Lufthansa Technik and bmi signed a five-year agreement covering MRO services for more than 50 IAE V2500 engines that power bmi’s complete Airbus A320-series fleet. The first engine services are expected to be carried out around the end of the first quarter.
Aircraft Exterior Decals High-performance decals for aircraft are offered by Color Craft, which provided Olympic-themed decals to Air Canada for one of its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to celebrate the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Color Craft produces screen and digitally printed graphics, and its decals can be applied without specialized labor or environmentally controlled hangars, the company says.
Delta TechOps will partner with Evergreen Aviation Technologies to provide Tokyo-based Skymark Airlines’ CFM56-7B-powered Boeing 737NG fleet with engine maintenance services under a five-year agreement. EGAT already provides Skymark with comprehensive maintenance.
Sichuan Airlines signed a contract with Airbus for customized flight hour services for its future fleet of three new leased A330s, which are scheduled to enter service early this year.
GE Aviation selected Premier Turbines as its designated repair center in North and South America for M601 and H80 turboprop engines. Premier Turbines planned to begin accepting M601 engines for repair in the first quarter.
For airlines and business jet operators, there has long been the argument that radials are the aircraft tire of the future, given their significant advantages over bias types. Southwest Airlines’ Richard Giacomello reports that the carrier has seen about a 30% increase in overall tire life with radials over bias tires. The basis of that comparison is data collected since 2001 on the radial tires used on Southwest’s Boeing 737-700 and the bias types on its 737-300 and -500 aircraft.
FAA faces the daunting task of writing a Safety Management System (SMS) regulation that will accommodate the various aspects of industry yet provide a clear, consistent standard for operators. The complexity of writing SMS regulations is evident in industry comments on a potential rulemaking, with some organizations urging FAA to move forward expeditiously and others questioning whether FAA can legally issue a comprehensive, “unbound” proposal.
Ameco Beijing inducted an LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767-300 for a C Check on Jan. 11. The contract specifically covers the C check for the aircraft, one of six 767-300ERs operated by LOT Polish.
Lockheed Martin Electronic and Fire Control received a $99.4-million firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance work on Army Apache helicopters. The work is part of the Sensors Flying Hours Program for 2010, and includes repair or replacement of units and modules in sensor systems. A-10C Software
Three H-3 Mk-2-variant Sea King helicopters operated by Egypt will be refurbished by AgustaWestland North America in a depot maintenance program. The company received a $17.4-million contract via the U.S. foreign military sales program. Work is to be finished by the end of the year.
The Pakistan defense ministry has awarded Lockheed Martin a $43-million contract to upgrade the avionics of seven navy P-3C Orion aircraft. The work, which will be done in the U.S. at plants in Eagan, Minn., and Greenville, S.C., is a continuation of a program that began in 2007. Lockheed then was named general contractor and paid $186.5 million to install new communication systems, inverse synthetic aperture radar, electronic support measures and acoustic tracking systems.
Faster Fix The two biggest problems for aircraft maintainers are engines and fuel tanks, though not always in that order. Keeping engines in good operating condition and making sure tanks are leak-free are central to maintenance and repair—and critical to aircraft availability. This is what Mike Evans, executive VP of Aerowing, says his Air Force contacts stress.
LONDON—EASA issued mandatory safety directives in December for the replacement of specified parts on Rolls-Royce Trent engines powering Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft. This work must be completed by January 2011. The mandate relates to concerns of ice build-up in the fuel oil heat exchanger (FOHE), which could potentially block fuel lines and shut down engines during long flights—an occurrence thought to have caused the crash-landing of a Boeing 777 at Heathrow in January 2008 and a May 2009 engine malfunction on a Trent 700-powered Etihad Airways A330.
Safety Station A storage unit for safety and first-aid equipment now is available from Shure Manufacturing. The reinforced steel safety unit features a stainless steel top and chase panel, and it comes equipped with leg levelers as well as a mirror, soap dispenser, towel dispenser, waste receptacle and emergency eye wash
Two civil aviation aftermarket deals announced Jan. 6 captured my attention and led me to think about how service bundling could change in the next few years as capital becomes more accessible and the links in the industry’s global supply chain grow stronger.
Once upon a time, the most technically competent A&Ps comprised the ranks of aviation maintenance managers. Organizations needing to fill a management position often would look on the shop floor for a experienced person with mechanical smarts and hand him the job, the assumption being that those who were best at maintaining an aircraft also would be best at managing maintainers of aircraft. There’s just one problem with this approach: it doesn’t work.
In Russia, problems related to the SaM146 engine are reported to be behind the delayed delivery of the first Sukhoi Superjet 100, which Aeroflot now expects in mid-2010. The SaM146 engines are developed and produced by Powerjet, a joint venture between Snecma and NPO Saturn.
When Michael Williams, a professor of business at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), first joined the aviation business several decades ago, computers were “unheard of,” he recalls. Today, however, an understanding of technology and computer programs is an essential capability of every maintenance manager. “Being able to use maintenance planning software, scheduling software, being able to communicate electronically—these [skills] are needed more than anything today,” he says.
The Pentagon awarded Bell-Boeing an $11.8-million contract for work on the Suite of Integrated Radio Frequency Countermeasures (Sirfc) system, which provides protection for USAF Special Operations Command’s CV-22 tiltrotors. The work includes switch-out of two line-replaceable units and antenna radome design modifications. Sirfc was deployed with the aircraft last year in Africa.
Enhancing safety remains the primary reason for installing health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) on rotorcraft. But HUMS also reduce the operating costs of helicopters and prolong the useful life of various parts and systems. Operators use the technology to predict catastrophic component failures and replace those items in a timely fashion.
Nexcelle added Michel J. Abella as director of programs. Abella previously was program manager for Airbus A380 nacelles at Aircelle’s Toulouse, France, operation.
Top-Loading Oven Grieve offers a new top-loading oven that electronically heats to 500 degrees F for curing components. The oven, No. 1007, features 4-in. insulated walls, an aluminized steel interior and exterior, a motor-operated rear hinge door and a compressed air manifold with eight connections; 60 KW are installed in Nichrome heating elements and three 3-HO recirculating blowers total 9,000 CFM for rear-to-front airflow.
