There were more than 2,000 exhibitors at last month's Paris air show, and my guess is that at least one-third were involved in metal forming or cutting. And all of these companies depend on “subtractive” manufacturing techniques such as turning, milling and cutting to produce their aerospace parts. It was clear that many senior executives are acutely aware of and talking about the emergence of “additive” manufacturing (AM)—sometimes known as “3-D printing”—as the next major change-and-disruptive technology in aerospace manufacturing.

About 50 Airbus A380s need wing leading-edge lift devices inspected for incorrectly installed hinge assemblies, a proposed European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) airworthiness directive says. The regulator says “a deficient assembly process” could cause gaps to form between bolts and bushings installed on droop nose hinge arm forks. Left unchecked, the stress could deform the forks and—in the worst case—break them.

Boeing 787 operators to be given 10 days to inspect Honeywell ELTs

Investigators looking into the emergency beacon fire which damaged an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 on July 12 are focusing on whether a pinched wire in the unit could have sparked a short circuit, igniting the battery. The new suspect in the search for a cause of the fire, which erupted in one of the 787’s emergency locator transmitters (ELT) while the aircraft was parked at London Heathrow Airport, emerged from forensic analysis of the Honeywell-built unit by the U.K. Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB).

An 8% increase in commercial aerospace original equipment sales and a 3% improvement in commercial aftermarket revenues helped Honeywell Aerospace mitigate the adverse effects of an 8% decline in defense and space sales in the second quarter. Despite a 1% decline in overall sales to $3 billion, Honeywell Aerospace posted a 4% year-on-year rise in operating income to $583 million and a 0.9 percentage point gain in segment margin to 19.5%.

Rockwell Collins is benefiting from growing aftermarket demand, particularly in the air transport segment, even as the rise in aircraft retirements cuts into the company’s traditional support opportunities, company executives report. The company posted a 13% jump in commercial aftermarket revenue, from $208 million to $235 million, in the fiscal 2013 third quarter ending June 30. The air transport segment grew 17%, from $109 million to $128 million, on the strength of higher spares sales and retrofits such as cockpit display upgrades, says CEO Clay Jones.

Air China will begin installing equipment for on-board wi-fi service on its Boeing 777s from early 2014 under a program being rolled out by maintenance company Ameco Beijing. The second Airbus A330 that Ameco fitted with wi-fi returned to flight on July 3. Singaporean avionics company Flight Focus is supplying the equipment. The system “enables internet access, mail, wi-fi chat as well as the cabin-wide [high-definition] video streaming in wide-body aircraft for more than 300 passengers,” says Ameco.

As investigations continue into the transmitter fire which severely damaged an Ethiopian Airlines 787 at London Heathrow Airport July 12, Boeing is gearing up for the most challenging aircraft repair and recovery operation it has yet faced on the new twinjet—and perhaps one of the most complex ever undertaken on a commercial composite aerostructure.