Little changed over the past month, but FAA is still expecting to release two fairly significant rulemakings shortly -- repair station ratings/quality system proposal and the ETOPs final rule. Both rulemakings were sent for Office of Management and Budget review in August after sitting at the Department of Transportation since early this year. FAA also is sifting through comments on the widespread fatigue damage proposal. The comment period ended in late September.
Premier/West Star is collaborating with Universal Avionics and Honeywell on a synthetic vision program for the Falcon 50. The MRO based in East Alton, Ill., also is offering Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 installation for Falcon 50s.
Filipe Morais de Almeida joined VEM Maintenance & Engineering on Oct. 2 as CEO and a board member. He previously was head of production engineering and quality at TAP Maintenance & Engineering, and more recently, CEO of Bombardier Portugal. Edited for length and clarity. O&M: What attracted you to join VEM?
Air Europe awarded Lufthansa Technik a technical support contract for landing gear overhaul and exchange. The six-year MRO deal includes at least 28 Boeing 737NG shipsets.
Aeromexico signed a memorandum of understanding with GE for the purchase of GEnx engines for its Boeing 787-8 aircraft. The MOU covers two Boeing 787-8 aircraft that the airline is purchasing from Boeing. Aeromexico will also lease three GEnx-powered 787-8 aircraft from International Lease Finance Corp. In addition, Aeromexico signed an OnPoint Solutions agreement for the maintenance and overhaul of its GEnx fleet.
COVER STORY: Links in the Chain Asset management programs elicit passionate praise or protest. 29 Boeing: An OEM at the Forefront of IAM Departments From the Editor 4 Biznet 9 Interview 13 Filipe Morais de Almeida, VEM Maintenance & Engineering Safety & Regulatory News Washington in Action 17 Human Factors 20 International Safety & Regulatory Briefs 21 Calendar 53
Israel Aircraft Industries' Bedek Aviation Group received an FAA Supplemental Type Certificate for the conversion of a Boeing 747-400 passenger aircraft into freighter configuration on Oct. 27. In addition to the FAA's STC approval, the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) issued a Technical Visa for STC and Israel Civil Aviation Authority granted its STC the same day. The Boeing 747-400 is owned by the Netherlands Rabobank Group and will be operated by Air Atlanta Icelandic for cargo missions.
FlightSafety International promoted Ralph Hicks to center manager for its Daleville and Dothan, Ala., centers. He succeeds Britt Hoskins, who retired from FlightSafety after 20 years.
Honeywell received FAA certification for its new TFE731-50R engine, which is a derivative of the -60. It should provide 7 percent better fuel efficiency than the -5B and can deliver up to 5,000 pounds thrust. Honeywell is focusing on the engine's entry into service on the Hawker 900XP, but it said the engine lends itself to retrofit opportunities.
Dec. 5-6 Essentials for the PBL Contracting Process, Washington, DC Feb. 14-15, 2007 Defense Techno- logy & Requirements Conference, Washington, DC March 1-2, 2007 Aircraft Data, San Francisco April 5-6, 2007 Avionics Outlook, Phoenix April 17-19, 2007 MRO 2007 Conference & Exhibition, Atlanta April 17-18, 2007 MRO Military 2007 Conference & Exhibition, Atlanta Contacts
API will distribute Stahlwille tools throughout the aerospace industry and serve as Stahlwille's distribution partner within the corporate aviation and fixed base operator market segments. API will also utilize the agreement to expand Stahlwille offerings to the general aviation, military and helicopter markets. Stahlwille tools are designed for aerospace technicians and have a lifetime warranty. In addition to the tool offerings, API also will offer the Intelligent Tool Control (ITC) system box.
L-3 Vertex Aerospace received a $28.6 million ceiling-priced modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for logistics services covering the U.S. Navy's E-6B fleet. Work should be completed in October 2007.
