[Jeff Higgins]

I work on the AOG team for widebody, twin-aisle commercial aircraft for a large American manufacturer based in Seattle, WA. I help repair this kind of damage for a living, and have been doing so for an awfully long time. Oddjob is the only one of you even close to right.

Any aircraft this severely damaged will be repaired on site. There is no simply "taking it apart" and transporting it elsewhere. While ferry permits are issued in certain situations, I've never seen one issued to cover this kind of damage. No airport has a repair facility capable of this kind of a repair. No airline has a repair crew capable of this kind of a repair. No MRO has the facilities or crew capable of this kind of a repair. This sort of damage typically falls to the OEM to repair. Often times, legally so.

The repair process begins with a survey team comprised of engineers, mechanics, and manufacturing engineers traveling to the site to assess the damage. Photographs and measurements are taken, part numbers recorded, and that sort of thing. We basically figure out what we need to fix or replace.

When we get home, we begin to plan the repair and put together a bid for the airline. We develop a parts list. We determine any jacking and shoring requirements. We determine any special tooling requirements, like locating jigs, tools to fabricate any repair specific parts, etc. (that's my part of the assignment - I'm the tool engineer). I'll round up any existing tools that we commonly use, any specific items left over from a previous similar repair, and bid the design work on any new, repair specific tooling. We then review all of this with the customer, factoring getting our repair equipment and crew on site, and settle on a final price and schedule.

Once the plan is in place, we begin to execute. We actually order parts. We design the repair. We (actually, I) design the tools and place them for fabrication. We build a crew list. We gather up all of our equipment and locate shippers. When everything is staged and ready, all engineering released, all parts and tools are on hand, all plans written, we go.

A typical field repair will utilize two crews of mechanics working back to back to one another, 12 hour days each, until the job is done. Sometimes months at a time. I'll work the day shift (along with the other engineers) and be on-call all night. We travel with an entire self-contained tool room, machine shop, standards bins, and everything else we need to be entirely self-sufficient when on site. We jack and shore to place the affected area in a known position and state (sometimes using a laser alignment system, with targets at known locations on the aircraft to verify), and then we go to work.

Typically 30-40 mechanics per shift, accompanied by quality assurance, tool room personel, managers, and engineers, and the best in the business. No stereotypical union lackies (mechanics) on these trips - everyone, from mechanic to engineer, is evaluated upon our return home. Those who don't perform don't make another trip or stay in the AOG organization for long.

That airplane will be stuck there for six to eight months at a minimum. Things just don't move any faster than that, red "AOG" stickers on everything notwithstanding. Just moving all of the people and equipment is a logistical nightmare, and designing the repair is a very painstaking process.