AMO (Aircraft Maintenance Organization)

Maintenance Facility
In order to provide this safe means of transport, highly qualified pilots and mechanics maintaining high standards are needed. A good maintenance facility and equipment are required to maintain a safe operation. A hangar provides an excellent environment to maintain the aircraft and shelter it from the elements, which is also a means of maintenance. It protects the plane from vandalism, theft, and grass fires, which occur during the dry season each year.  Workshops, parts room, offices for the director, operations manager, pilots, and engineers, etc… are all an integral part of the hangar as a maintenance facility.

The DCA requires all maintenance on aircraft to be done at an Aircraft Maintenance Organization.  At first, all our maintenance was done at some other AMO for our regular 50 hour, 100 hour, and annual inspections, repairs, engine overhaul, etc… If the plane was grounded, it would not be able to fly to the nearest AMO.  A certified mechanic would have to get special dispensation from the DCA in order to come (quite a distance) to repair our plane. This was very expensive and time consuming. When we flew our plane to another maintenance facility, it was also very costly.  Since then we have been using the hangar for minor repairs and inspections, on a temporary dispensation. Now we are fully approved and certified to carry out major work on the airplane.

Flight Statistics

Since the commencement of the Flight Service, we have flown  5925 hours. In 2000 we flew 625 hours, (an average of 52 hrs per month) and in 2004, we flew 588 hours, which were our 2 busiest years since the Flight Service started in 1993. This averages to 36 hours per month, since 1993.

CMML Flight Service continues to be a vital link and service to the medical work, especially in the remote North Western Province of Zambia. Frequently the Flight Service assists the hospital by transferring patients to Chitokoloki Hospital for medical emergencies. Each case comes at no cost to the Zambians.