Unison Industries received FAA certification for its new alternator for CFM56-5 and -7 lines of engines. Unison says its alternator, which provides electrical power for the engine's control systems, runs cooler and operators at a lower weight than the original.
By the time you read this I will probably be over my air show lag, which is kind of like jet lag, only more intense. Don't get me wrong. I love Paris. It's one of the world's great cities. I don't mind the air show, either, despite the fact that I'm certain that the attending companies conspire with each other to make sure that we in the media get our exercise. If you've never been to the Paris Air Show, the big (and little) company hospitality and media chalets stretch for what seems like miles across Le Bourget. Invariably, a 9 a.m.
FlightSafety International plans to double the size of its Gulfstream aircraft maintenance training facility in Savannah, Ga. The facility expansion should be done in the second quarter of 2008 and will have the capacity to train 5,000 technicians annually. The existing facility trained more than 2,000 technicians last year.
U.S. Army ordered 18 new AH-64D Apache helicopters in April that will include upgraded T700 engines. Corpus Christi Army Depot will convert existing GE T700-701 and -701C engines to -701D engines via a kit supplied by GE's Lynn, Mass., facility. CCAD expects to complete 540 conversions this year, and each should take between 650 to 750 man-hours. This is part of the Army's announcement in 2004 that it plans to covert its Apache and Black Hawk helicopter fleet to the T700-701D configuration.
The former Army brigadier general bristles when his program "gets rolled into the big Reset world." "We do get a bit defensive," said Stuart Gerald, key consultant to the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command's (AMCOM) Aviation Reset effort. That effort is aimed at rendering rotary wing aircraft returning from Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom fully mission capable (FMC).
Messier Services secured five new landing gear MRO contracts that also include gear exchange. They include 27 Airbus A320/321 aircraft for Aer Lingus between this year and 2014; 11 A320s, three A300s and two A330s between this year and 2014 for Monarch; 10 A319/A320/A321 aircraft between this year and 2015 for BMI; and seven A330s between 2008 to 2010 for My Travel.
Singapore Airlines selected Rockwell Collins' SAT-2100 satellite communication system with an HST-2110 high-speed data transceiver for 58 Boeing 777 aircraft. Rockwell Collins will replace Singapore Airlines' current satcom system, as well as supply the system for new 777s. The high-speed data system should help data transmission in the airline's new electronic flight bags.
Inter Airlines awarded Lufthansa Technik a Total Engine Support contract for the IAE V2500-A5 engines that power its three Airbus A321-200s. The Turkish charter carrier plans to increase its A321 fleet to seven in 2009.
Innovative Solutions & Support appointed Raymond Wilson chief executive officer from his current position on the company's board. In line with IS&S' strategic succession plan, Wilson will assume the CEO duties of company founder and current CEO and Chairman Geoffrey Hedrick over the next several months Hedrick will continue to serve as chairman, focusing his efforts on business strategies and product development. Roman Ptakowski remains as president.
Honeywel1, doing business as Defense Avionics Systems, received a $5.5 million firm-fixed-price contract to develop form-fit-function for obsolete subassemblies in the F-15 Avionics Intermediate Shop (AIS) Antenna Test Station (ATS) and Enhanced Aircraft Radar Test Station (EARTS).This effort includes the design, hardware and software, and formal testing of F3 prototypes for obsolete subassemblies. At this time, total funds have been obligated. This work will be complete Feb 2009. Robins Air Force Base, Ga., is the contracting activity.
Pentastar Aviation plans to install the first ARINC SKYLink broadband communications system in a customer's Dassault Falcon 2000. Pentastar hopes to get the STC and complete the installation in September.
GE's GE90-115B engine celebrated its one millionth hour of flight in mid-May after three years of powering the Boeing 777-300ER and -200LR fleets for 10 operators who fly about 200 of the engines.
Pratt & Whitney Canada expanded its parts distribution network in Europe and Asia, and it plans to a open a new parts distribution center in Singapore this summer. The Singapore PDC, which will carry a large inventory of new parts, exchange accessories and LRUs for all P&WC engine models, is the second in a series of regionally located, "rapid-response" PDCs that the company is opening. The first opened in Amsterdam in November.
AirAsia announced it signed a memorandum of agreement with Sepang Aircraft Engineering (SAE) to carry out Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 airframe maintenance. Further details on the agreement were not available at presstime. Singapore Technologies Aerospace has been providing airframe, engine and component support for the AirAsia 737s for the past several years, and earlier this year signed an A320 component maintenance-by-the-hour contract with the airline. The A320s are young enough that they don't yet require extensive airframe maintenance.
Durham Manufacturing introduced a series of 10 ergonomic, stringer-less folding work benches that have a capacity of up to 2,000 lbs. The benches, with four heavy-dusty gussets for stability, feature 14 gauge steel tops with channels on all four sides. Hinged legs can be adjusted in one-inch increments, from a 28-inch height to a 42-inch height above the floor. Optional shelves and drawers can be fitted to any of the tables. Drawers attach to the tops using pre-drilled holes and open and close on ball bearing slides.
Airbus painted the first A380 for Singapore Airlines in 21 days, using 100 painters in four shifts. They used 2,200 liters of chromate-free paint to cover the 3,100 meter surface. Singapore Airlines is the launch customer for the A380.
Business Jet Access appointed John Hayes as director of maintenance for the aircraft charter and management divisions. Prior to joining BJA, Hayes worked at NetJets, including being director of maintenance and manager of quality assurance at the Savannah, Ga., base.
Goodrich Aerostructures won a $9.4 million firm-fixed-price contract to provide forward nose landing gear doors, gridlock design, 300 each; aft nose landing door, gridlock design, 300 each; in support of USAF A-10 aircraft.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace's newest MRO, Panama Aerospace Engineering, inducted its first aircraft, a Copa Airlines' Boeing 737-700, on May 12. PAE will complete a 4C check and modifications on the aircraft.
Crane Aerospace & Electronics appointed Todd Newell as director of operational excellence for the Electronics Group; named Rich Weatherford as vice president of operations for the Electronics Group; announced Ramin Aflakian as vice president of the cabin solutions value stream; and appointed Samantha Ziesel as aerospace group director of customer service.
A show like Aviation Week's MRO conference is an ideal setting to gauge the buzz level of a topic like safety management systems. Right now -- in the U.S., at least -- SMS implementation is voluntary for operators and maintenance providers, and the benefits of a solid program are evident in financial statistics as well as safety and quality data. Sessions on comparable voluntary programs that target process improvement -- like Lean and Six Sigma -- typically draw huge, executive-level crowds at MRO.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace, with its six overhaul facilities, logged more commercial airframe maintenance man-hours than any other MRO in 2006, but several competitors, including Lufthansa Technik, Air France Industries/KLM Engineering & Maintenance, and HAECO and its subsidiaries are not far behind, according to O&M's biennial survey of the airframe MRO market.
America Air Taxi Aereo of Sao Paulo has been appointed the exclusive Brazilian service center and parts distributor for Fairchild Metro and Merlin aircraft, according to M7 Aerospace, which acquired the assets of Fairchild Aircraft in December 2002 and holds the type certificates for the Merlin and the Metro.
