Merlin HC Mk3/3a medium-lift helicopters flown by Royal Air Force Sqdn. 78 are the latest U.K. rotorcraft to be upgraded for Afghanistan. The Merlins, built by AgustaWestland, were scheduled for deployment by the end of 2009. The £45-million ($75-million) upgrade included installation of rotor blades that are designed for the hot-high flying conditions of the country and electronic countermeasures to guard against threats.
Defect Free will have a trickle-down effect on Cathay’s broader maintenance program, reducing the amount of work required and time spent in heavy checks. It makes sense: if suppliers are keeping seats and ovens and other components in top condition on a day-to-day basis, these items won’t need to be serviced during base checks.
ARINC Engineering Services won a Rockwell Collins contract to install new navigation systems and communications equipment on two U.S. OC-135B observation aircraft. ARINC will develop the installation plan and strategy for the OC-135B, then install Rockwell’s Block 40 global air traffic management navigational upgrade kit and additional communications systems at its aircraft integration and modification facility in Oklahoma City. Parts/Components
Lufthansa Technik took over component support for Air Berlin Group's Boeing 737s, Airbus A320 and A330 family aircraft, and Bombardier Q400s. The agreement covers on-site service at the carrier's Berlin and Düsseldorf hubs, access to Lufthansa Technik's central material warehouses and repair services in Hamburg and Frankfurt, and an AOG global express for about 2,000 different types of electronic, hydraulic and pneumatic components. Air Berlin also transferred a large part of its spare parts inventory to Lufthansa Technik. Joint Ventures/Acquisitions
What is bmi's fleet age and utilization? Mahoney: Our narrowbody Airbuses are six years old, the Boeing 737s are around 13 years old, and the A330s are around eight years old.
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres launched a joint venture in Jinjiang, Fujian Province, China, for aircraft tire retreading and distribution with Hong Kong Aircraft Co. Ltd. (28%) and Taikoo (Xiamen) Aircraft Engineering Co. Ltd (9%) called Dunlop Taikoo (Jinjiang) Aircraft Tyres Co. Ltd. It will retread aircraft tires and distribute new tires from Dunlop's Birmingham, U.K. facility to operators in Asia-Pacific. The JV has site and product approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China and full repair station approval from EASA.
Sabca, a Brussels-based company specializing in aviation engineering, signed an exclusive F-16 spare parts supply contract with Derco Aerospace of the U.S. Derco, a subsidiary of Sikorsky Aerospace Services, will supply parts manufactured by Argo-Tech, Hamilton Sundstrand and Honeywell for just-in-time component repair of F-16s operated by European air forces.
The U.S. Air Force tapped Northrop Grumman to develop an anti-jam embedded Global Positioning Satellite and inertial navigation unit for its A-10C Thunderbolt fleet under a $3.3 million, 18-month task order. With subcontractors BAE Systems Control and Borsight Aerospace, Northrop will carry out integrated architecture and life-cycle costs analysis, install a temporary EGI modification, develop a system safety program, and provide program and engineering management support during flight-test operational assessments.
Erickson Air-Crane's Chris Erickson, chief repair station officer and compliance officer, was elected president of the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) on Oct. 30. Erickson assumes the presidency after two years of service as ARSA’s senior VP. Dr. Hans Jürgen-Loss, VP of quality management at Lufthansa Technik, and Gary Fortner, VP of quality management at Fortner Engineering, were elected ARSA’s senior VP and treasurer, respectively.
Automatic Shut-off Pressure Washers Daimer Industries’ new line of mobile, heated, electric high-pressure washers fits situations where operators work far away from the equipment and would waste time turning off the washers every break. The Super Max 12200AST pressure washers feature automatic shut-off technology that turns off the device’s pump and motor after 30 seconds when the cleaning gun is not in use, then restarts them when an operator pulls the trigger, preventing unnecessary wear on critical components.
The headlines regarding AVIATION WEEK’s annual workforce study tend to focus on program execution. What they do not specifically address are the very real impact points on the support of those programs once they are delivered to customers. And, it’s a point the data tend to reinforce with precision.
The Army Aviation and Missile Command plans to install as many as 1,500 advanced datalinks in four types of helicopters over the next six to seven years. Apache, Blackhawk, Chinook and Kiowa rotorcraft will receive the IDM-304B (improved data modem), which is in the final stages of development by Symetrics Industries of Melbourne, Fla.
AviIT finished implementing its eMan technical publication management solution with Toronto-based FBO Skyservice Business Aviation. It also released the Web-based version of the eMan suite, called eManWeb. Contracts Military
Lufthansa Technik and Air Transat extended an engine services agreement for the CF6-80C2 turbofans that power the Canadian charter airline's Airbus A310 fleet for three additional years. The 14 additional overhauls included in the agreement will take place at in Hamburg; the first engines are scheduled for March.
SR Technics plans to open a narrowbody MRO facility in Malta to provide base and heavy maintenance for narrowbody aircraft operating in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The four-bay facility, to open in early 2012, is part of SR Technics' plan to redeploy airframe and other labor-intensive activities to low-cost areas and to increase proximity to its customer base.
GE Aviation and Emirates signed a memorandum of understanding for GE90 engine maintenance, under which Emirates will perform engine module and piece-part breakdown on GE90-115B engines and GE90-115B engine testing at its engine test facility near Dubai International Airport. GE provide Emirates with material and manpower support.
Airbus launched a winglet upgrade for the A320 family that promises to provide a 3.5% fuel-burn improvement over the existing wingfence design. New Zealand Airways is the launch customer for the "sharklets." Airbus is still working on a winglet retrofit option for the A320, but it will not be the sharklets. It is looking at its own design but also is talking to Aviation Partners, which may be involved in building the sharklets. The A320 will be the first to get the devices, with a planned in-service date of late 2012.
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is reporting successful trials with an innovative ozone-based aircraft water system sanitization unit, according to Cory Howe, an aircraft systems engineer in the carrier’s maintenance and engineering department. “The EPA has issued some recent rulings which prompted us to look into new technologies that can remove potential hazards and allow for aircraft potable water system quality verification on our entire 737 fleet,” he explains.
ST Aerospace renamed six subsidiaries to brand them more firmly to the parent company: ST Aerospace Services Co. Ptd. Ltd. (formerly ST Aviation Services Co. Pte. Ltd.), ST Aerospace Training Academy (ST Aviation Training Academy), ST Aerospace Guangzhou Aero-Technologies & Engineering (Guangzhou Aerospace Technologies & Engineering), ST Aerospace Mobile (ST Mobile Aerospace Engineering), ST Aerospace San Antonio (San Antonio Aerospace) and ST Aerospace Panama (Panama Aerospace Engineering).
Air France KLM named Bruno Delile, who until recently was senior VP international and business development for Air France Industries, president of AMG, a group subsidiary that specializes in component support. He also will serve as senior VP Operations AFI KLM E&M for the Americas. Fabrice Defrance, formerly in charge of engineering and AF operational aircraft maintenance for AFI, took over for Delile as AFI KLM E&M senior VP, Commercial and Business Development.
