As executive editor of MRO and business aviation, Lee Ann Shay directs Aviation Week's coverage of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), including Inside MRO, and business aviation, including BCA.
She won the World Leadership Forum’s Aerospace Journalist of the Year Awards in 2009 (propulsion category) and in 2002 (maintenance category), and has been a finalist in other years. In 2017, Lee Ann won the Aerospace Media Awards' Best Future Tech submission.
She holds a B.A. in English and political science from Luther College and an M.A. in nonfiction writing from Johns Hopkins University.
BEIJING—The Australian Transport Safety Bureau added a second, similar incident to its investigation of the Oct. 7, 2008, uncommanded nose-down pitch event involving a Qantas Airbus A330-300. The safety panel expects to issue a preliminary report this month. Both incidents involved faults with air data inertial reference units (ADIRUs), and both occurred off the West Coast of Australia, where the U.S. and Australian navies operate a low-frequency radio communications station.
Elyse Moody, Lee Ann Tegtmeier, —Lee Ann Tegtmeier
EASA issued an emergency airworthiness directive (2009-00003-E) Jan. 6 for Eurocopter SA 330 and AS 332 helicopters because of more problems with a screw, which already has been the subject of two ADs and a previous emergency AD. In earlier problems, EASA reported the screw that secures the main rotor blade de-icing system distributor retaining clamp bent because of insufficient space between the screw and the clamp; a missing lock-wing hole in the screw head; and “non-conformity of the hardness of the affected screw,” according to EASA.
Large, multi-location MROs can spend $500,000 per year on manual subscriptions, making sure they receive the latest aircraft, engine and component maintenance information, said Vince Dohery, AviIT’s VP of business development. He said many of these big MROs have duplicate subscriptions because different sites don’t coordinate them, which increases technical publication costs. MROs know they need the latest versions to ensure safety and regulatory compliance, but some aren’t managing the data control as well as they should.
