Harrier maintenance time for engine change

© to book of:

AV-8B Harrier II Units of Operation Enduring Freedom

That is a big time (550 hours is 22 days in working around the clock) for total engine change, comparing that to some of the fighters that has couple hours....

Basically if you just managed to damage the engine, you grounded the unit to ground for a month....

550 man hours. Not total hours. So a team of 10 could do it in a few days. Still a long time but doable. Surely it could be done faster than that? Seems like a long time but I’m not doubting the credibility of that book. I’m sure Harrier engine changes have been done on all versions in very austere conditions.

Cheers

I believe they actually have to remove the entire wing assembly yo get put the engine, combine that with all the gubbins for vtol probably goes along way to explaining it.

We often get transient Harriers at Mesa-Gateway Airport near Phoenix (the former Williams AFB) and when they break hard, they send a truck...

Engine R&R

550 man hours. Not total hours. So a team of 10 could do it in a few days. Still a long time but doable. Surely it could be done faster than that? Seems like a long time but I’m not doubting the credibility of that book. I’m sure Harrier engine changes have been done on all versions in very austere conditions.

 

Cheers

Yes, the 550 man hours sounds about right. On deployment, assuming that you have all of the needed parts from supply (yeah right...), AND nothing major is found inside of the engine bay (or you are told not to look TOO hard), a good crew can have it out and back in, tested and ready for Functional Check Flight (FCF) in 3-4 shifts, so two days working 12 hour shifts. The major hiccups are the fact that yes, the entire wing comes off in one piece and is really only held on by 6 bolts. Once you get that off you have to take the water tank out of the back and disconnect the engine and remove it from the engine bay, and there is barely 1-2 inches of room on either side of the engine as you are removing it. Now once the engine is removed from the engine bay, every shop has to go through the engine bay to look for discrepancies and do whatever preventative maintenance that you need to, including any hourly inspections that are close. Once the engine is out you then have to tear it down and QEC the new motor and get it ready to install. Everyone has to be extremely careful not to dent any RCS ducts in the engine bay either, as they have super small tolerances for dents. If they are creased in ANY way, you have to replace them as they could give false duct pressure readings. Once you are sure the engine bay is good then it's time to put the engine back in, again with barely 1-2 inches on either side and then getting the six bolts that hold the engine in :music_whistling:. Two bolts in the rear of the engine and two bolts on either side just aft of the cold nozzles holding what are called trunion mounts down is all that holds the engine in. Now comes the FUN part. Hooking everything up with the engine installed takes a gift that not many people have... you have to be able to use your left hand, upside down and behind your back to do many of the tasks, oh, and you can't look at what you are doing either. It's almost impossible to have both hands in the same place on this jet when doing engine work. Now, assuming that you haven't dropped any tools or parts down in the engine bay (if you can't find them you have to remove the engine back out to find it...), it's time to put the wing back on and finish connecting the engine completely. Once it is all hooked up you service it, take it outside to low power it and verify all systems are working before taking it to high power. Once all of that checks good it's ready for a FCF pilot to go try and break it.

We used to be able to do it in a single day until they put the Quick Engine Change on the Organizational Level (O-Level). Since there are two different versions (Night Attack and Radar), and of course they don't have the same engine connects, the I-Level only builds a complete engine up to the QEC. So once you take an engine out, you have to take those repairable components off of that engine and put them on the new engine. That takes almost an entire shift of maintenance for 3 maintainers (36 man hours).

Here are a couple of pictures that were taken of us (VMA-231 Powerline) on the 26th MEU back in '07 removing an engine while embarked aboard the USS Bataan (LHD-5).

Yes, the 550 man hours sounds about right. On deployment, assuming that you have all of the needed parts from supply (yeah right...), AND nothing major is found inside of the engine bay (or you are told not to look TOO hard), a good crew can have it out and back in, tested and ready for Functional Check Flight (FCF) in 3-4 shifts, so two days working 12 hour shifts...

