The Royal Australian Air Force awarded a C-130J Hercules deep maintenance and support contract on March 11 to a team comprising Australian Aerospace (a subsidiary of Eurocopter), Lockheed Martin and StandardAero. The Team Aero members will maintain and support 12 C-130Js via a $292 million five-year rolling contract with the Defense Materiel Organization.
Pratt & Whitney picked CORENA’s Life*S1000D suite of software tools to develop and produce publications for the F135 engine powering the F-35 Lightning II. Contracts
Leigh Sargent of ACE Applied Composites Engineering saw his company’s need for turnaround time-focused service as an opportunity for growth. ACE repairs radomes for a variety of aircraft, and before returning these to customers, it used to send the large components to other service providers for tests. If the third party couldn’t return the radome quickly enough, then it impacted ACE’s TAT. ACE decided to take the matter into its own hands: the Indianapolis-based company built its own radome test cell, focused on speed and quality.
DRB AVIATION CONSULTANTS, to install an executive interior and reduction in maximum zero fuel weight from 28,814 lbs. to 28,279 lbs. on Dornier 328-300 aircraft, STC ST10933SC
Two new personal flashlights from Streamlight are designed to be super-bright, lightweight and durable. The lithium-powered devices should be compact, with a nylon polymer casing and high light output for use in a variety of industrial and personal settings. An LED model and a xenon incandescent bulb model are available.
SR Technics plans to close its MRO operation at Dublin Airport , where it does airframe base and heavy maintenance, landing gear and APU overhauls, and line maintenance. The Feb. 12 announcement came just weeks after SR Technics confirmed that it was losing the Dublin facility’s remaining primary load customer, Gulf Air. The Bahrain-based airline opted to terminate early a five-year, $750 million full support contract announced in March 2006.
Designed Metal Connections offers a new series of miniature end fittings and tooling that should be simple to use to create a leak-free metal-to-metal seal. DMC’s miniature end fittings can be used to design a mechanically attached, lightweight, flareless and reconnectable end fitting system for aircraft fluid systems.
Honeywell International, reissued STCs to install a flight management system and electronic flight instrument system on various McDonnell Douglas DC-9 aircraft and Boeing 747 aircraft, STCs SA3970NM, SA3969NM, SA3487NM and SA2488NM
Honeywell International, reissued STCs to install Honeywell windshear systems on Boeing 727-100/-200 series and 747-100/-200F/-300 series aircraft, STCs SA5515NM, SA3982NM and SA3930NM
A British Airways CityFlyer BAE 146/Avro RJ100, made by BAE Systems, crash-landed at London City Airport on Feb. 16, after its nosewheel failed upon landing, British Airways confirmed. The flight, BA8456 from Amsterdam, had 67 passengers and five crew members on board. All were evacuated via emergency slides, and a small number of minor injuries were reported, the airline said. ◗
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Shangri-La Industries hosted a green business leadership roundtable at Avjet’s Burbank facility to explore ways governments and businesses can better support practice sustainable s. “Our goal was to facilitate a discussion with leaders from the political, business and environmental world where they could share challenges and start a dialogue as to how we meet those challenges,” said Tim Donovan, Shangri-La’s COO.
Derco Aerospace signed an exclusive three-year agreement to distribute Cummins Aerospace parts and components for F-16 heavyweight and lightweight landing gear. Derco will distribute Cummins’ parts and components for the F-16 heavyweight (2007-series part numbers) and lightweight (2006-series part numbers) landing gear worldwide, excluding the U.S. government, Japan, and U.S.-based prime aircraft manufacturers.
If you have any questions as to the worth of the A-10 Thunderbolt II (a.k.a. Warthog), just ask the soldiers in Wanat, an impossibly mountainous region of Afghanistan. They were fighting for their lives this past July. U.S. Air Force A-10s and other craft flew into a river valley near the place and laid down withering fire, helping hold back the opposition until U.S. troops could evacuate their wounded. Absent the rugged, “low ‘n slow” Hog, what was a very bad day for these men could have turned out far, far worse.
One Sky Aviation, to install a fixed-mounted Forward Vision Model 100 enhanced vision system, including an under-wing conformal fairing with sensor, a detached electrical box and a glareshield mounted dedicated display monitor, on Cirrus SR20 and SR22 aircraft, STC SA02329AK
BBA Aviation named Gary K. Boekenkamp VP, marketing, acquisitions and strategic business development for its Legacy Products Group. Boekenkamp most recently was VP of strategy and business development for BBA Aviation Flight Support Group. He now is based in Chatsworth, Calif., and reports to Jim Gerwien, president of BBA Aviation Legacy Products Group.
The French Defense Procurement Agency (Délégation Générale pour l’Armement, or DGA) has confirmed initial deliveries of production Dassault Rafale F3s to the French air force (AdlA`) and navy (Aéronavale) from early 2009. Qualification of the full standard F3 multi-role version of Rafale combat aircraft was announced on July 1, 2008. Earlier Rafale F2s, operated by AdlA since June 2006 and Aéronavale since May 2008, also are being upgraded to similar standards.
Recently, a congressional hearing contained discussions surrounding the topic of voluntary safety reporting programs that are used in collaboration between the aviation industry and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Basically, there are three major programs: Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Programs, Aviation Safety Action Programs and Flight Operations Quality Assurance Programs. However the focus of late has been on Aviation Safety Action Programs (ASAPs).
Conferences and Exhibitions March 11-12 Defense Technology & Requirements Conference, Washington, D.C. March 18-19 Aircraft Data Management Forum, Phoenix, Ariz. March 26-27 ADS-B Management Forum, Washington, D.C. April 14-15 Helicopter Safety & Operations Management Forum, San Diego, Calif. April 21 2009 Lean Six Sigma for Military April 21-23 MRO Americas Conference & Exhibition, Dallas, Texas April 22-23 MRO Military Conference, Dallas, Texas Contacts
Saab received a SEK 550 million ($67 million) contract from the Swedish Defense Material Administration (FMV) for program management, product maintenance, support, flight testing, pilot equipment and simulators to support the Swedish Air Force’s (SAF) Saab JAS 39 Gripen combat aircraft. Work on this contract should be completed this year, but Saab is expected to continue further Gripen support and development for the SAF.
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) on Jan. 5 notified FLIR Systems of its intent to exercise a contract modification option that involves FLIR supplying Star SAFIRE HD (high-definition) imaging systems for installation in RAAF Lockheed Martin AP-3C maritime patrol aircraft. The option is part of a prior $13.5 million program.
