PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES

PIA Internship ReportLine Maintenance Intern

Muhammad FarhanB.E Electrical Engineering

NUST-PNEC

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Table of Contents

Content Page No.Executive Summary 2Acknowledgement 3Introduction of PIA 4Objectives of studying the organization 7Organization of PIA Engineering:

Line Maintenance Workshops “Wide-Body”

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Aircraft systems studied, including: A-310 Boeing-777

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Conclusion 16

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Executive Summary

During my internship, I was deployed to the line maintenance division of PIA Engineering at Karachi, while also briefly examining other organs of Engineering namely – “Wide-Body” and Workshops. These three vital organs of engineering work abreast, to keep the aircrafts in serviceable state, with Line maintenance being at the forefront of them all.

The above statement emphasizing the significance of line maintenance can be better understood by the fact that Line maintenance is responsible for the Transient and daily check of the aircraft (which means that the flight schedule of PIA is largely dependent on the pace at which engineers in Line maintenance work). Line Maintenance Engineers carry out desired checks by examining the parameters of aircraft performance as well as visually inspecting the aircraft systems and machines.

During the tenure of the internship, I realized several Engineering techniques which we study but which remain abstract for us for instance, the concept of modular design which states that any system should be modularized for easy installation and maintenance. In Line Maintenance, most of the aircraft instrumentation is modularized which makes it less time consuming to diagnose and replace - exceedingly important for timely flight schedule. In a very similar manner, the principles of engineering economics and the need for engineers to study viability of things was also emphasized during the internship as I learned how aircrafts were modified to make them more viable with changes in technology.

Also, I learned several new ways of system diagnosis and maintenance including redundant system installation, possibility of carrying forward the errors for smooth operation and Murphy’s Law (which is statement with which engineers mostly work on aircraft) to ensure that safety of aircraft is not jeopardized in any way.

Overall, with this internship, I not only saw real-time application of engineering skills but also the organization of industrial setup (since I observed the Wide-Body, Isfahani Hanger). It got me acquainted with Aviation Industry as well as basic maintenance procedures.

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Acknowledgment

I would like to whole-heartedly thank the engineering staff at the Line maintenance of PIA for not only accommodating me in their hectic office but also providing an enriching experience. Also, I would like to thank the HR department at PIA for providing us with this wonderful opportunity to experience the corporate as well as technical culture characteristic of aviation maintenance all around the world.

Deserving laurels are also the staff at our universities Career Development Staff who helped and worked tirelessly in arranging this Internship for our professional development and edification. Kudos to our parents as well who left no stone unturned to support and help us during the tenure of our internship.

The effort of all the individuals above has been indispensable in rekindling our desire to not only be more pragmatic with Engineering principles but also understand the field of aviation with special regards to avionics.

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Introduction of PIA

After a short period of independence, Pakistan decided in 1951 that it needed a national flag carrier airline; the government of the country accordingly established Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in this role, and on 25 May ordered three examples of the Lockheed L-1049C Super Constellation four-engined airliner as the new operator's initial equipment. PIA flew its first service with the Super Constellation on 07 June 1954 on the route linking Karachi and Dacca (now Dhaka), which were the main cities of the country's western and eastern halves, of which the latter is now Bangladesh. On 1 February 1955 the airline flew its first international service, between Karachi and London via Cairo.

On 11 March 1955 PIA formally took over the assets and routes of another Pakistani operator, Orient Airways, which had in effect been part of PIA since October 1953. The consolidation of the two airlines meant that PIA could enlarge its domestic network with 11 Douglas DC-3 and two Convair CV-240 aircraft, which left the Super Constellation machines wholly free for international services.

Modernization of the fleet used for domestic and regional operations was now a matter of high priority, and in May 1956 the airline placed an order for three examples of the Vickers Viscount 815 four-turboprop airliner, the first of which was accepted in the UK on 2 January 1959 for a debut in revenue earning service on the service linking Karachi and Delhi on 31 January 1959. Further enhancement came in 1961 with debut of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-turboprop type, of which the first was received on 3 January 1961. The availability of the F27 for operation on the routes linking the major Pakistani cities freed the DC-3 fleet for use on new services to the remoter parts of East Pakistan.

