While reading up on the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, I came across a reference to its maintenance man-hours which surprised me. As listed in the spec sheet (emphasis mine):
These requirements include an aircraft mission completion success probability rate of 92 percent, only 20 aircraft maintenance man-hours per flying hour, and full and partial mission availability rates of 74.7 and 82.5 percent, respectively.
Now this strikes me as a rather steep maintenance requirement, especially considering the spec lists "only 20 hours". If I understand that statement correctly, for every hour spent in flight, 20 technicians have to spend that same amount of time maintaining the plane after landing.
- Do those 20 hours refer to an average over extended operation of the aircraft? In other words, does this include extended maintenance where the plane might be undergoing days of intensive maintenance, skewing the numbers?
- Is this a low number for this class of aircraft?
- Do the required maintenance hours scale with: size, complexity, military/commercial use?