In a recent production deployment, the Integrated Maintenance System (IMx+) system was utilized during the A-10 Fuselage Modification, affectionately nicknamed Hogback. During this structural modification, over 500 holes are inspected along the upper longeron, a critical component of the aircraft.
Over the course of two days, the Hill Engineering team provided a supporting role for USAF maintainers and inspectors at Hill AFB in Utah, who utilized the IMx+ system to complete the inspections, capturing key data, and ensuring 100 percent accountability for each inspection location.
Several locations required hole oversizing to clean up damage indications and subsequent cold expansion to increase the fatigue life. IMx+ was also utilized for these critical operations to capture puller force characteristics, which allows a correlation to be drawn between the effectiveness of the cold work and the associated residual stresses.
The deployment of IMx+ on A-10 Hogback was quite successful and the system will continue to be utilized moving forward for all Hogback inductions. Additional collaboration with B-1, F-35, and F-16 is ongoing to support successful implementation of IMx+ for the USAF, USN, and others.
The IMx+ is an advanced maintenance technology developed by Hill Engineering which integrates smart shop tools with automated data collection and spatial position tracking to improve aircraft quality assurance. This integrated framework streamlines maintenance data collection and sews the digital thread to enable effective aircraft structural integrity (ASIP) execution.
For more information regarding the IMx+ system and how it can be applied to your business, please contact us.