MRO Links Stories Of The Year 2016

Aircraft Demolition, based in Burnsville, Minnesota, completed disassembly of a Boeing 777-300 in April 2016 at San Bernardino International Airport in California. Aircraft Demolition has been working on another Boeing 777 project in California during November and December, taking the fuselage apart from behind the wing back to the tail. The fuselage will be separated into seven large pieces and shipped to Everett, Washington for an engineering project.

Stratasys announced two new 3D printing demonstrators in August: the Robotic Composite 3D demonstrator and the Infinite-Build 3D Demonstrator. 3D printing and additive manufacturing has been a buzz-worthy topic in MRO, with a market for aerospace composite structures at $13 billion this year.

In August, I visited the AAR facility in Duluth, where inside the shop, an Airbus A319 was in for a heavy check and a new “Lockout/Tagout” system was being implemented to tag circuit breakers. Outside the hangar, a few decisions were up in the air. Namely, Air Canada was set to make a decision on extending the five-year contract for another two or five years. Mark Ketterer, VP of operations, says “Negotiations continue with Air Canada on a two-year extension and with other possible customers for the Duluth facility.” The shop was also experiencing a need for 30 A&P (airframe and/or powerplant) mechanics and 10 structural engineers, perhaps a reflection of the industry wide impending maintenance technician shortage. Ketterer says that the shop is still looking for experienced aircraft technicians.