PIA was the first Asian airline with pure-jet aircraft, in the form of a Boeing 707-321 machine leased from Pan American World Airways for use from 7 March 1960 on the London service that was extended to New York on 17 June 1961. On 21 December 1961 PIA began to receive its own jet aircraft when it took delivery of the first of three Boeing 720-040B aircraft, whose availability permitted the operator to enlarge its international route network.

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In 1963 PIA called off its New York service, but on 29 April 1964 became the first non-communist airline to operate a service to the Chinese city of Shanghai. A notable feature of PIA's domestic routes in East Pakistan for some time was the helicopter services operated with Sikorsky S-61N's. PIA ordered four examples of the Hawker Siddeley HS.121 Trident 1E to replace Vickers Viscount 815s. First of these four Trident aircraft was accepted on 1 March 1966. The Trident aircraft were later sold to the Civil Aviation Administration of China in 1970. In 1971 East Pakistan secured its independence as Bangladesh, and PIA ceased operations to that country. The airline's fleet and network were both reduced, but the service to New York was resumed in 1972.

The first wide-body airliner used by PIA was the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 three-turbofan type, which the airline first received on 1 March 1974. A pair of Boeing 747-282B four-turbofan aircraft (initially leased from TAP Air Portugal) followed in April 1976, and on 3 March 1980 the airline accepted its first Airbus A300B4-203 two-turbofan type. In 1985 PIA became the first Asian operator of Boeing 737-300 aircraft, a total of six Boeing 737-300s were ordered to replace ageing Boeing 720B aircraft. PIA received first of its six Airbus A310-308 aircraft on 25June 1991 from Airbus Industry.

In the first half of the year 1999, PIA acquired five Boeing 747-367 aircraft (initially leased from Cathay Pacific) for its European and North American destinations. In 2002 PIA signed an agreement with Boeing Company for the biggest aircraft deal in the history of PIA. After a dry spell of 10 years, PIA ordered new aircraft - 8 wide-body aircraft from the Boeing 777 family for its long-haul flights. The airline accepted delivery of its first Boeing 777-240ER aircraft at Boeing Field in Seattle, USA, on 29 January, 2004. On 2 November, 2005, PIA signed an agreement with Avions de Transport Regional (ATR) of France to purchase seven brand new ATR 42-500 turbo prop aircraft. These new 48-seater ATRs will replace PIA's ageing fleet of Fokker F27s on airline's domestic and regional route network. On May 31, 2006, PIA received its first ATR 42-500 in Toulouse, France. The remaining six ATR 42-500s were delivered to the airline between 2006 and 2007.

Historic Firsts by PIA

- The first airline from an Asian land country and the first airline from a Muslim country to fly the Super Constellation.- The first Asian airline to operate a jet aircraft.- The first Asian airline to be granted maintenance approval by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Air Registration Board, predecessor of the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).- The first non-communist airline to fly to the People's Republic of China, and to operate a service between Asia and Europe via Moscow.- The first airline in Asia to induct the new technology Boeing 737-300 aircraft.- An IBM 1401, the first computer in Pakistan, was installed in PIA.

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- The first airline to introduce a second route to People's Republic of China over the mighty Karakoram Mountains.- The first airline to show in-flight movies on international routes.- PIA set up Pakistan's first planetarium at Karachi.- The first airline in South Asia to introduce auto-ticketing facility.- The first airline in the world to fly to Tashkent, capital of the newly independent state of Uzbekistan.- First airline in the world to start Air Safari with jet aircraft.- First Asian airline to start flights to Oslo, the beautiful capital city of Norway.- First airline in the world to induct Boeing 777-200LR, the world's longest range commercial airliner.- First airline in South Asia to offer the facility of seat reservation through mobile phone.

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Objective of Studying the Organization

The primary reason with which I took internship at PIA was to observe the real-time diagnostic procedures as they are being implemented and the overall flow of work in engineering. The fieldof diagnostics is exceedingly important in electrical engineering and it is also the project title of my bachelor final year project.

