Europe The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has proposed beefed-up standards and maintenance practices for aircraft flight and data recorders. Among the changes: Cockpit voice recorders (CVR) on large aircraft—having a maximum takeoff weight of at least 27,000 kg—would need recording durations of 15 hr. by January 2019. EASA also proposed that, by 2020, CVRs and flight data recorders have underwater location devices that broadcast for at least 90 days.
When Northern European and North Atlantic air traffic came to halt in 2010 following the eruption of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, Air France Industries KLM Engineering and Maintenance (AFI KLM E&M) continued to serve its customers by shipping parts and components from its operations in Miami and Kuala Lumpur. This is one example of the risk-management initiative supporting its supply chain operations, say Benjamin Moreau and Harmen Lanser, members of the component services team.
Europe A U.K. Aviation Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) call to have Boeing 777 interior lighting crashworthiness improved has been rejected by the U.S. FAA, but Boeing addressed the matter well before an accident brought the issue to light, AAIB's latest annual safety report reveals.
The following companies' products and services in MRO Links garnered the most interest from the industry. To access more information about the following, go toAviationWeek.com/mrolinks and enter the link number. 1. Commercial Aerospace Solutions Company: AAR Corp. Services: AAR provides heavy maintenance checks, modifications, component repair, landing gear overhaul and engineering services to support airline and government fleets. www.aarcorp.com Link 600
A recent report from the U.S. Transportation Department's Inspector General sheds some light on the impact of sequestration on FAA's certification efforts and related delays. Top FAA executives have said a hiring freeze put in place late last year has forced the agency' s Aviation Safety (AVS) branch to allocate more of its limited resources to immediate safety issues. The loser has been certification projects that are either resource-intensive or simply new.
An FAA rulemaking advisory committee's recommendations on improving the consistency of rules interpretations is starting bear fruit in a much-needed area: the guidance behind regulations. Dorenda Baker, FAA's director of Aircraft Certification Services, says the agency is tackling the committee's most pressing recommendations: conducting a review of existing guidance to eliminate duplicative, conflicting or irrelevant guidance; and ensuring the rest is available in an electronic database.
Can you pinpoint one or two industry trends that emerged in 2013? One could argue that the debates about OEMs' increasing penetration of the aftermarket became more vociferous this year. But did they? While safety issues will be mainly black or white, many MRO issues have shifted to shades of gray.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) are harmonizing their approaches to inspecting foreign aircraft under the European Union's Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) program.
1. Growing Stronger Supplier: Aeroxchange Offering: Founded in July 2000 by 13 airlines to create a global, neutral eCommerce platform to support the aviation supply chain, Aeroxchange is still going strong. It allows users to outsource their electronic data interface strategy, providing a seamless connection among trading partners. www.aeroxchange.com Link 605 2. Straight From The Source Supplier: Flatirons Solutions
Joint purchasing of MRO is not novel and did exist before the present airline alliances were formed, points out ICF SH&E's Vice President David Stewart.
Aviation's “Dirty Dozen” pinpoints the 12 most common root causes of human error in maintenance, but new human-performance research indicates several of these 12 are linked by one underlying problem: something psychologist Kaye Baron calls “mental debris.” Fatigue, stress, distraction, communication, awareness—all can potentially trace their roots to this single issue.
1. Fixer-Uppers Supplier: Pacific Aero Tech Offering: Pacific Aero Tech's focus has included repairing and servicing aircraft windows and other transparencies since 1987. The company also boasts one of the industry's largest and most diverse inventories of aircraft windows. The company's capabilities encompass servicing wingtip and landing lenses, windshields and cabin windows on most Airbus and Boeing aircraft. www.mcnally-group.com/pacificaerotech
Europe The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), concerned about the number of reports of defective fasteners, is developing a certification memorandum that will advise product developers to take steps to ensure the quality of so-called standards nuts and bolts (see photo).
The aviation aftermarket has become more sophisticated about how it repurposes aircraft, engines and material no longer needed in operation. Some aircraft still get parked, but the number that remain inactive in deserts or on tarmacs is dwindling because aircraft financiers, lessors and parts providers employ asset-valuation strategies earlier in the game. Today, many mature aircraft are worth more as parts than as a whole.
Cloud computing is considered to be the next major trend in electronic-documents management, but still to be decided is how much data will be controlled by airlines, and how much by original equipment manufacturers. Best practices devised to keep engines on-wing longer is one of the issues, says Paul Mingler, GE Aviation's chief consulting engineer of product safety.
