Safety Enhancements Available by Converting MSG-2 Aircraft Maintenance Programs to MSG-3

Safety is central to the maintenance program philosophy of today’s Air Carriers. Both MSG-2 and MSG-3 analysis procedures/logic have been used to develop a majority of the routine scheduled maintenance and inspection programs of Transport Category Air Carriers (those that operate under 14 CFR 121 [Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 121]; a.k.a., FAR 121). MSG-3 is a significant procedural shift from MSG-2; providing a more comprehensive decision logic flow, a “top down” consequence of failure approach, separating evident and hidden functional failures, clearly distinguishing safety related consequences from economic/operational consequences, and resulting in a more easily understood task-oriented program. This paper does not replace formal MSG-3 training, nor fully detail transitioning maintenance programs, but simply focuses on the safety benefits derived from the effort required to convert an existing MSG-2 derived program to MSG-3.