Component Repair Cycle

A component is any serialised, part-numbered assembly fitted to an aircraft — engines, landing gear, avionics line-replaceable units, hydraulic pumps, APUs. Components have lives that are measured in flight hours, flight cycles, and calendar time. Eventually they need inspection or repair.

The component repair cycle is the loop a component follows between aircraft and shop over its lifetime.

The loop

    installed on aircraft
            │
            ▼                      removal reasons:
     ┌─────────────┐               - SCHEDULED (time-limit reached)
     │   in-use    │               - UNSCHED (failure)
     └──────┬──────┘               - BER (beyond economic repair)
            │                      - MFR (manufacturer defect)
            │  removal
            ▼
     ┌─────────────┐
     │    stores   │  ←─────── release tag issued
     └──────┬──────┘
            │  routed to shop
            ▼
     ┌─────────────┐
     │  shop wo    │  ─── inspect → disassemble → repair → test → cert
     └──────┬──────┘
            │  cert of conformity + cert of maintenance
            ▼
     ┌─────────────┐
     │   stores    │
     └──────┬──────┘
            │
            ▼ installed on (different) aircraft

Each loop iteration is captured across two entities:

Identity and history: ComponentID — serialised identity in AC_CMPID_COMPONENT_ID_INFO. Tracks every removal, installation, and repair event for a specific physical unit.
Repair execution: ShopWorkOrder in swo_swoh_shop_wo_hdr. The SWO is the shop-side record of one repair loop.

The link: swoh_rem_aircraft_reg_no + swoh_partno + swoh_part_serialno identifies which aircraft the core came from. swo_swoassoc_main_core_dtl records the "core" association — matching the SWO to the component identity.

Removal reasons

The reason the component was removed drives everything downstream. CM_RMVRSN_REMOVAL_REASONS is the master of 18 reason codes — see Component Removal Reasons for the full catalog. The key categories:

SCHEDULED — the component hit its time/cycle limit. No defect, just due. Most common on engines, landing gear.
UNSCHED — failed in service. Ranges from annoying (fuel sensor dead) to urgent (hydraulic leak).
BER — Beyond Economic Repair. Diagnosed at the shop. Written off.
MFR — Manufacturer defect. Warranty claim path.
NFF — No Fault Found. Removed, shop tested it, worked fine. Goes back to stores. (Tracked in swoassoc_NFF.)

The routing journey

swo_swortng_routing_dtl captures each hop a physical component takes:

from work centre A to work centre B
from workshop to calibration lab
to warehouse (after repair, signed-off, ready for stock)
to external repair agency (if outsourced)

swortng_genrtd_swo links back to the shop WO. swortng_current_Loc tells you where the component is right now. swortng_routing_status tracks in-transit vs received.

For an MRO managing thousands of components, this table is operationally critical — it's the "where is X?" answer.

Core disassembly and reassembly

Some repairs require disassembling the core — an engine accessory gearbox, for example, has many sub-components that get individual attention. swo_swocds_core_disassm_assemble_det captures the disassembly and reassembly at sub-component level, each with its own track ID and status.

Serialisation and traceability

The airworthiness requirement is: given any serialised part, produce its complete installation and repair history, back to manufacture. This is non-negotiable — the regulator can ask for this 20 years after the fact.

The query pattern:

[ComponentID.CMPID_SERIAL_NO = 'ABC123']
  → all AC_CMPID rows for that serial (installations/removals)
  → all swo_swoh rows where swoh_part_serialno = 'ABC123' (repair events)
  → per SWO: certificates issued (swo_swococ / swo_swoccm / swo_prtmfg)
  → chain of routings (swo_swortng)

That's the regulatory audit.

Certificates at the output

When the shop finishes a repair, the paperwork generated is what makes the part legally fit to fly again:

swo_swococ_conformity_cert_list — Certificate of Conformity: "this unit conforms to its approved design"
swo_swoccm_com_certificate_dtl — Certificate of Maintenance: "the specified maintenance actions were properly performed"
swo_prtmfg_certificate_dtl — Manufacturer cert reference (OEM airworthiness release)

The physical form is an FAA 8130-3 tag (US) or EASA Form 1 (Europe). Without it, the repaired part is just hardware.

Kits, preferred serial numbers, and tagging

Supporting plumbing:

swo_Kit_Ref_Dtl + swo_Kit_DemCov_SrcBas_Info — kit management for bundled part sets
swo_swopsl_prefserlno_dtl — when the shop has multiple serviceable units that could fulfil an install, the preferred-serial-number logic picks the right one
swo_swoptg_part_tag_list — part-tag tracking (serviceable / unserviceable / quarantine status)