In the United States Military, there are currently over 13,000 aircraft in service to help protect our country. These include everything from transport aircraft, fighter aircraft, trainer aircraft, and so much more. They range from simple helicopters to some of the most sophisticated pieces of equipment to ever reach the sky in this world. Aircraft use in the military is a very important component of the military force in the country. When it comes to military aircraft maintenance, you can expect that these important pieces of equipment are a bit more in need of precision and service to stand up to some wild conditions. For this reason, you’re like to find an aviation borescope in the toolbox of any military mechanic.
Military Aircrafts Require More Inspections Than Commercial Aircrafts
The average aviation inspection process can be as simple as a visual walkthrough, or consist of a complete teardown, but the average aviation inspection usually falls somewhere in-between. Each inspection done has to follow a process to make sure the aircraft meets standards of excellence and airworthiness.
Periodic aircraft maintenance checks using an aviation borescope have to be performed during specific maintenance intervals that adhere to guidelines that are far more stringent than those of civil and commercial aircraft. Not only are military aircraft inspections stricter and more frequent, it can be complicated and time consuming to check so many different kinds of military aircrafts that fall under the responsibility of one team of professionals. The only way to really get into the systems that need to be inspected are by two ways — you either tear the components down, or you use an aviation borescope. By choosing to use a borescope, military mechanics can access parts, gather visual information, and come up with a plan for repair, if needed.
Where Aviation Borescopes Come into Play
The establishment of the importance and regulations of military aircraft is important because these guidelines go hand-in-hand with the reason why aviation borescopes are so valuable to military mechanics. A military aviation borescope gives the operator the advantage of going beyond the surface of any piece of equipment to get an up-close look at components without having to teardown any body panels, engine casings, and so on. This is important during routine maintenance, but it’s also extremely valuable while in training or combat. An articulating borescope will prevent long downtimes or missed wear and tear while the crafts are needed to be in service as soon as possible.
Not only are borescopes essential tools for scheduled, routine maintenance, they are also employed by the military when something has failed, or failure is suspected. This can be as simple as a lag in performance due to contaminated fluids, to worn belts and blades that are about to give-up and cause the powerhouse behind the craft to malfunction. Once small system failures are found, they can quickly be repaired in order to prevent bigger catastrophic failures.
There are many uses for aviation borescopes in military aircraft maintenance. Whether the inspection is routine, or the mechanic is looking for the problematic components to quickly repair in the field, a borescope will save time and money.
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