Think “brake container” and safety might not be one's first consideration. Perhaps it should be. Extricating aircraft brakes from traditional containers entails lots of tugging and plenty of manhandling. That's because “the brake lies horizontally,” says Ron Miller. He chairs the Joint Air Transport Safety Committee at the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers. He estimates, depending on the aircraft, those brakes weigh 100-400 lb.
1. Aeria Luxury Interiors MRO: ST Aerospace Locations: Singapore and San Antonio Capabilities: ST Aerospace launched Aeria Luxury Interiors in 2012 to offer total support packages for airline interior completion and refurbishment projects. The MRO also offers this for VIP completions. DRB Aviation Consultants, a design specialist in San Antonio that holds an Organization Designation Authorization, supports ST Aero.
A Lufthansa Technik employee has created a muffler that cuts the noise that avionics ventilation can cause in a hangar. The device, dubbed Silencer, is now being produced by maintenance equipment specialist Franke Care System for widebody and soon narrowbody aircraft. Employee Gunther Adamczyk was rewarded under Lufthansa Technik's “Impulse” internal premium scheme.
Wedged between customer demands for tighter turn times and competition from original equipment manufacturers, independent avionics and component shops are being squeezed to perform as never before.
Washington An FAA About-Face FAA, flooded by a wave of industry opposition that started with a tremor of protest, has agreed to drop a recently minted interpretation of its rule on what constitutes adequate rest for airline mechanics, thus reverting to a more flexible, widely accepted standard.
Airlines can perform predictive maintenance much more effectively because new aircraft yield more data, and the tools for exploiting it have improved dramatically. Yet ways of thinking and business processes also must change, which often is more difficult than tapping sensors.
Of the hundreds of products and services we wrote about in MRO Links this year, these garnered the most interest from readers. The Top 10, broken down by category, include nacelle repairs, spare parts, composites, inflight entertainment, cargo conversions and cabin interiors. To access more information about the following, go to www.AviationWeek.com/mrolinks and enter the Link number under the Advanced Search section of the page. 1. Nacelle Needs
Washington NTSB's revamped most-wanted list of safety improvements and a set of related recommendations are challenging the FAA to revisit its recently established position against mandating cargo aircraft fire-suppression systems.
In Paul McElhinney's first formal sit-down interview with the press, he tells Aviation Week about how GE will have to change and innovate to ramp up to service 45,900 engines in 2020
With a demand for higher levels of customer service, third-party logistics providers are developing services for the MRO industry that go far beyond basic warehousing and transportation. These include:
When Moog Aircraft Group launched its total support program for flight-control systems for the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350, the concept was simple: Guarantee airlines that a component will be ready to ship within 2 hr.—or as little as 10 min. in an aircraft-on-ground (AOG) situation—from a location no more than 6-7 hr. from anyplace in the world.
1. Double Shades Manufacturer: Aerospace Technologies Group Applications: Aerospace Technologies Group introduced its electro-mechanical shade systems in 2002, but the company has since made specific versions for Airbus (the Powertech NG Shade System found on some A380s) and for Boeing (the Ambiance Shade System certified for the 777).
1. 5-Axis for Small Parts Manufacturer: Hardinge Group Applications: The recently announced Bridgeport GX-250 5AX is a five-axis vertical machining center designed for work on small parts that need to have fine surface finishes. Specifications: The C-frame machine features NANO Smoothing, a tool center point control and polar coordinate, cylindrical and helical interpolation, plus other features and options such as tool and part probes.
