The Basics of Plane Maintenance from a Passenger’s Perspective

Summary: Ever wonder what happens once a plane lands? This article describes what goes on behind the scenes.

For travelers, sitting and waiting in the terminal building for your plane is a regular occurrence. But, what’s actually going on outside?

The plane that’s going to take you to your destination has probably arrived from somewhere around the world. Once it lands, it’ll undergo what’s known as a turnaround, and change from “arriving” to “departing”.

The Ground Team

Whilst this occurs, the maintenance team on the ground are prepping equipment like the airplane starting unit, trucks and carts, and other expensive equipment pieces. There’s a tight schedule that designates crew members to different areas of plane maintenance such as refueling, unloading, packing, etc.

With such a tight system in place, the crew members must operate as a whole, ensuring that the entire procedure is completed in timely and safely manner – you’ve probably heard on the news where certain crew members neglected their duties and ended up getting severely injured.

Maintenance is one aspect that shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to the entire process. With teams scrambling to handle every plane on a consistent basis, sometimes these crew members are overlooked when it comes to overall operations. Furthermore, without them, you’d probably be on a train to your destination.

The Bottom Line

The maintenance process is an arduous and complex one that involves numerous aspects that must work together jointly in order to get the job done. Not only that, but the fact that they can make adjustments on the fly with premium tools and equipment pieces from companies and provide the plane with the necessities that it needs to carry you to your destination is a modern marvel – which isn’t really seen by many due to the fact that everyone’s too occupied staring at their phones. However, it’s these men and women that make flying that much safer for you and your family.