Captain's log without the slog
Captain's log without the slog
September 1, 2005: Low-cost Australian airline Jetstar recently carried out an initiative to overhaul its mobile document management processes. Stuart Finlayson talks to the Manager Fleet Support at Jetstar, Captain Maurie McBain to find out how the new system has not only save the airline a considerable amount of time and money, but also improved passenger safety
Although still relatively in its infancy, the Qantas-owned, budget Australian airline Jetstar prides itself on being highly focused on minimising costs by working smarter and finding ways to improve its systems and processes, even though it only first took to the skies in May 2004.
As one would expect from a brand new airline, it is an innovative mobile technology user. Recently, the airline turned to mobile technology to help increase the turnaround times of its fleet and improve passenger safety at the same time.
Getting the balance right
Weight and balance play an important role in the flight of all aircraft. A flight cannot depart if it exceeds maximum weight limits, and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority requires that a printed statement of its weight and balance must be left at every port of departure. This information must then be kept on record for three months.
Recognising the potential for significantly reducing human error and aircraft turnaround time, Jetstar has overhauled the manual process it used to track weight and balance. It now uses a custom designed application, on a Symbol mobile computing device connected to an on board mini printer, in each of its 18 aircraft.
Captain Maurie McBain, Jetstar's Manager Fleet Support, has been instrumental in this project. Mcbain offers his insight into how his team of pilots use Symbol's mobile devices to make aircraft turnaround more efficient.
"Previously, load control of aircraft was completed by a third party. This required that the information about the aircraft's load was passed to this person (Load Controller) who produced a load sheet, which was subsequently sent to the pilots in the cockpit. Usually, this activity was completed just prior to aircraft departure.
"The Jetstar load control system is different in that the pilot is responsible for producing the load sheet, and as such, the information on the aircraft's load flows directly to the cockpit. As each piece of information is received (fuel, baggage weights, freight load, passengers numbers, etc), the pilot enters this into the application contained on the hand-held Symbol PDA and, finally, prints a load sheet using the portable printer. This copy is passed to the ground staff just prior to departure and kept on record."
The alternative to the PDA, says Captain McBain, is a manual load sheet, which is time consuming and a drain on the pilot resources. According to McBain, that method was at odds with part of the Jetstar model, which is to minimise turnaround times.
"The majority of airlines utilise 35-45 minute turnarounds, whilst the Jetstar turnaround time can be as little as 25 minutes. This increases the productivity of the crews and aircraft. A manual load sheet (completed by the pilots) would not be possible during such a short turnaround."
The manual load sheet that was in use prior to the Symbol implementation involves many calculations and graphing of information using a ruler, which is not practical in the flight deck of an aircraft. Other airlines use the manual load sheet, but it is completed by ground staff and brought on board once completed, a process which increases costs as well as the number of persons utilised during a turnaround.
As Captain McBain explains, the weight and balance information now reaches the cockpit with ease, though there is still an element of paperwork involved in getting the information onto the airport database.
"The majority of information flows to the flight deck from the ground staff. In the future, Bluetooth (or similar) could be used to pass on this information, but currently, data is sent using signed paperwork.
"Once all of the data is received, a Final Load Sheet is printed and left with the ground staff and held on file at the airport for a minimum of three months."
Eradicating errors
One of the biggest pluses of the new system, reveals Captain McBain, is that it removes much of the potential for human error that was evident in the old system.
"Manual load sheets are prone to error simply because of the number of calculations required to compile such a document. Jetstar has a QA [quality assurance] department and a vigorous auditing program to ensure accuracy of such documents. In addition, the federal regulator (the Civil Aviation Safety Authority) requires that such systems are robust, as they form an important function in the safe operation of the airline.
"The potential for human error when compiling such a document is high, as well as being a time consuming process. When the project team conducted a study on the feasibility of such a system, we timed various persons completing a manual load sheet. The time to complete varied from 9 to 23 minutes. This time is unacceptable to sustain a minimal turnaround time. By way of comparison, the PDA based system can take as little as2-3 minutes to complete a load sheet, including a cross-check by the other pilot."
- This system has improved Jetstar's processes by:
- Placing pilots in control of information, to speed up weight and balance tracking (pilots only have 30 minutes turnaround time at each port)
- Giving pilots the ability to document information for filing through a mobile printer
- Reducing pre-departure document management and improving work-flow
- Minimising human error
- Giving pilots time to concentrate equally on other aspects of preparing for take-off
- Synchronising the mobile devices with Jetstar's network via docking stations, so that new information is automatically updated.
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