@flyswiss

This is an aerial sight of part of @zurichairport: you are able to see our Hangar 3 on the right side where my main work place is located. SWISS also performs maintenance in Hangar 2 which is just next to Hangar 3. Our colleagues from the Line Maintenance work from a building below terminal 2 in order to be closer to our aircraft located at the terminal docks. On the second picture you can see the inside of Hangar 3 during night. Yours, Robin

Going through this ongoing crisis really sticks you and your work colleagues even more together. We are one SWISS family and we act like it. Even now, it's always nice to have a laugh and a chat with your colleagues at work. United we are. Cheers, Robin

Hello @flyswiss community, a third of my instagramer time has already passed. Time is running, isn't it? Anyway, back to work with today's topic: we perform a nose landing gear strut service. The nose landing shock strut is a two chamber system, one chamber is filled with nitrogen and the other one is filled with oil. From time to time we have to measure the pressure and the temperature of those two values with diagramms which we can find in the Aircraft Maintenace Manual (AMM). If needed we have to add Nitrogen or bleed it to a specific value until the strut is at its allocated pressure. Stay tuned, Robin

Good day dear @flyswiss followers, my job today is a very common one; the replacement of a main landing gear wheel. Each wheel of an Airbus A340 weighs 200 kg and has a diameter of 1.5 m. The rubber tires on the undercarriage are exposed to brief but very strong forces when manoeuvring on the runway and during take-off and landing. That is why the tires of our long-haul aircraft have to be replaced regularly. A wheel change takes approx. an hour and a half. It includes the removal of the wheel, the inspection of the axel sleeve as you may see on the picture (no abnormal discoloration scratches) and then the installation of the new tire. The removed wheel will be sent to the workshops where it will be restored back to serviceable condition. Hope you enjoyed today's post. Stay sharp for tomorrow! Cheers Robin

Hi everybody, we have to do another "back to service"-work package. The main job for today will be to perform an engine run on all four engines of an Edelweiss Airbus A340 in order to see if all the bleed valves move correctly. For this we have to run the engines at higher speed in the noise protection hangar, which is also called the silencer. One of our aircraft engineers is sitting in the so-called "control room" in the silencer to monitor the performance and two colleagues are in the aircraft cockpit to perform the actual run. For safety reasons it is required to have two aircraft engineers located inside the aircraft. Have a closer look in our story on what is required in taking the aircraft into the silencer. Cheers Robin

Dear followers. As promised, I will show you why and how we do engine changes. Most of the time, we have to change engines because a scheduled overhaul in an engine shop is required. The engine will be completely disassembled, reassembled and then being tested until it will be reinstalled again. Other reasons for an engine change could be the following: for example an event such as a birdstrike occured or there may have been a finding during a boroscope inspection. To remove and reinstall the engine we use special tooling such as a Bootstrap Kit or the very sophisticated "Cobra" tool, which can be compared to a double sided forklift. With the Cobra tool the empty engine cradle will be lifted and mounted to the installed engine on the wing. The preprogrammed engine weight load will now be set on the Cobra and the disconnection of the electrical, air and fuel lines can start. Once all supply lines and components are disconnected, the eight engine mount bolts are removed and the engine is lowered to the ground. After the installation, there will be a final test run of the engine which will be performed in the silencer. The silencer will be tomorrow's topic. Bye bye, see you. Cheers Robin

Morning all. In order to perform the job which I will show you today, you need a very good pair of eyes. I am talking about a boroscope inspection of an engine on one of our Airbus A340, a CFM56-5C engine. For this task, a lot of tools are required: a little motor turns the blades in a certain interval so that the aircraft engineer is able to have a closer look using the guided camera. The main task now is to perform a BSI (boroscope inspection) on the HPT (high pressure turbine) part of the engine to check if the blades are still intact or within limits. In case they are not, an engine change has to be performed. This time, there were no relevant findings on this engine. Nevertheless, I will give you an insight into an engine change in tomorrow's post. Hope to see you then! Have a nice day. Cheers Robin