As I worked at line maintenance at PIA, I realized several fault diagnostic procedures which are instrumental in modern day engineering approach including an Expert system which is referred to as MAT in 777-300. This particular feature has inspired me to integrate and designs a similar feature for the testing of an electrical transformer. In a similar manner, the concept of redundant systems is also very appealing since an aircraft generally has multiple systems for one task which ensures perfect maneuverability, this particular aspect of Aircraft can also be implemented in other fields for a greater throughput and application.

Another significant objective that I wished to achieve was to observe the file and book keeping of records in engineering. The line maintenance division has a specialized office known as CADEX which issues all the maintenance cards for checks and record keeping. CADEX hosts thousands of cards which detail the procedures to be adhered to incase of a check and the signature of the person in its liability portion. The record keeping of various files detailing different modules of the aircraft is exceedingly important in aircraft maintenance and any maintenance department for that matter.

Also the factory layout as well as the workshop practices which I observed were really valuable if in future I wish to pursue career in a plant or any manufacturing unit.

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Organization of PIA Engineering

The Engineering department of PIA based in Karachi is broadly divided into three main segments namely:

1. Line Maintenance2. Engineering Workshops3. Base Maintenance (Wide-Body or Isfani Hanger)

Line Maintenance

The Department of line maintenance in Karachi undertakes and releases the full range of cabin tasks and In Flight Entertainment (IFE) checks during transit, along with regular transit tasks for capability of aircraft as per mentioned capabilities. Line Maintenance division is backed by extensive shop support and substantial stocks of spare parts inventory and is amongst the region's most experienced facilities.

Line Maintenance services of PIA Engineering also maintains the appearance and quality of your aircraft's cabin and exterior. Line Maintenance facilities cover the complete range of an aircraft's routine maintenance and inspection requirements. They also have sufficient aircraft support dock installations in 4 hangars with the requisite trained manpower and tooling to undertake simultaneous work on various types of aircraft on fleet, around the clock. PIA E & M Line Maintenance has a buildup floor space of 12710m2 with 04 hangars.

Set-up exists for compressed air outlets & electric power pits for 115 VAC / 400 Hz.

For Safety reasons, Portable fire extinguisher available with centrally controlled fire alarm system is available. Moreover, support shops, aircraft components (rotable's), Stockroom, Tool store, offices and amenities are also available as back up support.

CADEX

Another very integral aspect of line maintenance is the maintaining of records with in the organization. The department issues a certification of liability after any technical operation on the aircraft so that it can be executed. This certificate if then stored in the archives of the CADEX for at least two years for safekeeping. There are estimated 500+ certifications which are issued by CADEX for aircraft operations.

CADEX also maintains the log books of the aircraft currently in the fleet of PIA. The log books are broadly of three types namely:

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1. Aircraft Log book: It contains details of all maintenance operations and modifications performed on the aircraft in its entire life.

2. Cabin Log Book: Contains details of all operations on cabin and cockpit of aircraft in its entire life.

3. Engine Log book: There are two sets of this book. This book details all the checks and modifications done to the engine of the aircraft in its entire lifespan.

4. Probe log book: This book is exclusively for ATR and contains details of probe system on ATR

Unlike the technical certifications, the Log books are maintained throughout the life of an aircraft from its very entrance to the fleet. The number of log books in fleet of PIA is shown below:

A-310: 4 books (1 Aircraft Log book, 1 Cabin Log book, 2 Engine Log books)ATR 42/72: 5 books (1 Aircraft Log book, 1 Cabin Log book, 2 Engine Log books, 1 Probe Log book)777-300: 4 books (1 Aircraft Log book, 1 Cabin Log book, 2 Engine Log books)

Engineering Workshops

The Engineering workshops work in unison with line maintenance and base maintenance to provide them with hardware parts and repair and modification of equipment. The engineering workshops at PIA can be broadly classified into the below mentioned categories:

Electrical Shop: This workshop is concerned with maintenance of electrical components (motors, generators, surveillance lights, DFDR, galleys & ovens etc.

NDT Laboratory: NDT inspectors are qualified with EN4179 Standards for radiography, UV crack detection, Eddy Current inspection, radio-isotope and gamma-ray techniques for detecting hidden cracks

Instrument Shop: This workshop is concerned with maintenance of Autopilot, Navigation, Engine instruments & related Computers.

