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State of the Industry

We asked some of the top leaders in the aviation maintenance, service and support industry to give us their expert opinions on the state of the aviation maintenance industry. These executives were from the commercial sector, the business aviation sector, maintenance training and the associations. The insights they shared are both candid and enlightening. They [...]

New Promise in Paint

A coating process taken from the automotive industry is being developed for all-around use in aerospace. Paint manufacturers say its efficient, long lasting and will reduce weight. By David Jensen  Some may think that to unearth new technology in today’s aircraft, you must look beneath the surface—under the engine cowling or in the avionics bay [...]

The Challenges of Maintaining Aging Aircraft

by James Careless The earliest Boeing 737 aircraft (now known as the 737 Classic) entered service in 1968. The first 747 started commercial flights in 1970; the first 757 in 1983 and the 767 in 1982. Meanwhile, the Airbus A-300 started flying commercially in 1974, the A-310 in 1983 and the A-320 in 1988. To [...]

Skin in the Game

NASA-sponsored research of skin on aircraft that are built of composites may expose unique benefits. It also could impact significantly aircraft maintenance. By David Jensen Imagine aircraft being covered with applicable “skins” that protect fuselage and wing surfaces, improve airflow with their smoothness and negate the need for paint thus shedding weight on planes and [...]

Tools for Electronic Maintenance Tracking

By Dale Smith “Flying is so many parts skill, so many parts planning, so many parts maintenance, and so many parts luck. The trick is to reduce the luck by increasing the others.” — David L. Baker In today’s economy, service diversification is key to any maintenance organization’s survival and possible growth. But diversification is [...]

Maintenance Departmental Metrics: Creating Value for Your Organization

When it comes to your maintenance department, “What gets measured gets improved.”  While this is a seemingly simple statement, the big questions to ask are: What should we measure? Why measure it? And how should we do it? To help your maintenance team start measuring the value it needs to create for your host organization, [...]

Why Won’t My DAR Issue An 8130-3 For My Part?

In Mid-March, the FAA held a meeting in South Florida. Attendees were enticed to attend with the promise of an answer to the question “Why won’t my DAR issue an 8130-3 for my part?” Not long before the FAA meeting, I had published an article in the Aviation Suppliers Association newsletter that reminded the aviation community that [...]

How Hawker Beechcraft Built Up Its Product Support

There’s been a flurry of activity at this OEM that has generated new facilities, product-wide aircraft-upgrade programs and enhanced technician training. The manufacturer has placed its after-market business front and center. By David Jensen A lot has transpired at Hawker Beechcraft Corp. (HBC) over the past 18 to 24 months. Under chairman and CEO Bill [...]

Preventative and Predictive Maintenance

By Dale Smith As the saying goes: When it comes to airplanes an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of money. They’re old and they’re getting older. And that’s a true statement no matter which classification of aircraft you’re talking about. Even with the backlogs of thousands of new aircraft reported by Airbus and [...]

Project Management Technology Keeps Critical Chain Bright

By Charlotte Adams What do Delta TechOps, Lufthansa Technik, the Navy’s Cherry Point Fleet Readiness Center (FRC) and the Air Force’s Ogden Air Logistics Center (ALC) have in common? They have adopted critical chain business rules and use Realization’s critical chain project management (CCPM) software. For an MRO running behind schedule, critical chain might mean [...]

VIP Cabin Design Gets French Touch at Airbus’ Completion Center

Airbus is banking on the flair of the French fashion industry to lure corporate jet completions to its Toulouse outfitting center. The Airbus Corporate Jet Center (ACJC) in Toulouse may be young in the business of VVIP cabin outfitting and not as famous as some of its Swiss or U.S. competitors. Yet, its senior executives [...]

Staying Evergreen

By Neal Davis, Sr. Driving south from Phoenix to Tucson on Interstate 10, just past Picacho Peak, you will see some colorful spires aiming at the sky, and on closer examination, you can identify them as aircraft tails. So what are these doing in this land of sage, cactus and creosote bushes? My curiosity has [...]

Irish Ways

Maintaining quality maintenance is never easy. A little MRO company in Ireland is showing how it can be done, as Roy Allen reports. He had other things on his mind, but if one Barak Obama had been able to look across Dublin Airport to a particular group of hangars on his Presidential trip back in [...]

Knowing Where You Rank in the “Best Of” Category – A simple guide to performance benchmarking

No doubt you’ve heard the buzzwords “best in class” hundreds of times. It often sounds a bit over-the-top to hear a company or organization call itself the best at something. Unless, of course, it really is. But how do you know if your maintenance organization is really a top performer? And how would you go [...]

Mechanics, Technicians, or Engineers- The results are in!

There is an ongoing debate about what professionals in our industry should be called. When I first joined the ranks of the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association  (PAMA) in the mid 80′s, I was a believer that we were technicians. Some 30 years later we still have not agreed on what we would like to be [...]

Spotlight on FAA Efforts to Promote Aircraft Parts Safety

There is a lot of policy work going on right now in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that affects aircraft parts safety.  These are the sort of efforts that yield real safety results, but that seldom see the headlines.  The FAA is constantly developing policies to promote safe practices, to discourage unsafe practices, and also [...]

Myths and Misconceptions

Somewhere along the way, a myth about the maintenance industry has been perpetuated. The myth is that the maintenance industry, and the people who work in it, are technology-averse. While I have been covering maintenance during the last 10 years, I have heard it repeated so many times, that if I didn’t know better from [...]

How the Giants of MRO Survived 2011′s Economic Storm – and Prospered

by James Careless By all accounts, 2011 was a tough year for the Giants of MRO; those large companies who dominate the world market. As 2012 gets underway, Aviation Maintenance magazine has asked the Giants about the challenges they faced in the past 12 months, how they responded, and what they expect to happen next. [...]

