Author: gregoryteach

West Star and CCX Technologies have inked a dealership agreement. This new agreement grows CCX’s U.S.-based onboard cyber security solutions dealer network; West Star Aviation will be selling, installing and maintaining the portfolio of onboard products that provide actionable security capabilities and flight data. 

“It is gratifying to see the aviation industry recognizing the critical need for onboard cyber security solutions and actionable data,” said Chris Bartlett, president of CCX Technologies. “Having West Star join our growing team of authorized cyber security dealers gives customers greater access to our products and services. We are eager to work with their team to develop and deliver tailored onboard cyber security solutions.” 

What sets CCX Technologies onboard offerings apart from other solutions is that since they are installed on the aircraft, operators gain the ability to monitor their inflight networks with data sourced directly from the aircraft. The AP-250 empowers operators to improve their cyber security posture through actionable data showing what’s actually happening on their aircraft. CCX Technologies also offers enhanced solutions through proprietary and customized features or integrations.

“All this recent attention on security breaches has encouraged operators to want onboard cyber security,” said Aaron Berg, Avionics Technical Sales Manager (GJT). “It’s a rising concern and an emerging trend we see escalating. At West Star Aviation, we work hard to lead the market. Adding the CCX Technologies cyber security product portfolio allows us to deliver the best technological innovations to our clients. As we’ve learned, the AP-250 and dataPHY products are the type of innovation aviation needs—particularly with more and more aircraft becoming connected. We’re looking forward to helping our clients with CCX Technologies’ Cybersecurity and actionable data solutions.” 

The AP-250 is designed with the latest technology and features two dual-band Wi-Fi radios with encryption and a ½ km range, plus a 1 TB Solid-state drive with all data encrypted at rest. Equipped with Advanced LTE and a custom antenna, the AP-250 enables higher throughput, lower power consumption, and better coverage so more users can connect. The dataPHY is a compact device that receives onboard avionics databus data such as ARINC 429 for advanced monitoring for anomalies and other flight-critical data events.

The FAA’s inconsistent enforcement of maintenance manual threatens competition in the aviation aftermarket, ARSA told the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a letter submitted April 29.

ARSA says its submission was made in conjunction with the FTC’s Nixing the Fix Initiative, the centerpiece of which is a July 16 meeting to examine ways in which manufacturers in various industries limit third-party repairs. Among other topics, the workshop will address issues that arise when a manufacturer restricts the ability of consumers or an independent repair shops to make product repairs.

ARSA told the FTC that the repair-restriction challenges faced by aviation repair stations are related to rules that require manufacturers to develop maintenance information and make it available. Specifically, the FAA fails to enforce the regulation requiring Design Approval Holders (DAHs) to develop basic maintenance information and thereafter make it available to maintenance providers (14 CFR § 21.50(b)), while aggressively enforcing the rule requiring repair stations to possess that same maintenance data (14 CFR § 145.109(d)).

ARSA says their comments were submitted in response to a call for empirical research and data about repair restrictions in advance of the July 16 meeting. ARSA’s letter provides an overview the maintenance manual regulatory framework, describes the challenges repair stations encounter when seeking maintenance data and cites various examples provided by ARSA members (redacted to remove any identifying information) in response to association surveys and to the Small Business Administration’s Small Business.