Radio Shop: This workshop is concerned with maintenance of Radar, IFE, CVR and Communication systems.

Power Plant (and Engine Overhaul) Shop: The workshop offers repair / test and engine run facilities for a variety of GE, Pratt & Whitney CFM Engines. It also has a heat vacuum heat treatment shop facility. Some facilities it offers are: Key features involve engine test facility. Upgraded facility of cutting edge test cell

acquisition system. It can be used to accommodate all FADEC / EEC powered engines.

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A key feature of the Engine Overhaul Workshop is the jet engine test facility, designed to test aero engines up to a maximum capacity of 100,000 lbs thrust, airflow of 3,000 lbs/sec and an engine weight of 15,000 lbs.

Facilities such as plating lines, heat treatment, vacuum furnace are also available with the Power Plant Overhaul shop.

The facility is equipped with the modern and most sophisticated technology & instruments for testing of parameters and functionality of variety of APUs.

Base Maintenance (Wide-Body)

The base maintenance houses aircraft for a much longer duration than line maintenance, usually for carrying out modifications on it. The base maintenance facility has built up floor space of 35460m2 with 04 Bays (Bay I, Bay II, Bay III & ACOH). Movable hangar doors ensure protection from weather conditions. Expansion foam firefighting system is in place to combat the fire hazard. Facilities like compressed air, 115 VAC / 400 Hz electrical power, central vacuum cleaning, fuel tank purging, service lifts and overhead cranes are available for heavy maintenance. Some other facilities in it are:

Structure repair shop: PIA maintenance is equipped with state-of-the art Structure Repair Shop which can perform repairs and also has the capability to develop various repair schemes.

Carpentry shop: This particular shop is concerned with carpentry on Aircrafts.

Wash basin: It is the station at which the Aircraft components are washed and dried.

Aircraft appearance and Paint Shop: The paint shop offers following facilities for aircraft painting, including: Full and Partial painting Sign Painting Decals & Placards Drawing of Logos Engraving of Cockpit Instrument Panels Write-ups in the Interior & Exterior of Aircrafts

Component Store: The place where excess components of aircraft are stored. It is arranged in bins and enables storing of components.

Tool store: It is storage from where tools for maintenance are borrowed.

Component O/H shop: Repair / overhaul of miscellaneous systems (mechanical) components ranging from check valve to sophisticated equipment.

Hydraulic & L/G Shop: Overhaul / repair of landing gears of Airbus and Boeing aircraft. Expertise in overhauling of wheel & Brake assembly of Airbus and Boeing aircraft.

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Pneumatic O/H Shop: Accessories Overhaul Shops are equipped with modern testing equipment like test stands from GREER, Bäur of USA, and Vickers System of West Germany for testing hydraulic components.

Cabin Shop: It carries out repair, replace, overhaul, modify and test: Cabin and Crew Seats, Survival Equipment & Galleys.

Seat and Plastic Shop: seat shop where all the seats installed on the PIA fleet are maintained, including the cockpit seats of aircraft as per PIA capability. Plastic repair shop also operates under the management of this section to ensure that plastic repairs are done in-house and that costly turnaround times for amenity items are avoided.

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Aircraft systems studied

A-310

The Airbus A310 is a medium- to long-range twin-engine wide-body jet airliner that was developed and manufactured by Airbus. The aircraft has a shorter fuselage than the A300 aircraft but the same 5.64m fuselage diameter. The A310 is a 200 seater aircraft with low operating costs. The large fuselage diameter allows the aircraft to carry industry-standard LD3 cargo containers side by side underfloor.

Flight DeckThe aircraft has an advanced digital flight deck built by EADS France (formerly Aerospatiale Matra) and accommodating the pilot and co-pilot. The flight deck displays include an aircraft monitoring system, flight guidance, navigation and engine, management and monitoring.

The flight deck also houses the Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) and a flight data recorder. The aircraft's digital automatic flight control system contains a flight control computer, a thrust control computer and a duplicated augmentation computer. The flight control computer provides autopilot, flight director and speed reference functions.

