Component Control and Aeroexchange launched a new module of Quantum Control, to interface between Component Control’s ERP software and Aeroexchange e-business solutions. The module is designed to provide the full range of SPEC2000 messages needed for parts sourcing, purchasing and repair management.
As with the airlines, corporate flight departments want to minimize maintenance down time. For the OEMs, that mandates new approaches to parts support.
Gulfstream appointed Todd Strong director, engineering and quality, for its Long Beach, Calif., facility, where he will manage final phase engineering, service center engineering, designated alteration station, quality control and quality assurance functions and personnel.
LONDON—Accountability comes with the job if you’re an aircraft engineer, mechanic or technician. For such is the safety culture in civil air transport that the source of errors, malpractice or poor processes must be hunted down to eradicate repeats. It’s therefore a concern that four engineers and a mechanic are due to stand trial for manslaughter over the Concorde crash at Charles de Gaulle that killed 113 people in July 2000.
TIMCO Aviation Services scored a deal with Rossiya Russian Airlines to provide interior reconfiguration and transition check services for its Airbus A320 fleet, recently acquired from a North American operator. The work was being performed at TIMCO’s Lake City, Fla., facility. It also was selected by Icelandair to provide C checks on a number of Boeing 757s. The first C check inspection took place in late July at TIMCO’s Macon, Ga., location on a freighter configured 757.
GE Aviation signed a three-year contract extension with Ryanair , including all current firm and option aircraft on order by Ryanair under its current OnPoint Solutions agreement for its fleet of CFM56-7B engines. The original agreement was signed in 2004, and now extends through 2017. The extension also adds coverage of the Tech Insertion engines first introduced into the Ryanair fleet in 2007. Saudi Arabian Airlines reaffirmed the GEnx engine to power its 12 on-order Boeing 787-9s, which will be supported by a long-term overhaul material agreement with GE.
Bill Burchell, O&M’s European Editor (Commercial) raises some interesting questions about accountability in his Viewpoint on p.104. The French government is holding several individuals, including a mechanic, accountable for the July 2000 crash of a Concorde outside Paris by charging them with criminal offenses.
Lufthansa Technik is to provide Aer Lingus with component support for its fleet of 34 Airbus A320 family aircraft and nine A330s under a 10-year agreement covering almost all aircraft components. The fleet is expected to grow to 54 aircraft by 2013. An LHT representative in Dublin will manage services, set to begin Nov. 1. The Hamburg-based MRO says the contract’s volume exceeds €90 million.
Northstar plans to add 70 machinists and support staff at three of its North American sites in support of its CH-47 Chinook helicopter and Rolls-Royce programs. The increase in numbers comes at a time when some of the industry is cutting back headcount. The additional staff will aid in ramping up production of gears, components and spare parts at its Anderson, Ind., Chicago, Ill., and Windsor, Ontario, sites.
The Aviation Suppliers Association appointed Robert V. Hogan to its board of directors. Hogan is director of commercial serviceable assets and customer solutions, part of Pratt & Whitney’s Global Service Partners network.
International Communications Group (ICG) in July began producing its new NxtLink 120A and 220 Iridium communications systems. The 120A, a single-channel transceiver, combines two Iridium transceivers with an internal CTU that allows a regular telephone connection for voice and data. It’s a logical choice for flightdecks that demand MCDU dialing services and direct audio control panel connection, as well as require a dedicated voice channel, ICG says.
Snecma Services began offering training courses for jet engine borescope inspection at its EASA Part 147 certified training center. The five-day course combines classroom and hands-on work.
LOT Polish Airlines renewed its component supply and reconditioning contract with ST Aerospace Solutions (Europe). The three-year contract worth €8.7 million covers material on seven Boeing 767s.
AerCap in late July became launch customer for a new Airbus freighter, after signing a contract to convert 30 of its Airbus A320/A321 passenger aircraft with Airbus Freighter Conversion GmbH. The aircraft will be known as A320/A321P2Fs, the first of which is expected to be ready in 2011. AFC will ramp up to 30 conversions a year after that, to convert about 400 between 2012 and 2026. The conversions will be done by Irkut Corp. A platform for the P2F conversion is being prepared in Zhukovskij, a Russian aerospace center.
Airbus created a three-phase approach to manage its end-of-life aircraft—develop a sustainable aircraft dismantling process, set up an aircraft decommissioning center that incorporates these environmentally friendly techniques, and establish a network of authorized end-of-life centers around the world.
Snecma Services will provide engine MRO for European and North African carriers under several new contracts: For Russian Aeroflot Cargo, Snecma will provide maintenance services for its CFM56-3 powered Boeing 737 freighter fleet, plus a custom-tailored space engine leasing services handled by CFM subsidiary Shannon Engine Support, under an exclusive three-year contract. It will handle MRO for French airline Aigle Azur’s CFM56-5B engines under a four-year agreement.
Bombardier plans to open a U.S. nacelle component repair station for Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies in Dallas. The manufacturer expects the facility to be open in 2009, and said it will function as an expansion of third-party product repair work already conducted at a facility in Belfast, North Ireland.
TURKEY Northrop Grumman has been selected by the Turkish Air Force to provide its integrated fiber-optic gyro inertial navigation system, the LN-260, for use on Lockheed Martin C-130 aircraft. The LN-260 inertial navigation system provides platform navigation and low-noise navigation inputs to steady radar pictures, precisely direct communications antennas or guide sensors to enable highly accurate positions for ground and aerial targets.
CD Aviation Services promoted Rick Gibbs to general manager, responsible for the overall efficiency and management of its Neosho, Mo., facility. Gibbs also will ensure compliance with all FAA requirements and repair station activities. A nine-year veteran of CDAS, he most recently served as the company’s chief inspector and director of quality.
As the airlines continue to be roiled by high fuel prices and a slowing world economy, parts support has been cited, by an increasingly lean industry, as one of the few remaining places where there still may be fat to trim. Increasingly, that means off-loading more, if not all, of the parts management business onto OEMs, parts houses and third-party logistics services providers.
United Airlines named Jim Keenan SVP of United Services . Keenan returns to United after six years at Pratt & Whitney, where he was VP and general manager of Pratt & Whitney Global Services Partners. Keenan, who previously spent 14 years at United, will report to SVP Operations Joe Kolshak. United also named Timothy Canavan VP of maintenance and aircraft appearance, responsible for its line maintenance and aircraft appearance teams.
FINLAND Maintenance of Finnish Air Force Fokker F.27 and EADS CASA CN-295 turboprop transport aircraft has begun at Patria’s facilities, including a new operations hangar at Jyväskylä Airport in Tikkakoski, due to open in the fall. Patria is a defense and aerospace group owned by the Finnish government and EADS. Patria also provides Finnish Air Force elementary flight training in Tikkakoski, plus support of its Vinka and Redigo aircraft.
Value engineering extends the benefits of Lean methodology into the world of the war fighter: these projects ask contractors to identify actions that will reduce costs, increase quality and improve mission capability. The concept has helped the U.S. Department of Defense increase efficiency across its systems, processes and organizations. In 2007 alone, the DOD realized over $4 billion in savings and cost avoidance as a result of value engineering projects.
SPAIN Spanish IT company Indra, in temporary partnership with Eurocopter España, will implement self-protection systems in 23 Eurocopter AS 532 Cougar and Boeing Chinook transport helicopters of the Spanish army. Awarded through NATO’s NAMSA agency, the €20 million ($31.8 million) project will explore the radio-electric spectrum for threat detection and identification, such as man-portable air-defense systems, commonly known as MANPADS.
