Compact Videoscopes Two new industrial videoscopes from Olympus NDT measure one-third the size and half the weight of its previous devices, making the new equipment well-suited for remote visual inspections when access is limited. Designed for operation by users at any experience level, Olympus' new IPLEX LX and IPLEX LT tools should simplify remote visual inspections of areas such as inside boiler rooms, airplane fuselages and wind turbine gear boxes.
Lufthansa Technik signed its 2,000th aircraft under a total support contract as part of an 18-aircraft expansion of a deal with Aeroflot Russian Airlines. The new agreement brings the total number of Aeroflot Airbus A320s covered by LHT total support from 45 to 63.
Chromalloy won a $3.3 million contract award to provide high-pressure turbine nozzle repairs for the F108 gas turbine engines that power the U.S. Air Force KC-135R fleet of more than 400 tanker aircraft, deployed from Tinker Air Force Base.OM
King Aerospace Commercial Corp. named John Burnam and Blair Descourouez regional sales managers. Burnam previously was a completion sales executive with Gulfstream Aerospace, and Descourouez was VP of operations for Ambassador Jet Center.
Aegean Airlines signed a follow-up airframe maintenance contract with Lufthansa Technik for 19 additional aircraft. Lufthansa Technik Malta and Shannon Aerospace, both wholly owned by LHT, will perform the C checks on 14 Airbus A320s, three A321s and two Boeing 737s between December and February 2011.
After 21 years, interest in the Federal Aviation Administration’s maintenance human factors symposium is as high as ever. The annual program, co-sponsored by the Air Transport Association, hosted 400 delegates in September in San Diego. Forty speakers from China, Australia, Europe, the U.A.E and North America shared international perspectives. A larger, more diverse audience of airline and MRO senior management than in previous meetings indicated the continuing safety impact and financial benefit of proper attention to maintenance and ramp human factors.
PATS Aircraft reissued STCs to alter the fire protection systems and lower cargo compartments on Boeing 737-700, -700C and -800 series aircraft, STCs ST01184LA and ST00405LA-D
Custom Cranes Ruger Industries offers custom-engineered portable cranes for aviation maintenance operations. Using mobile cranes for tasks such as lifting aircraft engines or control surfaces improves safety by reducing or eliminating dependency on motorized lift trucks. They also are designed to operate in the tight work areas often prescribed in private or commercial aviation maintenance settings.
Bombardier Customer Services began offering new repair solutions for operational damage to V2500-A5 nacelle panels. Its Belfast and Dallas MRO facilities offer the new repair capability that restores panels to their original specification while maintaining their acoustic properties.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Jettech to install a Sandel SA4550 primary attitude display, SN4500 primary navigation displays and associated equipment into a Cessna 500 to obtain WAAS approval for a Garmin GNS-400W/500W global navigation system with an FGS-70 automatic flight control system, STC ST10945SC
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
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.
Siam Hiller Holdings reissued STC to install Allison 250-C18A, -C18C, -C20, -C20B engine and related changes on various Bell 47G helicopters, STC SH657NW