DeCrane Aircraft's Cabin Management Group named Mike Slattery was vice president of interior refurbishment sales. He most recently as director of manufacturing and engineering for DeCrane Aircraft Furniture Inc.
Staveley NDT Technologies is offerings its complete line of 1000 series portable flaw detectors in a new optional instrument package. The instruments weigh less than four pounds and will operate up to 16 hours on a single lithium-ion battery when using a backlit LCD. The company also offers optional color liquid crystals and hi-brite electroluminescent displays. Staveley NDT Technologies, 421 N. Quay St., Kennewick, WA 99336
Lockheed Martin Global, Inc. named Scott A. Harris as president, Continental Europe, where he will be responsible for Lockheed's business development activities. Harris joined Lockheed Martin in 1997 as vice president, plans and analysis.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. plans to purchase $1 million worth of Vistagy's FiberSIM software for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. Lockheed Martin engineers simulate every design and manufacturing process prior to tool creation and physical prototyping. FiberSIM provides simulation and analysis capabilities that reduce the cost of composite parts.
Technicians and engineers from maintenance facilities, OEMs and operators who question whether a bolt or fastener is working properly now have a software tool to help them. Sensor Products' BoltFAST (Bolt Fatigue and Analysis Strength Testing) program is designed to help them easily evaluate ``what if'' scenarios. The program is designed to accomplish three things: -- The joint analysis program is designed to determine whether the bolted area is capable of sustaining the pressure applied to it.
Enigma signed a long-term contract with Japan Airlines to power the carrier's e-maintenance solution. It will deliver repair and service information to JAL's 5,000 engineers and mechanics on a 24/7 basis. The implementation, based on Enigma's 3C Version 8 technology, will be deployed globally via the Web with CD-ROM backup.
China Aviation Industry Corp. II (AVIC II) selected Pratt & Whitney Canada's PT6B-67A for its Z-8F helicopter upgrade program. AVIC II chose the PT6B-67A engine to provide higher payloads and improved ``hot and high'' performance, in addition to more efficient operating costs.
FLS Aerospace signed a two-year contract with bmibaby to provide line maintenance services at its new Cardiff International Airport base. The contract will allow FLSA to strengthen its existing line operation to support an initial two 737-300 aircraft that will be based at the expanding Welsh airport.
Before you build a maintenance base, even if you don't have to put up the money, it's not a bad idea to solicit the opinions of the folks who are going to work there. When ASA asked its mechanics what they thought the facility should offer, they said a barbecue porch was pretty important. "This is barbecue country," smiled Charles Parsons, Baton Rouge's base maintenance manager. A place to cook up spicy red beans and rice may not be the most important contribution mechanics made to the design of the 39,000-sq.-ft.
MTU Maintenance Zhuhai, a 50/50 joint venture of China Southern Airlines and Germany's MTU Aero Engines, completed construction of its maintenance shop. Operations are scheduled for launch in early December.
Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) filed with the National Mediation Board for a representation election on behalf of mechanics and related employees at Southwest Airlines. The carrier's 1,700 mechanics and employees currently are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Duncan Aviation outlined a new Hawker exchange pump retrofit program that allows Duncan to exchange an Intertechnique pump (part numbers 2070C01 or 2070C11) for an Airborne pump (part number 2C40-2) at a cost savings to Hawker 125 series operators. Duncan is offering a three- year warranty for all new exchanged pumps.
Standard Aero completed an operational redesign and a new 30,000-square-foot expansion of its gas turbine repair and overhaul facility in Tilburg, The Netherlands. The company invested more than $2.5 million in the project. The facility now consists of 71,000 square feet and 214 employees.
Lufthansa Technik Logistik (LTL) signed an agreement to provide logistics services to LanChile. Under terms of the agreement, LTL will provide transportation of serviceable and unserviceable components from LanChile to Lufthansa Technik and vice versa.
Textron named Steven R. Loranger executive vice president and chief operating officer, overseeing Textron's manufacturing business units as well as the corporation's information technology functions. The company also announced that Richard Millman, president of Textron Systems Corp., assumed the additional responsibility of executive in charge of Textron's Lycoming business unit.
Regional aircraft manufacturers are stepping up efforts to convert their equipment to all-cargo service as airlines park more and more turboprop aircraft. With some backing by lessors, OEMs are trying to extend the useful life of these airliners, many of which aren't flying but remain on iron-clad, long-term leases.
Flight development of the RAF's first BAE Harrier GR.7 V/STOL ground-attack fighter with an uprated Mk 107 turbofan started on Sept. 20 at Warton, in the hands of BAE test-pilot Mark Bowman. The successful initial 45-minute sortie followed the December 1999 MoD contract to replace the GR.7's original 21,500-pound thrust 11-21 Pegasus Mk 105 engine with the Mk 107 unit, similar to the Pegasus 11-61s in the U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Plus Harrier IIs.
Icelandair ordered the CTT Zonal Drying System for three of its Boeing 757-200 aircraft. The first installation of the Zonal Drying System in the Icelandair aircraft started this year. The Drying System eliminates condensation on the aircraft structure by drying out the critical area between the cabin and the aircraft skin.
Rockwell Collins appointed John W. Borghese as vice president and general manager of Kaiser Aerospace & Electronics, a Rockwell Collins company. He previously was vice president of Kaiser electronics.
Despite the awareness of human factors in the aircraft maintenance industry and the general acknowledgement that it reduces errors and accidents, few airlines and MROs have committed to full-blown programs. In Europe, there's no doubt the Joint Aviation Authorities' (JAA) Notice of Proposed Administration-12 (NPA-12) once mandated will change the way business is done forever. The JAA submitted NPA-12 to the EC for approval and Gert Litterscheidt, JAA maintenance director, believes it will be approved in this form and become law in early 2003.
The subject of cargo conversion is somewhat analogous to the aerodynamic effects of a boomerang. In your grasp, there's a flat, angular throwing club. You hurl it far into the air, only to have it return again. Such can be said about the profit potential of converting passenger airliners to freighters -- a topic that comes back for review and implementation, time and again. But this time, the urge to hurl the idea away is suppressed somewhat by several factors.
FAA's proposed timeline for implementing reduced vertical separation minimum (RVSM) standards in U.S. domestic airspace will put tremendous pressure on non-airline operators to get their equipment certified or face significant operational penalties come December 2004. That's according to several organizations that filed comments on FAA's proposed domestic RVSM (DRVSM) rule published earlier this year.
EADS Aeroframe Services, Lake Charles, La., received JAA certification to perform overhaul, maintenance and refurbishment on aircraft registered in Europe. EADS Aeroframe Services, a joint venture of EADS Sogerma Services (81%) and Northrop Grumman (19%), also is an FAA approved repair station.
Jet Aviation London Biggin Hill recently was named an approved repair station by the Civil Aviation Authority of Saudi Arabia. The new approval allows the facility to perform scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, airframe and engine repairs, avionics modifications, inspections, defect rectifications and painting on Falcon, Hawker and Gulfstream aircraft registered in Saudi Arabia.
Unison Industries appointed Michael Sanders vice president of engineering. Sanders, most recently manager of electrical control systems at GE Aircraft Engines, was a member of the Unison/GE engineering integration team following GE Engine Services' acquisition of Unison in April.
