Last July, PPG launched a new transparency for the Airbus A320 family that now is available for new-production and replacement applications. PPG has outfitted these windshields with its new, chromate-free PR-2060 and PR-1425CF sealants, which use a different interlayer system to guard against moisture compared to the preceding windshield that equips Airbus A318, A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. S-123 urethane holds together the transparency's outboard and middle glass plies. www.ppg.com/coatings/aerospace/transparencies/Pages/default.aspx
Strategic Airlines is opening an engineering operation at Brisbane International Airport in Australia, with the intention of bringing much of its Airbus A320 maintenance inhouse. The carrier currently outsources its engineering work to John Holland Aviation Services in Melbourne, according to a Strategic Airlines spokeswoman. However, it plans to undertake its own line maintenance up to A checks at its new Brisbane facility, a former Boeing hangar that can accommodate two Airbus A320s. Heavy maintenance is still being reviewed.
Boeing announced the availability of GoldCare services for 737NG operators in late March. The tailor-made aftermarket program first rolled out for the Boeing 787, but now the OEM is offering it for its next-gen narrowbodies. TUI Travel became the launch customer for the 787 aftermarket management program last April, when it selected GoldCare coverage for its 13 787s. The OEM says it is having “advanced discussions with multiple customers” for 737NG GoldCare, but it has not announced a first client for the service.
Sargent Aerospace & Defense's aftermarket services group acquired more than 1,200 Boeing 737 line-replaceable units worth approximately $4 million in mid-March. Sargent's Miami facility was expected to receive the majority of these components—which range from avionics, fuel pumps, electromechanical actuators and engine components to landing gear top assembly units—in overhauled condition, ready for outright sale and exchange and lease programs.
LONDON—Aircraft docking systems can substantially boost an MRO's profitability, especially if they are tailor-made to enhance the business. The advantage such systems provide can be considerable, according to Robin Wohnsigl, president and CEO of Laurentian Aerospace Corp., who is backing his belief with hard cash. His new MRO is not only investing in an automated, laser-guided, self-positioning docking system for its state-of-the-art maintenance hangar in Plattsburg, N.Y., but it also has acquired Contec Multidocking Ltd. (CML), the company that made the system.
Japanese aerospace conglomerate Jamco is unsure when its facility at Sendai Airport can restart, but it says the tsunami destroyed the MRO's equipment and nearly every aircraft that was there. “Our MRO is on the other side of the runway, away from the passenger terminal. We have two hangars and a three story-office building,” says Jamco Executive VP George Funahashi. Jamco's MRO business at Sendai works on aircraft used by the: Japanese Coast Guard, Maritime Self-Defense Force, Japanese police forces, corporate clients and the Japan Civil Aviation College.
The Aeronautical Repair Station Association presented Tony Janco, an airworthiness staff specialist for the FAA's Technical Standards Branch in the Eastern Region, its Leo Weston award.
Complacency has been called “the silent killer” and “the greatest threat to the survival of organizations today.” It seeps quietly into maintenance hangars over time as technicians become more comfortable in their jobs and begin taking shortcuts, such as not using checklists or using an out-of-date tool rather than making the trek to get a serviceable replacement. And complacency spreads: other technicians witness these shortcuts and figure they can get away with them, too.
Cathay Pacific completed a six-month trial of Arinc's AeroConnx electronic flight bag (EFB) on one of its Boeing 777-300 aircraft. It used the EFB to support applications such as electronic charts, documents, e-techlog, e-cabinlog and real-time credit card authorization. To support the trial, Arinc installed its GateFusion wireless datalink at Hong Kong International Airport to enable file transfer off the Cathay Pacific aircraft.
SR Technics inducted the 15th easyJet aircraft into its new, two-bay facility in Malta. The Airbus A319 came in for a 14-day IL check. SR Technics provides line, light and base maintenance, maintenance operations control, engineering and technical services, component repair and logistics management for easyJet's Airbus fleet under a $1.6 billion contract inked in November 2009 that extended work for the low-cost carrier through 2020 and made it launch customer for the Malta facility.
Air Europa picked AFI KLM E&M to modify the economy class cabin of a recently acquired Airbus A330 into a dual-class cabin, removing economy class seats in and replacing them with business class seats. The modification program was slated to start in March in Toulouse.
Atlantic Fasteners launched a new website, www.AFAero.com, to give aerospace customers better access to its inventory of nearly 10,000 fasteners, connectors, screws and other mil-spec hardware.
Sabena technics will support Alba Star's two Boeing 737-400 aircraft, plus two more that it plans to add by the end of the month, under a three-year component support contract. It will provide the Palma de Mallorca- and Milan-based airline, which launched in July 2010, with MRO services, pool access and logistics support.
One of the most important safety concerns in the hangar is the risk of falls, especially when technicians traverse the top of an aircraft to perform maintenance duties.
Flexible Lifeline Systems offers a range of fall protection systems for aircraft hangars, including lifeline and platform installations. It works with aircraft operators to design, fabricate and install customized systems and provide on-site training. Along with its overhead fall protection systems, the company has products that anchor to the wing when it is not possible to anchor fall protection devices in the ceiling. www.fall-arrest.com
Parker Hannifin has just started offering barcode and optional radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies to keep track of its hydraulic assemblies through the supply chain, as well as a new, on-site container service for emergency hose repairs. The hydraulic components manufacturer is adding these options to its network of 330 ParkerStore distributors near major North American airports.
Like many major carriers, United Airlines had developed its own in-house tools for doing diagnostics on its fleet. But around 2005 and 2006 the airline was starting to fly more routes to very distant destinations where the costs of having a grounded aircraft, and ferrying parts and repair crews, could be very high. So it took a look at Boeing's Aircraft Health Monitoring, speaking both to the airframe manufacturer and early adopters of the system.
Transparency manufacturers constantly search for ways to improve the materials and designs of their cabin windows and windshields. Pairing new load-bearing structures with advanced sealants and coatings, for example, helps to eliminate moisture penetration and cracking.
Turkish Technic will repair two Hamilton Sundstrand APS3200 model auxiliary power units (APU) owned by major lessor GE Capital Aviation Services (Gecas) in Istanbul under a March contract. The Turkish MRO recently signed additional APU repair agreements with Thomas Cook Airlines, based in Belgium; Air Via, based in Bulgaria; and Russia's Oren Air. The APS3200 APU equips Airbus A320 family aircraft, of which Gecas owns and manages more than 500, according to Ascend fleet data. Joint Ventures/ Acquisitions
Solo Aviation in Ocumare del Tuy, Venezuela, became a GE Aviation authorized service center for M601 and H80 turboprop engines. Solo Aviation now offers line maintenance, removals and re-installations of engines and LRUs and engine spares for the M601 and H80 engine families; GE Aviation will provide Solo Aviation with comprehensive material support and training.
Super98, a group of mostly ex-McDonnell Douglas and Boeing engineering veterans, said in March that it is in discussions with potential launch customers for an aerodynamic improvement kit designed to reduce the drag of MD-80 family twinjets by at least 3.5%. The kit is about to be certificated and offered for retrofit for both passenger and converted freighter models. It is the first of a potential two-phase improvement plan that could ultimately see MD-80 drag reduced by as much as 7.5%.
