Among airlines, manufacturers and the finance community, news of yet another mid-life aircraft being harvested for parts will rekindle the debate about adjusting the useful life of an airframe.

The FAA yesterday ordered Boeing 767 operators to inspect main landing gear (MLG) components and revise maintenance programs after cracks and heat damage to pivot joint components were found during dozens of gear overhauls. The damaged components included pivot pins, truck beam lugs and inner cylinder lugs, all found in the center of the gear truck between the two sets of wheels. “Heat damage and cracks were found at the pivot joint location [and] caused by the truck pitching motion during normal airplane operations,” Boeing says in a service bulletin.

Norwegian Air Shuttle is in the process of replacing the NavAero electronic flight bags (EFB) and software applications on its fleet of 79 Boeing 737s with a new system built by Scandinavian Avionics, running Jeppesen applications.

Royal Jordanian and Jordan Airmotive Limited Company (JALCo) sealed an agreement for the repair and overhaul works on the CF6-80C2 engines installed on RJ's Airbus 310s, effective April 10, 2013.

Operators of Airbus narrowbodies powered by IAE engines continue to find cracks in engine pylon ribs under a mandated inspection program, leading European regulators to keep the checks in place for those models while ending the requirement for CFM56-powered aircraft. The cracks, in aft fairing Rib 5, caused one in-flight loss of a pylon tail cone. The incident led Airbus to recommend inspections for all of its narrowbodies—a move mandated last year by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Donaldson Aerospace & Defense has entered into a strategic alliance with Bahrain-based Global Aviation Services (GAS) to strengthen support for its customers operating military, government, commercial and private helicopters in key Middle East markets.

AAR Corp., fresh off expanding its year-old Duluth, Minn., airframe facility to three lines and launching a new facility in Lake Charles, La., continues to report strong demand for airframe maintenance services, suggesting an economic shift favoring North American facilities may be underway.

Norwegian expected to return grounded 787s to service later this week