FuselageThe aircraft is of mainly high-strength aluminum alloy construction with some sections of carbon fiber- or glass fiber-reinforced plastic composites.The wide-bodied cabin is very quiet and can accommodate six to nine abreast seating in a double-aisle layout. There are four passenger doors at the port and starboard side to the front and rear of the cabin. A typical two-class seating arrangement accommodates 220 passengers.The cabin and flight deck are air conditioned using power from a ground unit, from engine compressed air or from the aircraft's auxiliary power unit.

SafetyThe aircraft's safety features include system redundancy. The aircraft operates three fully independent hydraulic systems operating simultaneously with fully independent circuits and with fire-resistant hydraulic fluid. If any circuit were to fail, then full flight control of the aircraft is retained.The Honeywell 331-250 auxiliary power unit can be started and operated throughout the flight of the aircraft. Two electrical generators are engine driven and a third generator is driven by the auxiliary power unit. Each of the three generators has sufficient power capacity to operate all the aircraft's systems and equipment for sustained safe flight.

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EnginesThe aircraft is fitted with either two Pratt & Whitney PW4152 or General Electric CF6-80C2A2 engines. The engine pylons built by EADS France are compatible with all the engine options offered.The A310-300 is the extended-range version of the A310 aircraft and has extra fuel capacity in the tai lplane trim tank. The total fuel capacity is 48,070l. There are two refueling points, one on the outer section undersurface of each wing.The typical long-range cruise speed is Mach 0.80 and the range with the maximum number of passengers is 8,050km. New advanced technology wings with reduced span and area were developed for the A310 and the delta shaped vertical wingtip fences reduce aerodynamic drag and increase the aircraft's fuel efficiency.

Landing GearThe aircraft is fitted with hydraulically operated tricycle-type landing gear, with double wheels and Messier Bugatti anti-skid carbon brakes.

Boeing 777

The stretched 777-300 was designed as an A-market replacement for 747-100s and 747-200s.Compared to the older 747s, the stretched 777 has comparable passenger capacity and range, but burns one-third less fuel and has 40 percent lower maintenance costs. The -300 features a 33.3 ft (10.1 m) fuselage stretch over the baseline -200. This allows seating for up to 550 passengers in a single class high-density configuration. The maximum range is 7,370nautical miles (11,140 km), allowing the -300 to operate trunk routes previously flown by older 747s. Some salient features of this aircraft are:

MAT (Maintenance Access Terminal)The Maintenance Access Terminal (MAT) and Side Display (SD) are powerful processing resources with high resolution liquid crystal displays, networked to other airplane systems with a fiber optic communication interface. They provide a common resource for night crew and maintenance personnel to access information from other airplane systems, such as initially the On-Board Maintenance System (OMS). The MAT/SD are designed as an open architecture, avionics ruggedized, 486 diskless workstations. They are designed for a single user, with sufficient processing power and memory to run third party application software. The MAT consists of a display/processor unit, which is identical to the Side Display, a cursor control device (trackball) and keyboard for user interface, a 3.5" floppy disk drive, and an optional hard disk drive. Each of these items are line replaceable modules that install into a MAT cabinet.

EnginesThe aircraft has two pod-mounted turbofan engines below the leading edges of the wings. The General Electric, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls Royce Trent engines are rated at 327kN to 436kN thrust.

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The main fuel tanks are installed in the wing torsion box with the reserve and surge tanks on the inboard side of the wing. The fuel capacity of the 777-200 is 117,350l. Smiths Industries supplied the ultrasonic fuel quantity gauge system.

A center section tank installed in the 777-200ER and the 777-300 increases the fuel capacity to 171,175l. The ultra-long range aircraft, Boeing 777-200LR has additional fuel tanks in the rear cargo hold to bring the total fuel capacity to 195,285l.

Fuel Tank>The plates of the main and reserve tanks are behave as parallel plate capacitors with fuel as di-electric.>The difference of fuel level is sent to the computers as electrical signals.

