Thoughts on Maintenance Tracker app on iPhone

[PunkStarStudios]

Hi everyone.
So there's an app nearing the end of the development process, and I thought I'd post some information here to get some feedback. There's some screen shots with descriptions at :

http://www.punkstarstudios.com/PunkStar ... ceLog.html

Essentially it's an app that a pilot can use to stay on top of maintenance items. It's not really intended for the AME. More for the pilot to make sure the aircraft is getting the suggested maintenance items done as well as tracking the mandatory ones to ensure no C&A hiccups.

Tracking all these things by way of spreadsheet is ok - but I found it is easier if it's always in my pocket for quick reference and updating plane stats (airframe TT for example).

Posting comments here or emailing info@punkstarstudios.com would be a huge help.

Thanks in advance.

[robertw]

This looks interesting if you were to design it for an AME to use, however, I am of the opinion that unless the pilot is the owner of the aircraft and is physically the one tracking the maintenance, this little program has the potential to create more problems than good. A good journey log with a section for next maintenance due would suffice. It looks like the app has too much information on it. Some inspections that show as overdue on the app, may have a tolerance that the maintenance department has invoked but not show up in the pilot's pocket. I think that this app would create conflict between maintenance and operations. I've never been looking over our pilots shoulders as they file their flight plans and I wouldn't appreciate pilots unnecessarily "overseeing" me in my area of expertise.

Just my opinion.

[Brewguy]

Have you given any thought to combining this app with your existing journey log app? I could see it being useful to aircraft owners, especially those engaged in fractional ownership.

Actually, if you could come up with an app that combines these, and has some features specifically for fractional ownership (tracking usage, splitting maintenance costs, syncing with others sharing the same aircraft, etc)..... that might me cool.

Of course none of this negates the need to keep a proper log, but if multiple pilots/owners were using the same system to share info on snags, maintenance and usage; that may have some real use.

[PunkStarStudios]

Thanks for the feedback so far.
So here's a situation where the app is designed to help.

1)
During a 100hr inspection a much of things are done to say... a Navajo... and are put into the Journey Log. Wording on some of those things may not match up exactly to the working you might be tracking in a spreadsheet, or even match what the previous mechanic did. Perhaps it's an AD item that can not go beyond 100 hr. So when I am reconciling the journey log entries to TC ADs to my spread sheet - just like my chequing account there's always a few things that don't match up. A call to the AME usually clears that up (ie. "Yeah item 2&3 are actually the same as your item 4"). The Journey Log is typically left in the plane, and my spreadsheet is on the computer. So logistically when I pick up the plane from the AME hanger - I can't always match things up on the spot - I catch them later. With this in my hand though, before I even get in the plane I can jog over to his office, point to my screen and say "Is this the same as what you have written here?". Now we're not talking about an oil change - matching that up is obvious - I'm talking about the more ambiguous worded items. I see this all the time.

2)
If I picked up the plane after hours say, I can update the status in the app and if there is a discrepancy, hit the email button and send an email to my AME with the status of the items out of the app. Maybe when I land after my next leg there's an email waiting for me clearing it up.

3)
I have personally had things like an AD missed. Either they just plain old missed it and I was technically out of A&D or it was a case of "Oh yeah - I did that - but I forgot to put that on the sticker in the book. When it's back in the hanger let me know and I'll run over and amend it"

This isn't about creating conflict with the AME. Far from it! It's more about just keeping tabs on the plane and helping understand what the AME has to do to keep you in the air. Can you imagine if an AME did miss an AD item and something happened (not even a death - just anything that resulted in some damage). If both the AME and the pilot are working together to keep things in check, how can that be anything but good.


As you can see, this app idea was born out of personal experience and necessity. It may not work for many - but if it helps me I know there are others in the same boat.

[PunkStarStudios]

Combining it with JLog was on our radar.
Our heads started to hurt when we tried to figure out how to do it without pissing off current JLog users ... "What the hell... this is too complicated now! I just want to log my time across multiple planes so I can reconcile my billing to my different students and clients".

There very well may be an iPad app down the road with the two items combined - but not until the Maintenance Log app gets fleshed out more as feature requests start pouring in.

The cost splitting and fractional ownership is something we had not considered. We weren't looking at costs in the app, but it wouldn't be painful to attach dollar figures to the maintenance records. We've played with cost sharing in a few apps in other industries before (iCamp is particularly cool for that). This may make the short list for the iPhone app, and certainly be included in an iPad app if we do one.

