Europe's commercial operators and airports are becoming safer

Setting up a component repair facility halfway around the world is no small undertaking, but SR Technics is on track to open its new repair facility in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in December. The new shop will complement the company's existing repair network with locations in Switzerland, Spain and Abu Dhabi, as well as support the growth of its Integrated Component Services (ICS) business.

What started in the cockpit and on the hangar floor is now touching the tarmac, making its presence felt in line maintenance and ground operations. The migration of mobile information technology is something short of a torrent, but “I think it's going to accelerate very quickly,” says Freelon Hunter, Boeing's director of fleet and maintenance solutions for Commercial Aviation Services.

Human factors principles are being applied unevenly in aviation maintenance due, in part, to uncertainties about the field. “Not everyone understands human factors,” says Simon Roberts, chairman of the European Human Factors Advisory Group and a 15-year veteran of the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority. “Some academics give the impression that you need to understand psychology and the science of the mind to get it, but I argue it is just people being people. Human factors is just what we do on a daily basis.”

The European Aviation Safety Agency is ordering swaps of high-cycle trimmable horizontal stabilizer actuators (THSAs) on Airbus A330s and older A340s after tests on a similar design fitted on A380s showed less-than-expected life limits. Airbus says the problem is in the THSA’s no-back brake, which helps prevent uncommanded movements if the actuator malfunctions.

General Electric (GE) says transfer gearboxes on additional GE90-115B engines are having to be replaced after a suspected failure in one such unit on July 2 forced a Korean Air Boeing 777-300ER to divert to Anadyr in Russia while enroute from Chicago to Incheon, South Korea.

Walking through the Paris air show last month, I was struck by the large number of companies exhibiting under one regional or cluster umbrella. There were, to mention a few, Aerospace Valley, Rockford Area Aerospace Network, Monterrey Aerocluster Mexico, Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster, Aero Montreal, Skywin Wallonie and Northwest Aerospace Alliance. Such groupings have a basic economic rationale: They allow small suppliers to be present at a show without bearing the full costs of renting their own stands in an exhibit hall.

Bombardier is boosting its aftermarket support network in Africa, tapping customer Ethiopian Airlines as an authorized Q400 maintenance provider and adding both parts distribution and customer support out of Johannesburg. The Ethiopian agreement will cover both Q400 line and heavy maintenance and is expected to be in place by September, Bombardier says.