Goodrich Corp. Chairman, President and CEO Marshall O. Larsen talked about the company’s proposed joint venture with Rolls-Royce on engine controls and other aftermarket business issues during a wide-ranging interview with AVIATION WEEK Senior Business Editor Joseph C. Anselmo at the company’s Charlotte, N.C. headquarters. Excerpts follow.
Composites are paving the way for weight savings in the aviation industry, a hot topic at the moment given fuel prices. Ranging from small and thin components, such as wiring, to the backbones of large modules like lavatories and galleys, manufacturers make use of various composite formulas to take weight off the aircraft. Weight saved serves as a valuable marketing tool, and advances in composite technology are keeping pace with the price-per-barrel.
SOURCE: DOT August 2008 Report The Federal Aviation Administration pushed back the timeline slightly for two final rules—the long-awaited rule establishing more parameters on digital flight data recorders (DFDR) installed on Boeing 737 aircraft and a regulation establishing limits and maintenance programs to prevent widespread fatigue damage.
Goodrich Corp. and Rolls-Royce signed a letter of intent proposing a joint venture company to develop and supply engine controls for Rolls-Royce aero engines. If formed, the 50/50 JV would combine Goodrich’s existing U.K.-based engine controls design and manufacturing business and Rolls-Royce’s expertise in the integration of controls into the engine. Goodrich would retain the aftermarket products and services business associated with the joint venture’s products. [See Q&A with Goodrich Chairman, President and CEO Marshall O. Larsen on p.
LONDON—Moving into a well-established market has never been easy, but perseverance is beginning to pay off for Singapore Technologies Aerospace in Europe.
General Dynamics plans to acquire Jet Aviation for $2.25 billion. The companies expect to close the deal by the end of the year. General Dynamics plans to retain the Jet Aviation and Midcoast Aviation brands, and operate them, at least initially, as a third prong of its aerospace business (the others being Gulfstream Aerospace and General Dynamics Aviation Services).
SR Technics signed an agreement with Avtrade Ltd. to support a range of Honeywell auxiliary power unit (APU) components fitted to various Airbus and Boeing types. Under it, SR Technics will provide maintenance and loan services to Avtrade for the APUs at its Dublin facility, which is equipped to service Honeywell GTCP 85, 131-9A/B, 331-200/250 and -350 series and 660 series APUs. SR Technics also announced a component support agreement with Airbus, covering 19 leased A330s operated by Singapore Airlines.
Innovative Solutions & Support’s primary flight display systems completed two successful flights in July in Royal Netherlands Air Force (K)DC-10s modified by Boeing as part of the RNLAF’s Cockpit Upgrade Program (CUP). Boeing awarded IS&S a contract for its primary flight display systems to be used in the CUP; under it, IS&S developed two 15-in. flat panel display systems, two data concentrator units with display generation capability and two control panels for three RNLAF aircraft. Parts/Components
BAE Systems Regional Aircraft will house spares for Saab Aerotech under a three-year, £1.5 million ($2.7 million) contract covering Saab 340 and Saab 2000 regional turboprops. About 6,500 line items, one million parts, will be housed at BAE’s Spares Logistics Center at Weybridge in Surrey, U.K.
For shipping share parts and other valuable mobile assets, Storopack developed FOAMplus, an integrated system that produces custom-sized, protective foam packing material. The system’s central machine, the FOAMplus Bager, measures about 80 cm-by-80 cm at its base and is 200 cm tall. It attaches to two 200-liter metal barrels, which contain polyol and an isocyanate. The machine can be preprogrammed so that the dose of foam components it dispenses fits perfectly into a film bag.
Three Lockheed Martin C-5M Super Galaxy RERP test aircraft successfully completed developmental flight tests, which paves the way for redelivering the three aircraft (one former C-5A and two C-5Bs) to the U.S. Air Force in support of operational test and evaluation, due to begin in late 2009. The three heavy-lift transports participating in the U.S. Air Force’s Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program (RERP) underwent tests for performance verification of the propulsion system, utilities and sub-systems, flight controls, airframe and avionics systems.
Maintaining the Boeing F/A-18 represents a $100 million product line this year for the Fleet Readiness Center Southwest, which plans to churn out about 110 Hornets, including 45 planned maintenance intervals (PMIs), 15 center barrel replacements and 10 crash or battle damaged repairs—the rest will be field site repairs and modifications.
