NetJets hired Tom Mealie as vice president of fleet base maintenance. He most recently was director of quality at Omni Air International. NetJets also named David Bauman vice president of line and recovery maintenance. He previously was vice president of Aerospace Products International.
AAC-American Aerospace Corp. 1301 Saratoga St., De Land, FL 32724 Phone: 386-785-0747; Fax: 386-785-0767 Equipment/Structures Serviced: Lighting; passenger service units Regulatory Approvals: FAA YOAR178X; JAA.4147 AAR Aircraft Services-Indianapolis Maintenance Center 2825 W. Perimeter Road, Indianapolis, IN 46241 Phone: 317-227-5030; Fax: 317-227-5104 AAR Aircraft Services-Oklahoma Will Rogers World Airport, 6611 S. Meridian Rd., Oklahoma City, OK 73159-1104
Henkel published its Adhesive Sourcebook Volume 5, which is a 149-page guide to the company's line of 1,400 Loctite adhesives, sealants, coatings, cleaners and lubricants. The guide also contains dispensing and curing equipment listings. The catalogue is divided into four application categories, one of which is MRO products. Henkel Corp., 1001 Trout Brook Crossing, Rocky Hill, CT 06067
Jet fuel prices now represent as much as 20% of most airlines' costs, according to data published by Lehman Brothers Equity Research in New York. The firm reports that since the end of 2004 through early April 2005, fuel prices have risen approximately 130%. The "Short Term Energy Outlook," published by the U.S. Department of Energy (http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/steo_ query/app/paresult.asp), forecasts that over an 18-month period, ending December 2006, jet fuel will range in price between $1.54 to $1.63 per-gallon.
Jet-Care and Spectro extended their Total Healthcare Program for Honeywell TFE731 engines also to include the PW100, PW300 and PW500 series engines from Pratt & Whitney Canada, as well as Williams International's FJ44s.
Abaqus announced a new capability called Virtual Crack Closure Technique, a technology that Boeing developed for predicting fracture and failure in laminated composite materials. Abaqus modified it slightly so it integrates with its Abaqus software.
From the Editor 4 Biznet 9 Interview 14 David Storch, president and CEO AAR Corp. Safety & Regulatory News Washington in Action 17 Human Factors 21 Calendar 96 O&Marketplace 98 Advertiser Index 102 At Presstime 104 Use AVIATIONNOW.COM for the latest aviation news.
M7 Aerospace delivered the 20th ATR-42 regional aircraft converted from passenger to freighter configuration in June. M7 is developing a supplemental type certificate to convert ATR-72s to freighter conversion and hopes to receive FAA approval soon.
National Business Aviation Association created the Maintenance Technical Reward and Career Scholarship for maintenance personnel. The program, called Maintenance TRACS, will offer technician training courses for several aircraft models to at least one applicant annually. Applicants must hold A&P certificates or be in the process of getting one. Application forms are due by Jan. 15, 2006 and can be emailed to [email protected].
Alaska Airlines and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association jointly announced a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract for the airline's 700 aircraft technicians on June 16. Terms of the agreement were withheld pending a ratification vote by union members that is expected to begin by June 30.
Fischer Advanced Composite Components purchased Vistagy's FiberSIM 5.0 software. Fischer, based in Austria, plans to use the advanced composite engineering environment software to design and manufacture composite winglets for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Kawasaki Heavy Industries Aerospace Co. in Japan also purchased the FiberSIM software to manufacture fuselage sections of the 787.
Benz Materials Testing Instruments' DFT2100 Demattia flex tester is designed to test fatigue and cracks in rubber, plastics, leather, fiber optics and composites -- so it could be used on anything from aircraft tires to upholstery. The device simultaneously flexes as many as 20 product samples for up to 10 million cycles, with a variable speed from 30 to 300 cycles per minutes. A temperature chamber allows testing from -100 ºC to 150ºC. The company said fixed distances range from 0.25 inches to 4 inches (6 mm to 101.6 mm).
Bombardier Aerospace boosted service capacity by adding a second shift at its Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services facility in Berlin, plans to establish a line repair station in Russia, plans to open a new service center and spare parts depot in Dubai this summer, and open an authorized service center and line repair station in India and on the U.S. West Coast within the next year.
Boeing and International Lease Finance Corp. announced a firm order for 20 Next-Generation 737-700s and -800s, six 777-300ERs and two 777-200ERs. The total value is $2.9 billion at list prices. Boeing will start delivering the 777s late next year through 2008, and it will deliver the 737s in 2008. ALAFCO, a Kuwait-based aircraft leasing company, plans to acquire 12 Airbus A350s with options on another six. ALAFCO is the first leasing company to select the aircraft. It should start getting deliveries of the A350-800s in the third quarter of 2012.
Honeywell Aerospace announced on June 13 at the Paris Air Show that its Runway Awareness and Advisory System (RAAS) received approval for use in Europe by the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile (DGAC) of France.
Spurred by a volatile airline landscape and an expected doubling of the leased aircraft fleet in the next 15 years, leasing companies are striking ever closer relationships with the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) providers that service or monitor their assets to reduce downtime between leases. In some ways, this represents a shift from a hands-off relationship in the past, when an owner's interface with the MRO largely took place in crisis mode after unplanned events -- like repossessions -- or at the end of a lease.
Stanford University's financial problems after World War II led to the creation in the 1950s of the Stanford Industrial Park, a large parcel of land in Northern California that the school leased to technology companies. That parcel of land, better known as Silicon Valley, now is the model for the Netherlands' aviation effort called the Dutch Maintenance Valley, which is a public private partnership designed to woo aircraft maintenance, service and technology companies to support European-based F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, along with other aircraft.