Landing gears>777-300 features the largest landing gear and the biggest tires ever used in a commercial jetliner. The six-wheel bogies are designed to spread the load of the aircraft over a wide area without requiring an additional centerline gear. This helps reduce weight and simplifies the aircraft's braking and hydraulic systems. Each tire of a 777-300ER six-wheel main landing gear can carry a load of 59,490 lb (26,980 kg), which is heavier than other wide-bodies such as the 747-400. The aircraft has triple redundant hydraulic systems with only one system required for landing.

Air Speed>The open end of the Pitot tube, usually mounted on a wing, faces toward the flow of air or water. The air speed indicator actually measures the difference between a static sensor not in the air stream and a sensor (Pitot tube) in the air stream. When the airplane is standing still, the pressure in each tube is equal and the air speed indicator shows zero. The rush of air in flight causes a pressure differential between the static tube and the Pitot tube. The pressure differential makes the pointer on the air speed indicator move. An increase in forward speed raises the pressure at the end of the Pitot tube. In turn, the air pressure pushes against a flexible diaphragm that moves a connected mechanical pointer on the face of the indicator. The indicator is calibrated to compensate for winds in the air or the speed of the opposing current in the water. In airplanes, electronics also compensate for altitude and air temperature to make the air speed measurement accurate.

Generator>APU at the tail of 120KVA>1 RAT (Ram air turbine generator) of 7.5 KVA>2 Back-up at each engine of 120KVA

Fire loop> Fire sense.>"Fire loops" used to describe the fire detection system on 777.

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> The loops are thermos sensitive which trigger a warning by means of an electric control unit for a certain temperature rise. They are connected in parallel and according to an "AND" logic to avoid spurious fire warnings.

EGT>Exhaust Gas Temperature.>In a turbine engine, Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT), sometimes referred to as Turbine Outlet Temperature (TOT), is the temperature of the turbine exhaust gases as they leave the turbine unit. The gas temperature is measured by a number of thermocouples mounted in the exhaust stream and is presented on a flight deck gauge in either degrees Fahrenheit or degrees Celsius.

CockpitThe two-pilot flight deck is fitted with a five-screen electronic flight information system with five, 8in (203mm) color liquid crystal displays, including two primary flight displays, two navigation displays and an engine indication and crew alerting system (EICAS) display.

The central control panel between the two pilots holds three multipurpose control and display units for the aircraft information management system, systems information, flight management functions, thrust control and communications.

A two-bunk flight crew rest area is installed on the port side of the flight deck. An optional installation is a crew rest module in the underfloor section. The crew rest module houses six bunks and occupies the same floor area as a standard 96in cargo pallet.

The aircraft has Boeing's fly-by-wire controls with flight envelope protection and automatic pilot and stabilization functions.

The fly-by-wire system sends back-driven signals to the pilots' rudder pedals and control columns to provide the pilot with sensory awareness of the activities of the automated systems.

The aircraft has a triple redundant digital autopilot and flight director designed by Rockwell Collins. The BAE Systems (formerly Marconi Avionics) triple digital primary flight computers provide the control limits and flight envelope protection commands. Each of the three primary flight computers contains three different and separately programmed 32-bit microprocessors, a Motorola, Intel and AMD, to manage the fly-by-wire functions.

The Boeing 777 was the first aircraft with an ARINC 629 digital data bus linked to the main and standby navigation systems. The navigation system includes a Honeywell ADIRS air data and inertial reference system with a six-ring laser gyroscope, a Honeywell terrain collision avoidance system (TCAS) and a Honeywell and BAE Systems 12-channel global positioning system. The aircraft is equipped with a Honeywell all color weather radar.

The aircraft can be fitted with a Honeywell and Racal satellite communications system.

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Conclusion

The deployment at PIA has given us a very keen insight into the workings of PIA and aviationindustry in the country. If, in the future, I try to pursue a career at PIA or any other aviationindustry, I would have a solid background to start with, being equipped with both the basic technical as well as engineering skills commonly utilized in the industry. The internship program of PIA was perfectly planned and executed and there is very little room for improvement.

Overall, I believe that the aim of PIA for this internship was edification and exposure of university students which has been fully achieved via this internship and Interns are now better equipped with technical as well as corporate skills. All the experience attained with this would be indispensable in our future success.