Leigh Sargent of ACE Applied Composites Engineering saw his company’s need for turnaround time-focused service as an opportunity for growth. ACE repairs radomes for a variety of aircraft, and before returning these to customers, it used to send the large components to other service providers for tests. If the third party couldn’t return the radome quickly enough, then it impacted ACE’s TAT. ACE decided to take the matter into its own hands: the Indianapolis-based company built its own radome test cell, focused on speed and quality.
Gulfstream opened an auxiliary power unit test cell at its Savannah, Ga., South Service Center , establishing the facility as a center of excellence for Honeywell APU testing. It is certified to test Honeywell GTCP36-100, GTCP36-150 and RE200 series APUs, which can be repaired on-site. It also completed its 2,000th Airborne Product Support flight, seven years after introducing the on-demand maintenance service.
Federal Aviation Administration Acting Administrator Lynne A. Osmus made several personnel changes in early March. Peggy Gilligan became the new associate administrator for aviation safety. Gilligan had served as deputy assistant administrator for aviation safety since July 1995, and has served as chief of staff for four FAA administrators among other posts. John Hickey, director of FAA’s Aircraft Certification Service since 2000, replaced Gilligan as deputy assistant administrator for aviation safety.
In the MRO world, configuration management (CM) is, as the name implies, the control of the parts that make up an assembly. When used to help determine the economics of repair, CM could be described as a tracking mechanism for new, repaired or re-engineered parts. First developed in the 1950s by the U.S. Department of Defense as a technical management tool, CM is used by OEMs and larger MROs to track the operational performance of a part.
Heroux-Devtek will overhaul the landing gear of the U.S. Navy’s P-3 patrol aircraft under a contract signed on March 12. The two-year agreement guarantees a certain number of component repairs and includes a three-year extension option. If the option is exercised, the work would be worth C$37 million to Heroux-Devtek. The U.S. Navy operates 170 Lockheed Martin P-3C aircraft.
Airbus added Mexicana MRO Services to its MRO network, effective Feb. 27. The Mexico City-based carrier joins 14 other MRO providers that provide maintenance and repair services for Airbus aircraft and work with Airbus in its Flight Hour Services offering.
Pratt & Whitney’s Columbus, Ga., engine center finished the first retrofit of an IAE V2500-A5 engine to the V2500 SelectOne engine. It says benefits of the retrofit include 1% lower fuel burn and corresponding lower emissions, less noise and lower overall operating costs. The V2500-A5 engine (V10301) belongs to US Airways and has been in service for about 11 years.
The growth and diversity of Latin American carriers, their increasing aircraft fleets and growing financial strength are expected to continue to spur an expansion of maintenance, repair and overhaul capabilities in the region, despite the current economic downturn. While MRO activities in Latin America date to the beginning of the air travel age, in large part because travel times to the U.S., where aircraft were being produced, were so great, there has been a spate of activity in recent years.
ELECTRONIC CABLE SPECIALISTS, to install ECS EZMount tilt mechanical mounting assemblies in cockpit of Boeing 747-400, -400D and -400F aircraft, STC ST02683CH
Bell Aerospace Services began supporting U.S. Marine Corps Boeing and Sikorsky helicopters as a subcontractor member of a team led by PKL Services of Poway, Calif., that provides selected organizational-level maintenance (Reset) for Lot 3 and Lot 4 of U.S. Marine Corps rotary wing aircraft under a $173 million, multi-year contract. The PKL Services, JK Hill and BellAero team will perform this work on both Lot 3 aircraft (AH-1W, UH-1N, CH-53D/E) and Lot 4 aircraft (CH-46E) at multiple locations worldwide.
Atlantic Fasteners received Lockheed Martin-Electronic Systems’ STAR Supplier Award, one of 36 of Lockheed’s 4,625 suppliers to gain recognition for its quality, delivery and business achievements over a 12-month period.
In the old days, repair facilities would take on just about any job to keep the revenue stream going. But, today, MROs are more discerning, carefully considering whether a repair or engineering solution is in their best interest. Some companies have an assortment of ways to determine the various costs associated with a repair: research and development, engineering, regulatory, expediency and labor costs.
Air Canada will deploy TRAX’s EVO maintenance software to handle maintenance and engineering IT requirements across its fleet of close to 200 Boeing, Airbus and Embraer aircraft. Air Canada Jazz, the company’s regional partner airline, already uses TRAX maintenance.
3M introduced a new cleaner for sensitive electronics in its line of Novec brand cleaners, which offers non-ozone depleting, low-toxicity alternatives to HCFCs. HFCs and nPB. 3M’s new Novac Contact Cleaner Plus is designed to remove oil, grease and silicones while meeting California’s recent volatile organic compound regulations for electrical cleaners.
BAE Systems received two contracts worth £119 million ($170 million) from the U.K. Ministry of Defense (MoD) to provide additional support for in-service Tornado and Harrier aircraft under a strategy known as CAPS (Commodity Availability Procurement Strategy). Under CAPS, the current Tornado availability contract (known as ATTAC) has been amended to include an availability service to support key primary warning and defensive protection equipment for RAF Tornado GR.4 and Harrier fleets.
Rite-Hite Corp.’s new Revolution Fan features an advanced design aluminum fan blade intended to provide more consistent air circulation and ventilation with better energy efficiency than traditional high-speed ceiling or floor fans.
Eurocopter plans to open a second service center in Hong Kong to serve customers in Asia-Pacific, where the helicopter maker says 1,264 Eurocopter helicopters currently are in service. The center, called CSC Asia-Pacific, will be operated by Helicopter CSC and local staff.
Conferences & Exhibitions April 14-15 Helicopter Safety & Operations Management Forum, San Diego, Calif. April 21 2009 Lean Six Sigma for Military, Grapevine/Dallas, Texas April 21-23 MRO Americas 2009 Conference & Exhibition, Grapevine/Dallas, Texas April 22-23 MRO Military 2009 Conference & Exhibition, Grapevine/Dallas, Texas May 5-6 Forecasting for Airline Pricing & Capacity Planning, Chicago, Ill. May 6-7 Bird Strike Prevention Forum, Chicago, Ill. Contacts
EMTEQ ENGINEERING, to install an EMTEQ seat warmer system in Hawker Beechcraft B200, B200C, B300, B300C, 200, 200C, 200CT, 200T, B200CT, B200T, 300 and 300LW series aircraft, STC SA03669AT
SriLankan Engineering, which had a partnership with Emirates in the past and has carried out heavy checks for Emirates and Pakistan’s private carrier Airblue, has been marketing itself in the region as an alternative to India. Sri Lanka is an ideal location given its short flying time from India, slot availability and low labor costs. However, GMR insists that it is no competition.
