Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA) and the Aircraft Maintenance Society (AMS) launched the PAMA-AMS certification to recognize advanced certification and to work toward higher education milestones. It is open to all FAA-certified mechanics and avionics technicians.
Standard Aero re-signed a five-year, $6 million contract with Airlines PNG based in Papua New Guinea for PW100 engine maintenance and overhaul. Standard Aero also received a five-year contract from Comair to repair and overhaul its Honeywell GTCP 36-150 RJ APUs. Standard Aero will complete Comair's work at its Knoxville, Tenn., facility.
Work started in August at the Boeing Wichita Development and Modifica-tion Center in Kansas on the first of four 767-200ER twin-turbofan commercial transports to be modified into a 767 tanker/ transport aircraft for the Italian air force (AMI). Scheduled mission system modifications include installation of the advanced remote aerial operator station for the aerial refueling boom; receiver refueling receptacle; underwing pods and center-line hose-and-drogue refueling systems; freight/passenger interior; and forward-fuselage cargo door.
Signs that the business aviation industry is recovering were evident at this year's upbeat National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) annual convention held Oct. 7 to 9. OEMs introduced new products; business aviation MRO executives said, ``We're actually signing contracts here;'' and a pent-up demand for aircraft and services was evident. ``People are jumping off the sidelines and are spending money on discretionary items,'' said a BizJet International executive.
In parallel with the U.K.'s mid-2003-concluded upgrades by BAE Systems of 142 RAF Tornado GR.4/4A strike-reconnaissance fighters at Warton, similar mid-life Tornado enhancements are in progress by Germany and Italy. A landmark in their joint program for modernization of their Tornados' cockpit display and defensive aids subsystems (DASS) was announced by EADS Military Aircraft division on July 9, with the first flight of new ASSTA 2 software and multi-function displays (MFDs) from its Manching base, near Munich.
Kerry Lynch, managing editor of Aviation Week's The Weekly of Business Aviation, won NBAA's Golden Wing award for her story on Reagan National Airport's exclusion of corporate aviation in Business & Commercial Aviation, another Aviation Week publication.
The Canadian Department of Defense's 10-year Aircraft Incremental Modernization Program (AIMP) for the CAF's 16 Lockheed CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft was extended in July by a US$19 million contract from Lockheed Martin Canada to L-3 Communi-cations WESCAM to provide MX-20 sensor systems. Part of L-3 WESCAM's MX series of electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR) products, the MX-20 is claimed as one of the highest performing stabilized multi-sensor systems in the world, providing video reconnaissance capabilities to a range of rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft.
Lufthansa Technik and Air China finally have reached an agreement to extend their AMECO-Beijing joint venture another 25 years, effective Aug. 1, 2004, when the initial 15-year partnership pact expires. The new agreement, however, had not been signed at presstime. AMECO, which was China's first maintenance, repair and overhaul facility, is 60% owned by the Chinese national flag carrier and 40% by Lufthansa Technik.During negotiations, extensions of as little as 18 years and as much as 30 years were discussed.
Keystone Helicopter named Craig Zysk director of program development and customer support. He previously was vice president business development for International Aviation Composites.
Goodrich Corp. appointed Eric Schulz president of its Aviation Technical Services division in Everett, Wash. Schulz, previously president and CEO of EADS Aeroframe Services, will report to John Grisik, segment president, airframe systems. Schulz replaces Dave Shaw, who has been appointed to the new position of vice president, new business model projects.
ARINC Direct launched RVSM upgrade packages for Cessna 650 series and Learjet 35 series aircraft in cooperation with AeroMech and Shadin Co. ARINC hopes to receive the STC for these upgrades in the first quarter 2004. ARINC also offers RVSM upgrades for Cessna Citation 500 series aircraft.
Boeing introduced a new support package for its 717 Business Express that includes maintenance, engineering, operational tools, parts, portable computer and onsite technical personnel. The 717 Business Express was introduced earlier this year as a new concept to help corporations deal with high-volume business travel.
Boeing has 100 Portable Maintenance Aid (PMA) customers as of mid-September. Boeing estimates that the PMA can cut the time it takes to find applicable maintenance data by 40% because of its advanced search capabilities and hyperlinks.
AEM Ltd. opened an office in Singapore to be closer to Far East customers. Gary Hale, AEM's vice president of sales and marketing, will head the operation.
Thailand is attracting increasing interest from the aviation industry because of its skilled workforce, competitive labor rates and location in the heart a huge and rapidly growing market. As more aerospace and non-aerospace companies locate in Thailand, it makes the country more attractive. There is a larger pool of potential job recruits, and these prospective employees have more experience and more varied skills. Common industrial supplies and equipment become easier and cheaper to obtain, as supporting industries cluster around the big manufacturers.
The value of the worldwide commercial jet transport MRO market has fallen $1.5 billion since the beginning of the year as a result of economic malaise, SARS, the war in Iraq and slower-than-expected airline capacity growth, according to BACK Aviation Solutions and Strand Associates Inc. (SAI), the consulting firms that produce O&M's annual MRO Forecast. BACK and SAI now peg the value of the MRO market at $34.6 billion, down from the $36.1 billion used as the baseline for the 2003 MRO Forecast published in May.
British Airway's engineers voted overwhelmingly to reject a company offer on a 3% pay increase (dependent on a number of conditions) and to reject the adoption of a controversial swipe card system. Amicus, which represents the vast majority of the members of the BA Engineering bargaining group, asked for talks with the airline.
It is a new world in military maintenance, or at least it is trying to be. Technologies are changing as a new generation of military aircraft comes on line and as manufacturers develop an even newer generation. The fighters and other platforms of the future will be much smarter, more reliable and much easier to keep on the flight line, if plans work out. Meanwhile, mature planes need to keep flying. These senior jets are getting older, a bit rustier and much more complicated to maintain. And many will remain in service for quite a while, at least through 2010.
Dassault Aviation selected Mxi Technologies' Maintenix system to enhance the visibility of its fleet data, thus improving reliability, supply chain and customer support issues.
Lufthansa Technik Budapest won its first external customer, Austrian Airlines, which will send five Airbus A321-100/200s and six A320-200s to the facility for heavy checks in the next five years. The facility predicts the five-year and 10-year structural checks will take between 27 and 32 days. Austrian and Lufthansa are both StarAlliance members.
Rockwell Collins signed a five-year, $130 million performance-based logistics contract with the Naval Inventory Control Point. The deal includes managing, supporting and repairing various models of the F/A-18 cockpit displays. Rockwell Collins is signing contracts with naval air depots in San Diego and Jacksonville to perform jointly about 66% of the depot work; Rockwell Collins will complete the rest.
Twelve Boeing AH-64D Longbow Apache attack helicopters ordered by the Hellenic government in August from a euro 620 million ($680 million) contract will incorporate BAE Systems' advanced helicopter integrated defensive aid suites (HIDAS). Developed for the British Army Air Corps' AgustaWestland WAH-64s by BAE following its Marconi Electronic Systems merger, HIDAS uses mainly British components, apart from Lockheed Martin's UV/IR-based AN/AAR-57 common missile warning system and AN/APR-48 RF interferometer (RFI).
Nordic East Airlink of Sweden selected SAS Component to provide component supply and maintenance support for its MD-81 fleet. The contract includes access to SAS Component's main and base stores in Scandinavia and supply of components on demand to line stations. Finnair owns 85% of Nordic Airlink.
