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Computer Program for Preventive Maintenance

Submitted by John Olson, Airport Manager, Hutchinson Municipal Airport

The Hutchinson Municipal Airport manager uses a Windows-based computer program called PMaint to schedule all maintenance projects for the airport throughout the year. The program allows tasks to be scheduled to repeat weekly, monthly, bimonthly, and annually. For example, it can be set up to remind the airport manager to clean the AWOS lenses once a month. When using the program for Hutchinson Municipal Airport, airport manager John Olson looks in the equipment manuals for the recommended maintenance schedule to create tasks in the program; from that point on, everything is scheduled. When the year changes, the program regenerates all of the items with dates for the new year. The airport manager can change dates if they will not work with the schedule, or the computer-generated schedule can be left as it is, with all tasks set for the next year.

The program also works well for delegating tasks to other staff members. Each week the airport manager can print out the week's duties and delegate them to make sure they are completed on time. The program includes an area for noting special information, such as which tools will be needed for the task or instructions such as, "Do not touch PAPI light bulbs without wearing gloves."

Another helpful feature of the program is that it maintains a record of the tasks completed throughout the year. Therefore, if any issues arise, the manager has a record of when items were fixed or cleaned and by whom.

The software can also be used for vehicle maintenance, as it includes an area for serial numbers of vehicles and costs.

PMaint is available from a company called CyberNiche Software; it can be purchased for under $100 either online at www.cniche.com or by calling 717-486-8303. The Web site offers a view of the program's information sheets. Olson has found this low-cost, easy-to-use program extremely helpful and would recommend it to anyone who is responsible for maintenance at an airport.