Ladies and gentlemen, today's mission is to perform an aircraft jacking and a landing gear functional check. We recently encountered a leak in the nose landing gear strut during a detailed visual inspection and we had to replace the nose landing gear (NLG) shock strut seals. In order to replace those seals we have to get access, which means we have to jack the aircraft and remove the NLG shock strut. Three jacks are needed, one on each wing and one in front at the NLG. A fourth jack might be required at the very end of the aircraft in case there are cabin modifications and people walk up and down the aisle. This would prevent that the aircraft doesn't tip. After the installation of the seal, a gear swing has to be performed to check if there is no present leak. The whole procedure is a several shifts task which means we had to hand-over part of the job to our colleagues of the following shift. See you tomorrow, Robin

Every SWISS aircraft undergoes a rigorous technical inspection before every flight (Preflight check). In addition, comprehensive maintenance work is carried out at precise intervals. We at SWISS perform the following checks on our (and Edelweiss’) entire fleet: - Daily check: check of individual functions, inspection of tires and breaks, replenish oil and hydraulic fluids, visual inspection of cabin and exterior > done on a daily basis. - Weekly check: combination of daily check plus additional tasks > weekly checks. - A-Checks: general inspection of interior and exterior, engines are examined, function tests are conducted on its various computers and the cabin is brought back into tip-top shape > to be performed every 800 – 1000 flight hours. In addition to those regular checks, we also perform trouble rectification for unplanned tasks which may occur anytime, such as bird strikes after take-off or modifications. Further checks, along with the heavy maintenance visits, are conducted by external companies. As per 2021, we will insource the C-Checks on our Airbus A220 fleet and perform them in-house. See you soon Robin.

First things first, how are you? The topic for today is on how to become an Aircraft Mechanic or a Licensed Aircraft Engineer. The full amount of time which is required to be able to "release an aircraft back into service" within SWISS is about six years. If you are looking for an apprenticeship in 2021 to start your aircraft engineer career, you are welcome to check out our job vacancies. The main requirements for the apprenticeship are an interest in technology, manual skills, enjoyment of aviation, good school grades and a strong sense of responsibility. Apprentices spend the first two years of their training in SWISS' own training workshop, where they acquire the basic skills for their profession. The third and fourth year of the apprenticeship are followed by special training in aircraft maintenance. At the same time, the apprentices attend vocational school. After the apprenticeship you will gain on the job experience while participating in basic aircraft type modules. The last step would be to get a type rating (licence) for which you have to work off a syllabus during a time frame of at least six months. This means you have to perform several specific tasks and at the completion of the syllabus, you have to undergo a one-day assessment. You will then be authorized to release an aircraft into service with your signature. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. Cheers Robin

Hello dear @flyswiss followers, today's job is a daily check of a shorthaul aircraft Airbus A220, our "whisperjet". During a daily check we have to check several items such as the tire pressure and the oil level. We also perform an external walk-around where we check the aircraft for external damages, for example on the engine blades or cowl. By now, Robin

Good morning and welcome to the Maintenance Departement at SWISS. I am Robin and I have been working for SWISS for four years and recently became a licensed Aircraft Engineer B1. I will be your @flyswiss Instagramer of the Month during October. Since I was a child, I have always had a great passion for aviation and became completely infatuated with the mechanical and electrical systems of aircraft. My aviation career started in 2011. After a successful apprenticeship I went abroad to work in the UK and in 2016 I finally joined the SWISS family. My current work place is @zurichairport in our Hangar 2 and 3 where we perform maintenance on the entire SWISS as well as on the Edelweiss fleet. It is our highest priority to always keep our fleet in top technical condition. An aircraft consists of several million individual parts. In order to keep this highly complex system and all its mechanical and electronic components in the best technical condition at all times, there is an elaborate system of maintenance work. I look forward to take you behind the scenes of our Maintenance world throughout the month. See you soon! Robin (@the_peacemaker_) "