Advanced Technical Products' Lunn Industries division won qualified supplier status on Northrop Grumman F-5 and T-38 ``Total Support'' Supplier Team. Lunn will manufacture metal bonded honeycomb assemblies including landing gear doors, aileron panels, access covers, horizontal stabilizers, and leading edge panels for the F-5/T-38 fleet.
O&M: How do you view the MRO market? Giorgi: I can't say for certain how the maintenance market will shape up, but the trends suggest that the big OEMs will progressively increase their market share. The independent sector will shrink and the big airline engineering&maintenance organizations (EMOs) will consolidate again -- then expand and eventually find a way to complement the big OEMs. I expect this to happen within the next decade. Alitalia aims to be part of the airline segment, probably within a pan-European maintenance alliance.
The Defense Evaluation&Research Agency (DERA) was formed at Farnborough April 3, 1995, within the U.K. Ministry of Defense (MoD). It was tasked with ``providing scientific and technical advice to ensure that Britain has the military capability necessary for successful implementation of the U.K.
Air France Industries has finalized details of a project to move its activities at Montaudran, France, to a new facility at Toulouse Blagnac Airport. The new center will host heavy airframe maintenance on narrowbody commercial transports. Also, AFI selected Villeneuve-le-Roi, outside Orly Airport, as the new site for its component maintenance facility. The facility will open in 2003.
The aircraft engine component repair business these days is not for the faint of heart. Heightened customer expectations and aggressive competition from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are forcing companies -- OEMs included -- to find ways to decrease turntimes, lengthen part life cycles, lower prices and bolster customer service. Businesses also are developing new technologies to repair parts that even a year ago routinely were replaced when damaged.
Jet Aviation named Michael Gregory senior vice president of FBO services. He previously was vice president/general manager of Jet Aviation's West Palm Beach, Fla., facility.
Rolls-Royce won a $50 million contract to provide total care support to South African Airways' fleet of RB211-524H engines that power its six 747-400 airliners. The engines are being upgraded to -524H-T standard.
An uncontained failure during a routine post-maintenance engine run-up by US Airways mechanics has NTSB concerned about the adequacy of General Electric's CF6-80 high pressure turbine (HPT) stage 1 disk design.
The technical content -- illustrated parts catalogs, repair manuals, service bulletins -- accessed by customers on GEAE's Customer Web Center is automated by Enigma, Inc., an e-commerce software provider headquartered in Burlington, Mass. with offices worldwide.
Bombardier Aerospace named Pierre Beaudoin president of Bombardier Business Aircraft; and Steve Crawford regional vice president, technical services. Beaudoin previously was responsible for all customer support activities at Bombardier's Wichita, Kan., facility. Crawford will retain the responsibility for support oversight of Bombardier business aircraft he had in his previous role of director, technical services, customer support, Bombardier Business Aircraft.
Alitalia's search for a partner goes on following a breakdown in negotiations with SAirGroup, parent company of Swissair and SR Technics. Whether the talks about a possible SAirGroup investment in the Italian carrier can be resurrected is a moot point, but Alitalia's recently announced strategy for the next three years envisages a ``stand-alone'' stance for the immediate future.
Having operated a squadron of a dozen or so Sukhoi Su-24MK ``Fencer D'' variable-geometry strike fighters and four Su-24MR ``Fencer E'' recce aircraft for several years from Laghouat air base, the Algerian air force is now receiving another 22 refurbished examples of these Russian-surplus advanced deep-penetration types. Three additional Su-24s, probably attrition replacements, were delivered last year from a $12 million contract placed with Russia's Promexport surplus arms sales organization.
A ball is round, presumably, but Roundball One is an airplane. The story of how it was converted from an Indonesian airline DC-9 to a posh transport for the Detroit Pistons basketball team, with an interior customized for an NBA-percentile human body, is a fascinating saga of resourcefulness, endurance, and lessons learned.
One of the things I love about this job is that it affords me the opportunity to meet and talk with an array of people involved with the spectrum of activities that comprise the aviation/aerospace aftermarket. From these conversations, I have developed a deep appreciation for the resourcefulness and innovative thinking that permeate every level and sector of the MRO industry. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't have an idea for how things can be done better.
Aerospace Industries Association named United Technologies Corp. President and COO Karl Krapek chairman of its board of governors and Marshall Larsen, president and COO of BFGoodrich Aerospace vice chairman. John Douglass and George Copsey were renamed president/CEO and secretary/treasurer, respectively.
Wireway/Husky Corp., has released a fully integrated pallet rack and wire deck system that it ships together within 48 hrs. of ordering under a single freight bill. The Wireway/Husky rack deck system features pallet racks and wire decks both made by the same manufacturer that come in a variety of sizes for immediate shipment. The wire decks need only drop over the rack beams for installation without fasteners. Steel rack beams and uprights have polyurethane finish and the upright frame capacities meet AISI 1996 and RMI 1997 specifications.
Severe funding problems, which reportedly have reduced average flight times for all except transport and helicopter pilots to less than 10 hrs. per year and almost eliminated new aircraft procurement, have forced the Russian air force (VVS) to rely on major systems upgrades to maintain its combat aircraft viability. Already greatly reduced from its Cold War peak from retirement of its single-engine MiG-21s, MiG-23/27s and Sukhoi Su-22s, its fighters now also have to acquire multi-role capabilities to fulfill both defensive and tactical ground-attack commitments.
Draeger Safety, Inc. launched the PointGuard II, a microprocessor-based standalone gas detector designed to monitor toxic gases and oxygen in ambient air continuously. The instrument detects toxic levels of CO, H2S, SO2, Cl2, NH3, NO2, H2O2 or EtO, as well as excess or deficient levels of oxygen. Bright LEDs display the target gas concentration, while an adjustable-volume horn and two strobes provide alarm at the point of hazard. At core of the product is an electrochemical sensor the company said was designed for accuracy, stability and long life.