For those of you operating in the U.K., the CAA mandates that all AOC operators and associated approved maintenance organizations have a Safety Management System (SMS) in place from Jan.1, 2009, forward. Baines Simmons is holding a three-day course on developing, implementing, measuring and managing an SMS. Baines Simmons says the course is to cover: • Identifying and mitigating unwanted business losses; • Performing meaningful Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment;
AeroMech, amended STC for group Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum approval for Israel Aircraft Industries 1125 Westwind Astra aircraft, STC ST01141SE Aero Union, amended and reissued STCs to install a 2,000-gallon fire retardant system on Erickson Air-Crane S-65E, S-64E and CH-54A helicopters, STCs SR01192LA and SR01192LA Aircraft Technical Development dba Aerocon Engineering, to install a cabin interior noise reduction kit on Boeing 757-200 series aircraft, STC ST02157LA
: Boeing received an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity, fixed price U.S. Department of Defense contract totaling $42 million in August. This will provide the Radar System Improvement Program capability to be installed in the five Royal Saudi Air Force Boeing E-3A AWACS airborne early-warning jet aircraft. This effort supports foreign military sales to Saudi Arabia, for which $27.3 million has so far been obligated.
Flightparts is establishing a facility in Xiamen, China . Flightparts Xiamen Component Services is to have full capabilities to overhaul narrowbody landing gear, hydraulic, pneumatic and flap components for Boeing and Airbus aircraft. It should receive China Civil Aviation Authority approval by December, and expects to receive U.S. FAA approval by the second quarter of 2009.
Northrop Grumman received a U.S. Navy contract on Aug. 12 to upgrade Grumman E-2C AEW&C aircraft for Egypt’s Hawkeye foreign military sales program. Under this $38 million contract, the six Egyptian Air Force E-2Cs will be refurbished and upgraded to Hawkeye 2000 (HE2K) configuration, with upgrades to the radar, mission computer, tactical mission-system displays and navigation systems. Aircraft modification work will be performed at Northrop Grumman’s St.
This summer’s Farnborough International Air Show saw the introduction of a new line of adjustable actuators from U.K.-based Meggitt. The new, motor-controlled modulating actuators feature a closed-loop regulator, which should detect flow, pressure and temperature via sensors. This should produce a high degree of fine-tuning to meet required measurements. Because the system is programmable, it also should allow engineers to change test valve parameters in line with performance requirements on a laptop, making redesign work unnecessary.
Virgin Blue signed a six-year GE OnPoint agreement to cover the maintenance and overhaul of all CFM56-7B engines it operates, along with those of its international carrier Pacific Blue. The agreement is valued at up to $300 million.
Embraer’s new spare parts warehouse in China was certified by the ANAC , Brazil’s civil aviation authority. The certification enables technicians at the facility to issue spare part airworthiness certificates through the facility’s own quality system. The facility is expected to decrease supply chain turntimes in the region.
SH&E added Andreas Britz and David Hinderland as new principals. Britz joins the aviation consultancy’s technical services area in New York, following 25 years at Lufthansa Technik. Hinderland, who spent 19 years with Southwest Airlines, will join SH&E’s Boston office.
LONDON—Soaring oil prices might be taking a huge toll on airlines, but, according to Mark King, president of civil aerospace at Rolls-Royce, they also present opportunities for engine maintenance providers to really add value to a customer’s fleet through engine MRO. The high price of oil will have a huge impact on the trade-off between maintenance costs, fuel burn and engine time-on-wing, King said, which is why Rolls has started to develop additions to its TotalCare packages to be “more and more focused on a world of high oil prices.”
Northstar Network received a follow-on order from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics for 28 shipsets under the P-3 Service Life Extension Program, supplementing the initial award for six ship sets for the six Norwegian Planes. Northstar says the follow-on award will be worth about $4 million in additional revenue over the next year.
Boeing’s San Antonio military aircraft maintenance, modification and upgrade facility earned an ISO 14001 certification, and is the company’s first Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) site in 2008 to validate its environmental management system. Boeing is working to have all of its major manufacturing facilities certified to the ISO 14001 standard by the end of the year. Four other Boeing facilities—Exmouth in Australia; Everett, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; and Salt Lake City—already have achieved the certification.
