When an MRO technician shows up to work, how do you know if he or she is fit for duty? Stress, fatigue, hangovers and other threats to safe job performance can be hard to identify, yet the ability to call out these potential threats can have a material impact on aviation safety.
By Kristin Majcher Every day airlines remind us of their commitment to enhancing the passenger experience. Some operators equip cabins with the newest inflight entertainment, mood lighting and lavatories. But the truth is that while some operators go all-out on newer aircraft, many have been reluctant to modify older fleets to offer the same level of comfort—until recently. As airlines rebuild midsize cabins like the Boeing 737 and A320 family after heavy checks, one trend is clear: Old seats must go.
Pratt & Whitney formally launched its PureSolution service program for the PurePower engine family. (For more information, see O&M, April 2011, pg. 66.)
Barfield will provide avionics, hydraulic, instrument, accessories and cockpit seat component maintenance for Boeing and Airbus aircraft to US Airways from its Tempe, Ariz., facility under an April contract.
Commsoft won a deal to provide its Open Aviation Strategic Engineering System (Oases) to Latvia's SmartLynx Airlines under a five-year, 15-concurrent user deal. SmartLynx planned to go live with Oases to manage its eight Airbus A320s in May.
Packaging Systems International specializes in the distribution of chemicals, sealants, adhesives and coatings. It packages epoxy, urethane, polysulfide and silicone chemistry materials to customers' specific quantity requirements. Packaging Systems International has the capability to package materials in barrier and injection kits, dual-cartridge kits and Bipacks (bags of two blendable sealant materials separated by a removable clip before use).
LONDON—The European Aviation Safety Agency EASA is considering an innovative proposal that would allow commercial operators to outsource their continuous airworthiness management organization (CAMO) functions, enabling them to adopt, for example, Boeing's Goldcare maintenance model for Boeing 787 and 737NG operators. Boeing, which has CAMO approval, could manage its European-based 787 fleet from a central organization that would provide operators with airworthy 787s. Boeing staff would run the CAMO, while operators would use aircraft from a pool.
AFI KLM Engineering & Maintenance inked a 12-year contract with Virgin Atlantic for Airbus A330 component support, including component repair, pool access and a main base kit at London Heathrow. It already completes engine, component and airframe structural maintenance for Virgin's Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A340 fleets. For French airline Corsairfly, AFI KLM E&M will continue component support for two Airbus A330-200s under an extended contract. And it renewed its component support contract with Sunwing Airlines for 737-800 aircraft for six more years.
Dean Baldwin Painting plans to nearly double in size with a new location north of Indianapolis. It is investing around $10.5 million to transform a hangar complex at Grissom Aeroplex in Peru, Ind., into a state-of-the-art paint facility. When the project is complete, the site will have two widebody and two narrowbody bays. Operations should launch at the new site in December.
SR Technics signed a five-year, $36 million integrated component support contract with Garuda Indonesia to support its Boeing 737NG fleet as well as the Airbus A330s covered under existing agreements. The new contract covers 455 part numbers in Zurich, plus SR Technics-owned stock in Jakarta that Garuda will use on a lease basis.
Killick Aerospace hired Paul Goffredi as VP business development. Goffredi most recently spent 13 years with Dallas Airmotive, serving as director of operations for the Pratt & Whitney PW100 engine program and as program director for all Honeywell engine programs.
Leki Aviation offers seat refurbishment services at its 25 Repair Center for the following aircraft types: Boeing 737 to 767 aircraft, Airbus A320 and A330, and crew seats for the MD-80. Leki has refurbished and installed many brands of seats, including Weber, Brice, Recaro and Avio. www.lekiaviation.com
Innotech-Execaire Aviation Group appointed Andrew P. Pearce regional director of aircraft sales for the U.K., Europe and the Middle East, based in London.
At one point or another, we all find ourselves looking around the house for misplaced car keys or a business card with an important phone number on it. Usually, these things turn up, and the consequence of carelessness is no more than wasted time. But in a maintenance hangar, forgotten tools can transform into foreign object debris (FOD) that can cause serious damage if left behind in an aircraft.
Aero Pneudraulics in Torrance, Calif., rebranded under the name AeroWorx and moved into larger facilities. It plans to begin manufacturing parts and perusing PMAs.
At jet engine maker GE Aviation's Hooksett factory near Manchester, N.H., thinking global means adapting someone else's idea to create a winning combination of reduced tooling and production costs for hard-to-machine superalloys. The story started in 2001 at GE Global Research in Niskayuna, N.Y., which passed on some intel from GE Global Research-Shanghai to Mike Lamphere about the way the Chinese were using electric discharge to speed up drilling of machined parts.
The landing gear overhaul business is about to surge as fleets delivered within the century's first decade reach the first removals of their landing gear for major servicing. In tandem, new aircraft delivered during the 1990s are about to hit their second removal period.
SINGAPORE—Southeast Asian countries are developing aerospace parks to attract foreign investment, but poor planning means most lag behind market leader Singapore.
A finished aircraft is a good lesson in perspective. A passenger on a long-haul flight may see the Boeing 777 as one finished behemoth, seamlessly constructed as though it rolled off the assembly line in one piece. But an aircraft technician knows that the devil is in the details, working for hours to make sure every fastener, bolt and wire harness is secure after maintenance. Before an aircraft exists at the component level, all of the individual parts must be made from raw material.
Gulf Aviation Academy brought Eng. Mahmood Albalooshi onboard as COO on April 21. The former manager of manpower development for Gulf Air now oversees the academy's programs for pilots, engineers and cabin crew training; ground services and airport management training; and theoretical and practical training.
A J Walter acquired a site close to Gatwick Airport in the U.K., where it plans to develop a global headquarters and logistics center. It plans to open the new campus in fall 2012.
Industry groups are strongly urging the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to make some key changes to the emergency revocation review, saying the process must be altered to level to the playing field for certificate holders. FAA, however, disagrees that many of the recommended changes are necessary, saying NTSB should keep most of the current processes in place.
