Compact Videoscopes Two new industrial videoscopes from Olympus NDT measure one-third the size and half the weight of its previous devices, making the new equipment well-suited for remote visual inspections when access is limited. Designed for operation by users at any experience level, Olympus' new IPLEX LX and IPLEX LT tools should simplify remote visual inspections of areas such as inside boiler rooms, airplane fuselages and wind turbine gear boxes.
Lufthansa Technik signed its 2,000th aircraft under a total support contract as part of an 18-aircraft expansion of a deal with Aeroflot Russian Airlines. The new agreement brings the total number of Aeroflot Airbus A320s covered by LHT total support from 45 to 63.
Chromalloy won a $3.3 million contract award to provide high-pressure turbine nozzle repairs for the F108 gas turbine engines that power the U.S. Air Force KC-135R fleet of more than 400 tanker aircraft, deployed from Tinker Air Force Base.OM
King Aerospace Commercial Corp. named John Burnam and Blair Descourouez regional sales managers. Burnam previously was a completion sales executive with Gulfstream Aerospace, and Descourouez was VP of operations for Ambassador Jet Center.
Aegean Airlines signed a follow-up airframe maintenance contract with Lufthansa Technik for 19 additional aircraft. Lufthansa Technik Malta and Shannon Aerospace, both wholly owned by LHT, will perform the C checks on 14 Airbus A320s, three A321s and two Boeing 737s between December and February 2011.
After 21 years, interest in the Federal Aviation Administration’s maintenance human factors symposium is as high as ever. The annual program, co-sponsored by the Air Transport Association, hosted 400 delegates in September in San Diego. Forty speakers from China, Australia, Europe, the U.A.E and North America shared international perspectives. A larger, more diverse audience of airline and MRO senior management than in previous meetings indicated the continuing safety impact and financial benefit of proper attention to maintenance and ramp human factors.
PATS Aircraft reissued STCs to alter the fire protection systems and lower cargo compartments on Boeing 737-700, -700C and -800 series aircraft, STCs ST01184LA and ST00405LA-D
Custom Cranes Ruger Industries offers custom-engineered portable cranes for aviation maintenance operations. Using mobile cranes for tasks such as lifting aircraft engines or control surfaces improves safety by reducing or eliminating dependency on motorized lift trucks. They also are designed to operate in the tight work areas often prescribed in private or commercial aviation maintenance settings.
Bombardier Customer Services began offering new repair solutions for operational damage to V2500-A5 nacelle panels. Its Belfast and Dallas MRO facilities offer the new repair capability that restores panels to their original specification while maintaining their acoustic properties.
WestWind Technologies promoted Roger Tanner to business development manager for hangar operations. Tanner has been hangar operations manager for WestWind for six years. He took on the new position in mid-August as WestWind opened its new Huntsville, Ala., aircraft modification and integration center at Huntsville International Airport. Airframes
Delta TechOps inked a $7 million, four-year component maintenance and inventory logistics contract with Canadian charter airline CanJet. Delta TechOps will take care of component and logistics inventory support for the Halifax, Nova Scotia-based carrier's Boeing 737-800s. The agreement covers avionics, pneumatics, and hydraulics, and it provides access to Delta's inventory of 737-800 components for spare parts. It also signed a $1.3 million, three-year component deal with another Canadian carrier, First Air.
Boeing has closed a deal with the government for the purchase of 15 CH-147F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. The program includes a 20-year in-service support and maintenance contract worth about $2.2 billion, almost twice as much as the $1.2-billion price of the helicopters. The contract includes an option to extend MRO to the life expectancy of the aircraft. No word has been released yet as to whether Boeing or a local company will be responsible for maintenance services.
OGMA recently delivered an SA330 Puma helicopter operated by the French government to SIMMAD (Structure Integree du Maintien en condition operationnele des Materiels Aeronautiques de la Defense). SIMMAD has been a helicopter maintenance customer of OGMA's since 2002.
Consultation periods for an EASA Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA 2009-06) concerning the use of composite materials in aircraft structures ends this month. With new, largely composite jetliners soon to enter the market, NPA 2009-06 aims to create a single Acceptable Means of Compliance chapter (AMC 20-29) to standardize recognized good practices for composite aircraft structure design, manufacturing and maintenance.
Jettech to install a Sandel SA4550 primary attitude display, SN4500 primary navigation displays and associated equipment into a Cessna 500 to obtain WAAS approval for a Garmin GNS-400W/500W global navigation system with an FGS-70 automatic flight control system, STC ST10945SC
Aerospace executives hope to continue making inroads on their long quest to simplify and ease U.S. export controls on certain aerospace parts with a White House and congressional review of the U.S. export control system. President Obama in August directed the National Economic Council and National Security Council to undertake a broad interagency review of the U.S. export control system, according to a White House statement. The review is to include both the dual-use and defense trade processes.
September's Technical Innovation correctly said that metal fiber brushes can carry two to four times the current as carbon brushes, but should have continued to say that 250 amps per square in. are easily obtained with 1,000 amps per square in. under select conditions. The caption on p. 32 should have read, An X-ray shot of the laser-drilled cooling channels in the turbine blades of a Rolls-Royce Trent 1000. Boeing provided the September cover photo of a 787.
Siam Hiller Holdings reissued STC to install Allison 250-C18A, -C18C, -C20, -C20B engine and related changes on various Bell 47G helicopters, STC SH657NW
Panasonic Avionics and SIA Engineering Co. signed a 10-year agreement for the maintenance of inflight entertainment and communication equipment on Singapore Airlines' entire fleet. Panasonic will work in conjunction with SIAEC to provide a “one-stop-shop” solution covering all on-aircraft labor, logistics, spares, repairs and media loading. Parts/Components
