bombardier and Gulfstream, and engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney. 

The way discrepancy information is typically gathered makes it difficult for operators to identify trends, a problem that ChronicX solves. Most operators use some form of logbook where pilots and technicians make notes about problems. The description field in logbooks, whether paper or electronic, is usually freeform. Pilots or technicians can write whatever they want, using any word or description, and the text can vary wildly for a problem that might be similar or even identical.

The other issue is the inconsistency in the coding of ATA chapters, so the numbers used for that purpose are essentially useless, again, because there is no consistent application of chapter and subchapter numbers to identify a particular problem. “On top of that there’s the notion of identifying recurring problems,” Lightstone said. “This creates pain in reliability organizations [fleet operators].”

Some operators rely on crude spreadsheets to try to manage logbook data, further complicating the search for recurring defects, especially with inconsistent verbiage in the description field. 

ChronicX uses algorithms and a dictionary of aircraft maintenance synonyms and user-defined terms to make sure that similar defects can be detected and grouped together. Instead of an individual having to pore over pages and pages of spreadsheets looking for items that might refer to the same kind of defect or a recurring problem affecting a single component, ChronicX can do this automatically. “It means spending more time fixing rather than finding,” he said. This also eliminates the need to code logbook entries with ATA chapters, because that data doesn’t add any value.

Fifteen months ago, ATP/CaseBank had 500 aircraft using ChronicX, and that number has since climbed to 2,500. “We expect 5,000 by the end of the year,” said Lightstone.

The development of custom alerting for ChronicX was a result of customer requests. While mining the descriptive text is by itself useful, they wanted a way to be notified when the data-mining found a special situation, he explained. Users can define the search criteria and set rules for notifications. But ChronicX’s algorithms also know when to issue an alert even if the particular similar wording isn’t found. “It’s smarter,” he said. “You can define an alert for a nosewheel shimmy, and it knows the synonyms to kick off an alert—like [the term] ‘nose wheel vibration’—so the user doesn’t have to input the exact synonyms.”

As more operators move to electronic logbooks, tools like ChronicX will be able to dig through data faster. Typically, operators with paper logbooks rely on data entry personnel to re-enter logbook entries into a computer, which could introduce errors and delays in mining that data. “We’re starting to see the impact of electronic logbooks,” Lightstone said. “Several of our customers are implementing them.” Even with re-entry of data, however, ChronicX can help overcome errors by detecting synonyms, even when words are misspelled. “There are algorithms that help with that,” he said. 

A next step for the CaseBank products is to integrate ChronicX with ATP’s maintenance software, according to Victor Sanchez, ATP v-p of product management. Text messaging of custom alerting is on the ATP roadmap, he said.  Custom alerting is available to ChronicX customers at no additional charge. 

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