Boeing

Today, 100 airlines of varying fleet size throughout the world use the Boeing [NYSE: BA] Portable Maintenance Aid (PMA) to quickly troubleshoot maintenance issues on jetliners and improve airplane dispatch reliability. The powerful PMA software is a digitized library of key technical information contained in a few compact discs, which can be loaded onto a mechanic's laptop computer for quick access when servicing an airplane at the airport gate.

"It is very gratifying that so many airlines have found our Portable Maintenance Aid to be an important tool in improving productivity in their daily operations," said Lou Mancini, vice president of Maintenance Services at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "We are committed to our customers' success, and we are very pleased to be offering a product that provides them with so much value."

The current PMA product offers significant time-saving advantages for aircraft troubleshooting, which Boeing estimates can reduce the time needed to search and retrieve information by as much as 40 percent:

• The software can be loaded onto a mechanic's laptop computer for quick access when servicing an airplane in the airport gate environment.
• Advanced search capability and hyperlinks connect related references in text, allowing instant access to any part of various maintenance documents and manuals.
• Intelligent graphics technology enables users to point-and-click on a highlighted area of an illustration and instantly bring troubleshooting text into view.

Available in standard and user-customizable versions, the PMA software is network compatible, allowing access by multiple users on a local server. Engineering staffs find it particularly useful for analyzing technical problems and issuing work orders.