Aircraft Maintenance Performance: The Effects of the Functional Decentralization of On-Equipment Maintenance

The Air Force has implemented various aircraft maintenance organizational structures. The implementation of the Objective Wing in the early 1990s was the latest occurrence of reorganization. This research looks at the effect of the type of aircraft maintenance organizational structure on aircraft maintenance performance. The type of organizational structure was defined by the functional centralization of the on-equipment maintenance. Aircraft maintenance performance was measured using TNMCM rates, fix rates, repeat/recur rates, man-hours per flying hour, and scheduling effectiveness rates. Three F-15 wings and three F-16 wings were selected to compare the changes in aircraft maintenance performance and to determine if the organizational structure had a significant influence on aircraft maintenance performance. Comparison of means and regression analysis were used to investigate the main effects of organizational structure and the moderating effects of several additional factors on aircraft maintenance performance. The aircraft maintenance organizational structure was determined to have a significant positive influence on at least one aircraft maintenance performance measure for five of the six experimental group wings. Various moderating factors also had various influences on aircraft maintenance performance.