Airliner maintenance for fuel efficiency

Due to the increased price of fuel, all airlines now place special emphasis on maintenance work to minimize both aircraft empty weight and in-service deterioration of drag and engine specific fuel consumption standards. This paper describes some of the methods employed by Eastern and other airlines to save fuel by maintenance action. Also discussed are the problems faced by an airline in both estimating and measuring, in line operations as opposed to a flight-test environment, and the relatively small percentage changes in aircraft performance usually involved. 10 refs.