Willis Lease Finance Corp. signed an engine sharing agreement with American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and WestJet covering CFM56-7B engines that power Boeing 737NG aircraft. The pooling deals covers engines on at least 450 aircraft and is designed to help operators better use their engine assets and improve productivity by as much as 30 to 50 percent, according to Willis Lease Finance.
Vector Aerospace in Toronto, Canada, which is an independent aviation MRO provider, was selected in October as preferred bidder, subject to final contract signature in November, for a three-year program to maintain and overhaul Allison T56 engines in nearly 40 Royal Saudi Air Force C-130E/H/H-30s. With estimated aggregate revenues of about $34 million, the contract will be with Vector's Sigma Aerospace U.K. subsidiary, and it could be substantially higher, depending on actual maintenance requirements.
Rolls-Royce added On-Wing Care to its roster of support services for AE 3007 engines. The OEM also plans to offer this service to BR710 and Tay 611 engine customers in the future.
Travel Service has signed a 10-year time and material engine maintenance contract with Snecma Services for the CFM56-7 engines powering its fleet of Boeing 737NGs. Snecma Services will provide maintenance, repair and overhaul services for these jet engines, as well as provide on-wing maintenance as needed, within the scope of its Engine Maint- enance On Site (EMOS) service.
Lockheed Martin won an $8.9 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for engineering and logistics services in support of S-3 aircraft. Services to be provided include in-service engineering, integrated logistics support, integrated maintenance program for aircraft depot-level scheduled maintenance and material oversight. Work will be performed in Marietta, Ga., and is expected to be completed in September 2007.
SR Technics signed a non-exclusive agreement with SAS Technical Services for APU support. The deal covers SAS's APUs on Boeing 737NG aircraft (fitted with 131-9B APUs), Boeing 767s (fitted with 331-200 APUs), A320s (with 131-9 APUs) and A330s and A340s (with 331-350 APUs). SR Technics' Dublin facility will perform the maintenance.
Dassault approved the CAE SimuFlite Falcon 2000EX EASy maintenance training course and its CAE instructors in accordance with the Dassault Falcon Training Policy Manual.
The Transportation Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) continues to press the FAA on the practice of outsourcing maintenance. The OIG said that the increased use of outside maintenance facilities means the FAA must fully adopt a risk-based approach to oversight.
Following recent extension of the $626 million Indian Air Force MiG-21bis Bison upgrade program from 125 to 145 aircraft, of which 96 had been completed by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) at Nasik by early 2006, India's Nat- ional Aerospace Labor- atories (NAL) have increased their airframe fatigue lives by 1,000 flying hours. This represents another eight to 10 years of IAF operating life and extends total MiG-21 airframe fatigue limits to 3,400 flying hours.
Now more than 10 years old, Boeing's MEDA is the most widely used tool for tracing the causes of accidents and maintenance failures to specific errors. A recent FAA survey of more than 400 organizations, mostly airlines and MRO shops around the world, found that almost 85 percent attempt to identify errors when failures occur and 66 percent of these use MEDA or a modified version of it to do the investigation. Another 10 percent use a broadly similar process, Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS), developed by the U. S. Navy.
Airbus Upgrade Services' electronic catalogue now has 100 items available online via the OEM's secure web portal. It is designed to reduce lead-times and downtimes for aircraft upgrades.
Filipe Morais de Almeida, a one-time manager at TAP Maintenance & Engineering, has been appointed chief executive officer at VEM Engineering & Maintenance, succeeding Evandro Braga de Oliveira. In a notice distributed to employees, VEM said the change was part of an ongoing consolidation process at VEM. Morais de Almeida joined TAP Maintenance & Engineering in 1989 as a production engineer. He later became head of production engineering and quality control and customer service sales manager.
Bill Johnson and Carla Hackworth find themselves with a mountain of data to digest in the name of human factors. Johnson, chief scientific and technical advisor for human factors in aircraft maintenance at the Federal Aviation Administration, and Hackworth, a research psychologist with the FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute in Oklahoma City, are the chief architects of an 80-question online survey recently sent to 630 addresses around the world.