[Bede]

Great idea. However, I hate all things Apple/iPhone. I don't know why developers don't make such great apps for android.

[Brewguy]

I don't know why developers don't make such great apps for android

There have been a number of news items recently about the rise of viruses and other malware aimed at mobile devices. And so far, it looks like Android is the most vulnerable. BlackBerry is used by enough large corporations with full time I.T. departments, that a BB virus would get caught found out pretty quickly. Apple has a much more rigorous vetting process for getting things on the App Store. Android is wide open.

That said, it's the fastest growing segment of the smart phone market .... so I'm sure you'll see a lot of developers releasing Android versions of their iPhone Apps.

I can't speak for PunkStarStudios, but I've been researching some Apps for my company, including which platform to use. Currently, it seems a lot of the higher-end / enterprise type apps are developed first for the iPhone, and then (if it's successful), are later redeveloped for BB and then finally for Android. Not long ago, most enterprise level apps were developed first for the BB, and then ported to the iPhone.

The biggest thing I see that Apple / iPhone has caused in this market, is to drive prices way, way down. Only a few years ago, businesses would think nothing of paying $1-2,000 for a BB App, and then a couple of hundred per year, per device for licenses. But since the release of the iPhone, and a massive increase in small business / consumer use, people balk at paying anything close to that.

Anyways, sorry to drag your thread too far off topic PunkStar. However, I think developing your Apps for more than one platform is a very valid 'feature request'. Bede has a point - Android is coming on huge. Don't be like those old BlackBerry developers who didn't see the writing on the wall and were blindsided by the introduction of the iPhone!

[PunkStarStudios]

Great idea. However, I hate all things Apple/iPhone. I don't know why developers don't make such great apps for android.

There's a lot of reasons why.
I won't bore you with the nitty gritty details here but in point form...

- 8 to 10 times more expensive in dev costs for platforms like Blackberry compared to Apple.
- No built in digital rights management
- Low Low Market exposure and sales
- Payment/money transfer methods
- iPhone/iPad has interchangeable code
- No headaches with the various generations of hardware platforms with apple. Big bag of pain for other platforms.
- 200 million credit card client accounts with Apple

[Bede]

Thanks PunkStar,

My comment was more a lament than anything else. Ever since I started writing code at 11 years old I hated Macs- I loved MS DOS.

I sympathize with developers. I guy I worked with wrote one of the first E6B programs for Palm. He said he sold I think 50000 at $50 a pop. He recently redid it as an iPhone app and has only sold a few hundred at $5- there's just too much crappy competition.

[PunkStarStudios]

Yeah - the iPhone market has REALLY pushed down prices. $1 apps are deplorable and appears to be a necessary evil.

It's very much like the music bizz.
99% of the musicians/iPhone programmers don't make a killing on one song/app. Rather, they have a large body of work which individually doesn't amount to a whole lot - but collectively all those royalties combined funds their business.

[iflyforpie]

I think it is kind of ironic how the biggest argument from Android users is iPhones lack of free apps. But like anything, you get what you pay for.



I think a phone-based maintenance tracker is great, but the trouble is syncing it. You either need to manually enter the times or somehow have it sync to a tracking program on a computer. Also, people might get too dependent on it and miss inspections or do unnecessary items. Maintenance planning is something that should be done in an office with logbooks, maintenance schedules, and status boards.

Case in point, we've got an excel spreadsheet for our maintenance tracking, and a fuel pump came due on a ten-year overhaul. I haven't worked here ten years, so it was somebody else who put that data in. Turns out it was good for another three years--after I pulled the bloody thing out!!

For upcoming items, I simply put the next hourly and calendar out-of-phase item or extension on the current log book page. Pilots then simply make sure that the current TT or date doesn't exceed either of those items.

Paper rules the world!!

[Heliian]

Pilots have been losing track of maintenance items since the dawn of time and no app is ever going to fix that. Iphones are not a need, they are a want and if people spent more time on flying and learning than diddling a piece of metal and plastic we'd be much better off. Keep your head up! How long before some clueless pilot walks into a spinny thing whilst checking his weather?

[Its What I do]

Maintenance tracking seems easy . i got a spidertracks satellite tracking system and then purchased avconnect web tracking maintenance and log book tracking..
its unreal.
WWW.avconnect.net
www.spidertracks.com
But what do i know .....