Airbus' corporate jet center in Toulouse completed its third VIP cabin for an Airbus ACJ family aircraft in August, for a private customer. Comlux The Aviation Group will operate the aircraft. The center says it now has 10 contracts for cabin outfitting on the books for customers in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, slated for delivery through 2011.
—Operators of mature C-130 Hercules have three good options for upgrading the aircraft’s center wing box, the high-stress area where wings, empennage and landing gear meet. The first option is refurbishing the wing, the second option is installing a new standard wing and the third option is installing the enhanced service life wing, which flies on new C-130J models. Each choice extends the Hercules’ service lives, at different costs.
‘Ecological’ Paint The Mankiewicz base coat/clear coat system recently gained Airbus approval for use on its entire fleet of aircraft, making the Hamburg paint manufacturer one of three approved as a paint supplier for Airbus exteriors. Applied in thin layers, Mankiewicz’s coating system is designed to save operators time and money up-front and in maintenance work.
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.
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.
Pacific Aerospace Resources & Technologies (PART) bought out Victorville Aerospace’s assets in August, finally anchoring that company after it filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 last September. PART plans to grow its new Victorville base, where it will offer MRO, modifications, asset and maintenance management, mission critical systems development and integration, platform technologies and flight test services to military and commercial customers from a hangar large enough to host an Airbus A380. Facilities
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
What are two of the biggest hurdles to the wider adoption of supply chain software tools in the MRO industry? If you said: the big upfront licensing fees and the long, disruptive implementation times, then you may want to consider an on-demand, or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), solution for some of your software needs.
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.
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.
Monogram Systems reissued STCs to install Envirovac toilets, chemical injection toilets or Envirovac vacuum waste blowers on McDonnell Douglas MD-11; Boeing 767-200 and -300, 747-400 and 777-200; and Airbus A319 and A320 series aircraft, Several STCs
Midcoast Aviation named Skip Madsen VP of MRO, responsible for MRO sales and services at its St. Louis headquarters as well as its satellites in Boston/Bedford, Chicago, Palm Beach, and Teterboro, and at Savannah Air Canter. Madsen, who has been with the company since 2007, will report to Don Petersen.
Premier Air Center amended STC to install a four- or five-display Universal Avionics EFI-890R electronic flight instrument system on Dassault Falcon 50 aircraft, STC ST02226CH
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
Siam Hiller Holdings reissued STC to install Allison 250-C18A, -C18C, -C20, -C20B engine and related changes on various Bell 47G helicopters, STC SH657NW
A J Walter will support another Astraeus Airlines Boeing 757-200 under an existing power-by-the-hour support arrangement with the U.K.-based sub-lease services and aircraft and crew provider, which operates a fleet of five 757s and two 737NGs. A J Walter has supported Astraeus Airlines from its base near London-Gatwick since the carrier's launch in 2002.
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.
The Hammonds Cos. named Jeff Hammonds general manager. Hammonds formerly managed the Hammonds Additive Injector System production floor and has been involved in the company's launch of its Omni Directional Vehicle and in technical sales.
Condition monitoring (CM) systems record machine-performance data remotely via sensors. CM systems can be used in different facilities, but must be manually programmed each time they are moved, a procedure that in Europe can cost around €100,000 ($140,000). The Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering of Kaiserslautern has developed a CM system that can be installed in different facilities without manual programming. The software runs on a basic language developed by Fraunhofer, which lets engineers set the system up with a “drag-and-drop” function.
Midcoast Aviation to install structural provisions, data connectivity and power supply for a dual Class II electronic flight bag on Bombardier CL-600-2B16 (CL-604) aircraft, STC ST02721CH-D
