While much of the aviation MRO industry grapples with unlocking the much ballyhooed potential of the buying and selling of parts and services over the Internet, a smaller, but no less ambitious, segment of industry is working to develop computer- and Web-based maintenance training programs. Web-based or e-learning has attracted large and small providers in a variety of segments. One is Rochester, N.Y.-based Aviation Learning Inc., a two-year-old company that develops off-the-shelf and customized online and e-learning products.
Boeing Australia Ltd. was selected in August to provide up to $300 million of long-term support and upgrade services for the RAAF F-111 strike/ reconnaissance fleet. The RAAF has been operating some 18 F-111Cs and four RF-111Cs with additional recce capability since delivered new from General Dynamics in 1973, in one of two squadrons in 81 Wing based at Amberley, in Queensland.
The fact that FAA did not respond to the disparity in test results in a timely manner suggests a systemic weakness in FAA's process to evaluate safety issues brought to the agency's attention.'' (emphasis added)
McKinney Aerospace opened a new 53,750-sq. ft. maintenance hangar at McKinney, Texas, airport. The facility can service up to seven business jets simultaneously.
Photograph: Major upgrades are planned for some 87 CF-18A/B multirole fighters flown by the Canadian Air Force. John Fricker Plans were confirmed this summer by Lt. Gen. David Kinsman, retiring chief of air staff of Canadian Air Command, to upgrade about 80 of its 122 CF-18 Hornet multi-role fighters with advanced avionics, to extend their operating lives to between 2015 and 2020. In an eight-year rolling upgrade program, replacement is planned of over a dozen systems.
Enigma Inc. appointed Dean Germeyer to the post of vice president of business development. The company also appointed Wil Lammers president of Enigma Europe and Pete Peterson general manager, West Coast.
From its genesis in the mid-1980s, Professional Modification Services worked to establish a reputation for its airframe maintenance services among cargo and passenger carriers in the Western Hemisphere. Four of the five founding partners of the company were longtime veterans of Eastern Airlines' maintenance operations (the fifth was the financial backer), and all retained key roles in the day-to-day running of the heavy repair shop, based in an old Pan American hangar on the fringe of Miami International Airport.
Honeywell is combining its company-wide e-business initiatives into one organization and placing it under the leadership of Russ McMeekin, president of e-business. McKeekin, who has overseen the launch of the company's core e-biz hubs (MyAircraft, MyPlant.com and MyFacilities.com), will report directly to Honeywell Chairman and CEO Michael Bonsignore.
Duncan Aviation completed a new 123,000-sq. ft. modifications, service and completions complex at its Lincoln, Neb., facility in October. The facility will accommodate aircraft as large as the Bombardier Global Express or Gulfstream V.
Lufthansa Technik (LHT) is building a new hangar at BizJet International in Tulsa. LHT acquired Bizjet earlier this year. The new hangar, which is expected to be completed early in 2001, will be large enough to accommodate two aircraft the size of the Boeing BBJ or the Airbus A319 Corporate Jetliner.
Rockwell Collins Air Transport Systems' 2001 product catalog is available online at www.collins.rockwell.com/ecat. Catalog contains product overviews, descriptions, pricing and specifications and allows Rockwell Collins customers to browse by product line, systems and aircraft platforms. Information also is available regarding maintenance, training, repair and overhaul services provided by Collins Aviation Services.
TAP Air Portugal and Air France Industries (AFI) signed an agreement of industrial cooperation under which AFI will overhaul TAP's CFM56-5 and CF6-80 engines, while TAP will perform overhauls of Air France Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 narrowbody aircraft.
Fokker Services recently delivered to the government of Argentina an extensively refurbished and modernized F28 Mk4000 aircraft. The modification included a digital flightdeck upgrade as well as conversion of the standard passenger cabin to a combined VIP/staff interior. Flightdeck upgrade is centered around an integrated Honeywell avionics suite.
Maintenance technicians worldwide soon could owe a major debt to computer game makers -- not because the games keep the kids quiet, but because their ability to produce three-dimensional imagery brings virtual reality (VR) training aids a big step closer. The key not only lies in the lifelike graphics, but in the software that makes them interactive. The combination heralds a whole new era in simulation training devices, potentially benefiting anything from sailing to surgery and machine tools to maintenance.
Sabena Technics and Air France Industries signed an agreement under which AFI will overhaul Sabena's fleet of CFM56-5C engines, while Sabena will overhaul Air France's CFM56-3 engine fleet.
United Services considers itself an innovator when it comes to maintenance training. It has co-developed a number of commercially available computer-based training (CBT) programs and was one of the first operators to implement Airbus Industrie's cockpit mockup operating system. According to its marketing materials, United Services' innovations ``have set new standards for the industry.''
The European Commission (EC) last month presented a proposal to the European Council of Transport Ministers that would replace Europe's Joint Aviation Authority (JAA) with a powerful new aviation safety agency. The EC's goal is to create a pan-European regulator with real teeth, legally empowered to legislate and enforce safety standards across the EU. But as with most things that require the agreement of the EU's 15 countries, the proposal submitted Oct. 2 was a watered-down version of the original concept.
Boeing concluded its purchase of Jeppesen Sanderson Inc., which becomes a wholly owned subsidiary reporting to the Commercial Aviation Services business unit of Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group.
Work is now well-advanced by the former Racal Avionics, now Thomson Racal Defense, on two contracts worth nearly $90 million, with five-year options for almost another $60 million, placed earlier this year to upgrade the communications and navigation systems of Royal Navy GKN Westland Lynx HMA Mk 8 and RAF Boeing Chinook HC.2/2A helicopters. Rockwell Collins AN/ARC-210 radio, as the basis of the U.S. company's new TALON advanced UHF/VHF communication system, was selected by Racal to meet the U.K.
Chelton Electrostatics, Ltd. purchased BAE Systems' radomes business based at Stevenage, U.K., and renamed it Chelton Radomes, Ltd. New company will continue an agreement with Nordam Texas to repair and overhaul radomes for Nordam customers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Aviation Management Systems, Phoenix, named John A. Martin, a long-time executive at BFGoodrich, its president and CEO. Martin most recently was president of BFGoodrich Aerospace's Aviation Services Division in Everett, Wash.
Triumph Group reached an agreement with Honeywell International to purchase ``certain assets'' used in the design, manufacture and overhaul of hydraulic pumps, motors and power transfer units. The product lines will be moved from Honeywell's Rocky Mount, N.C., manufacturing facility to Triumph subsidiary Frisby Aerospace, Inc., based in Clemmons, N.C.
