Spirit AeroSystems is installing one of the world’s largest autoclaves at its Wichita, Kansas facility to support increasing composite production and boost its total composite capacity. The new equipment is 30 ft. in diameter and 120 ft. long. It has an internal volume of more than 78,000 ft. 3 and is just one of Spirit’s 40 autoclaves.
SAP can connect the purchasing and processing departments of 3-D buyers and sellers, as well as helping to define the products needed, eliminating the need for costly manual processes.
Additive-manufacturing (AM) specialist SLM Solutions is using its branch office in Moscow to tap aerospace and other AM markets in the troubled but resource-rich Russian market.
Purchasing California-based smart materials company Rolith Inc., could help Canada's MTI develop large-scale optical metamaterial products for aerospace.
Beckwood Press Co. will supply Ducommun’s Parsons, Kansas, facility with two new highly customized presses for hot-forming titanium, one with closed-loop monitoring.
Visual Mobile Technologies (VMT) offers a collaboration platform, the vMobile Collaborator, that could be extremely useful when widely dispersed mechanics and engineers need to cooperate in fixing an aircraft in a hurry or just work on a common challenge.
Empire Airlines has initiated an extensive electronic flight instrument system (EFIS) modernization project for its ATR freighters. Under its EFIS Screen Replacement Program, the cargo carrier plans to install a current-generation display suite on its entire ATR fleet, consisting of 11 ATR 42-300 and -320s and seven ATR 72-212s.
StandardAero has initiated engine test cell modifications and technician training at its Augusta, Georgia facility in preparation for the first heavy maintenance visits of the Honeywell HTF7000.
Turboshaft engine manufacturers are moving toward high-performance-capable/high-thermal-stability lubricating oils, spurred by the intense demands of many helicopter missions.
Hawaiian Airlines is asking the Transportation Department (DOT) to grant it a new nighttime slot award for Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, on the grounds that other U.S. carriers seeking slots have not asked for the sole nighttime allocation.
Ramco Aviation has introduced a suite of Anywhere Apps that tie together pilots, mechanics, stock clerks and runners who carry parts to aircraft, managers who approve part orders and MRO customers.
U.K.-based Intoware has developed a speech-recognition software called WorkfloPlus that guides techs through performance and reporting of aircraft maintenance tasks in a hand-free manner.
Light-weight, high-performance is king in aerospace and aviation applications. And just as composites and metals like titanium are replacing heavier materials in structures, aerogels may increasingly replace foam and fiber for insulation, according to Shejal Jamdade, senior research analyst for Transparency Market Research (TMR). TMR projects that total aerogel use will grow 15% annually to reach more than $1 billion by 2023, and transportation, including aircraft, will be the fastest-growing market.
Gavin Goudie, operational director at Blue Bear Systems, says that drones will soon assist in automatic damage assessment in his interview with Lee Ann Shay, at MRO Americas in Dallas.