 

 

...Here are a couple of pictures that were taken of us (VMA-231

Very interesting post thanks for taking the time! And nice work. I knew someone round here would have done it for real. :thumbup:

Yes, the 550 man hours sounds about right. On deployment, assuming that you have all of the needed parts from supply (yeah right...), AND nothing major is found inside of the engine bay (or you are told not to look TOO hard), a good crew can have it out and back in, tested and ready for Functional Check Flight (FCF) in 3-4 shifts, so two days working 12 hour shifts. The major hiccups are the fact that yes, the entire wing comes off in one piece and is really only held on by 6 bolts. Once you get that off you have to take the water tank out of the back and disconnect the engine and remove it from the engine bay, and there is barely 1-2 inches of room on either side of the engine as you are removing it. Now once the engine is removed from the engine bay, every shop has to go through the engine bay to look for discrepancies and do whatever preventative maintenance that you need to, including any hourly inspections that are close. Once the engine is out you then have to tear it down and QEC the new motor and get it ready to install. Everyone has to be extremely careful not to dent any RCS ducts in the engine bay either, as they have super small tolerances for dents. If they are creased in ANY way, you have to replace them as they could give false duct pressure readings. Once you are sure the engine bay is good then it's time to put the engine back in, again with barely 1-2 inches on either side and then getting the six bolts that hold the engine in :music_whistling:. Two bolts in the rear of the engine and two bolts on either side just aft of the cold nozzles holding what are called trunion mounts down is all that holds the engine in. Now comes the FUN part. Hooking everything up with the engine installed takes a gift that not many people have... you have to be able to use your left hand, upside down and behind your back to do many of the tasks, oh, and you can't look at what you are doing either. It's almost impossible to have both hands in the same place on this jet when doing engine work. Now, assuming that you haven't dropped any tools or parts down in the engine bay (if you can't find them you have to remove the engine back out to find it...), it's time to put the wing back on and finish connecting the engine completely. Once it is all hooked up you service it, take it outside to low power it and verify all systems are working before taking it to high power. Once all of that checks good it's ready for a FCF pilot to go try and break it.

 

We used to be able to do it in a single day until they put the Quick Engine Change on the Organizational Level (O-Level). Since there are two different versions (Night Attack and Radar), and of course they don't have the same engine connects, the I-Level only builds a complete engine up to the QEC. So once you take an engine out, you have to take those repairable components off of that engine and put them on the new engine. That takes almost an entire shift of maintenance for 3 maintainers (36 man hours).

 

 

Here are a couple of pictures that were taken of us (VMA-231 Powerline) on the 26th MEU back in '07 removing an engine while embarked aboard the USS Bataan (LHD-5).

Thanks for sharing that vstolmech :thumbup:

Looks like a hell of a job!

To put that in some perspective: with a proper team of 4, we were able to easily swap (remove and install) an engine on our F-16s, within one working day (8 hours). That's without functional testing though, but still

Edit.. wait, make that 2 days (forgot about all the required de- and re-panneling). I tend to forget about all the annoying stuff :P

Ask the swedish Gripen guys.

I kind of get the imprisson, one guy can change that F404/F414 while another guy eats a cinnamon bun.

It was designed with very good serviceability in mind though...

Now, assuming that you haven't dropped any tools or parts down in the engine bay (if you can't find them you have to remove the engine back out to find it...)

I am just asking as it seems that Razbam loves to make planes of this type. Because what you wrote here is what in my head is attributed to the soviet construction school and particularly to the Mig-19.

Memories of the ground crew from the former Czechoslovakia are saying that it was maintenance nightmare, you needed to have your hand broken in 2-3 places to reach for some parts and if you dropped any tool into the engine bay it required to rip the fuselage in the 2 halves disconnect all fittings of the engine and put everything back again. Thus if you wanted to be a dead man, all you needed to do was to let it happen after the major work on the engine (that already required this procedure to be performed once).

So after long years that I read these stories I can read its copy about Western aircraft. But Mig-19 is plane from the Stone age of the jet aviation and design.

We often get transient Harriers at Mesa-Gateway Airport near Phoenix (the former Williams AFB) and when they break hard, they send a truck...

Yeah, when there isn't the ability to fix them or properly test them (i.e. high power) we have to truck them back down here to Yuma or back to Cherry Point. Putting them on a truck is a PITA too, but it's better then doing aborted takeoffs in order to high power the jet so it can fly.

vstolmech513,

Great pics man. Thanks

vstolmech513,

 

Great pics man. Thanks

Glad you liked them.