Avionics Maintenance Heats Up

By Charlotte Adams The temperature’s rising in airline avionics shops. The weak economy is pushing carriers to cut repair and maintenance costs but spurring original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to maximize returns in the aftermarket. These tensions have created a more adversarial relationship whose latest symptom is the struggle over data access. “We have seen a [...]

FADEC. The future of piston engine management.

There have been a lot of discussions recently about pilots becoming over dependent on automated systems. While there is still much to be said about the reliance on digital displays and autopilots, when you’re talking about piston engine aircraft, there is one emerging automated system that will have nothing but positive impact on both reducing [...]

PMA Summit Drills Deep Into PMA Use

On November 3 and 4, 2011, Aviation Maintenance, in conjunction with their sponsor, the Manufacturer Replacement Parts Association (MARPA), held the International PMA Summit in London at the Earl’s Court Conference Center. The two–day event centered around educating potential European users of parts manufacturing approval (PMA) parts about the truths, myths, challenges and benefits of [...]

New Rules for 8130-3 Tags – Are Rebuilds Really Better?

The FAA recently released Draft Order 8130.21H for public comment.  The most recent revision to Order 8130.21—the FAA guidance on how to complete an 8130-3 tag—will mean a number of changes for Repair Stations.  The majority of these changes are straight forward.  Some changes, however, will warrant a closer look; and some changes threaten to [...]

Mechanics, Technicians, or Engineers? PAMA

In a previous article I wrote about professionalism and what makes us professionals.  Two key points were that we are paid to perform our work and we conform to technical and ethical standards of our profession. Recently a new twist on a continued debate was presented to me. Are we as A&Ps; mechanics, technicians, or [...]

Boeing delivered its first 787 Dreamliner

Worth the Wait by Joy Finnegan As we went to press for this issue, Boeing delivered its first 787 Dreamliner to launch customer, All Nippon Airways (ANA). Boeing deserves huge congratulations now that the first 787 aircraft has been delivered in spite of the challenges experienced in making the aircraft service-ready. The dramatic story of [...]

The Need for Aviation-Specific NDT Training for In-Service Inspections

By Timothy Kinsella, Dassault Falcon NDT Program Manager  DECK Currently, training of in-service NDT technicians relies on commercially available courses. While a few of these programs cover aviation manufacturing processes and flaws few, if any, cover them as they relate to in-service aviation issues. The world of in-service aviation inspection requires skills and knowledge that [...]

Interior upgrades for aging aircraft

By Dale Smith If you’re looking for a bit of a silver lining around the dark clouds that have been overshadowing our industry a good sector to start with is cabin upgrades and refurbishment. One reason that the U&R segment hasn’t slumped quite as much as other areas is due in large part to its [...]

PMA Market Bounces Back But Perils Remain

By Charlotte Adams Despite the best efforts of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to eliminate competition in the aftermarket, the parts manufacturer approval (PMA) industry has not only survived, but thrived. This niche is “a nice place to be in a tough environment,” sums up Dave Kvasnicka, president of Aviation Component Solutions. Not that it has [...]

Not Quite a Prop, Not Quite a Jet: The Different World of Turboprop Engine Maintenance

By James Careless With their mix of propeller and jet engine technologies, turboprop engines are a breed of their own. By using jet engine-style gas turbines to drive their propellers, turboprop engines deliver highly reliable performance –and are more fuel-efficient than jets. This is why turboprop engines can be found on many commuter airliners, such [...]

Profiling in the Information Age

I am all about information. My very job is to be the conduit of information from as many sources as possible to you, the reader, so that you have the information you need to do the best job you can. Before I began covering the aviation industry, I worked in the industry. Over the years, [...]

MRO Green Initiatives

By Dale Smith It doesn’t seem that long ago when the only time you heard the words “green” and “MRO” in the same sentence was when discussing the delivery of a new business jet to a completion center. Today that’s all changed. From electric airplanes to bio-fuels to buying carbon offsets, to not dumping your fuel [...]

Getting Ungrounded Anywhere

In this roundtable, Aviation Maintenance magazine asks several industry experts about the remote business jet support they provide. By Mark Robins When aircraft are grounded due to unscheduled maintenance, an unforeseen event or a lack of inventory every minute counts to minimize revenue loss. This situation is only worsened when it happens in remote locations. [...]

West European MROs Target Engines, Components for Growth

Eyes on Middle East, Asia… By Charlotte Adams Europe’s maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market is recovering from the economic crisis, but growth will be sluggish over the next decade. Airline MROs face lag effects of the airline downturn, overcapacity issues, competition from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), continuing economic uncertainty and increasing regulatory burdens. At [...]

Dakota Cub Aircraft:From PMA to TC

A small aircraft-parts producer makes the very big decision to become an airframe manufacturer. It’s risky, but gambling is what small business owners do. By David Jensen Next to my car on Route 294 east of Sioux Falls, I scan the horizon and see little more than flat, fertile farmland, typical of eastern South Dakota. [...]

Learn, Earn, Return – Professionalism

In Oshkosh at the General Aviation Awards luncheon I was honored to have Hal Shevers, founder of Sporty’s Pilot Shop, at my table. In our discussions at the table Hal stated he was always taught to “learn, earn, and return.” He went on to explain in more detail what he meant. And it is a [...]

US Export Reform Could Aid the Global Market

Aviation is a global market. Everyone says it. But what are we doing about it? The regulators understand the global nature of aviation. I serve on rulemaking committees in Europe and North America and I have been asked to offer assistance on policy issues in China and Japan. No one is asking for my opinion [...]

Bombardier Safety Standdown Latin America Returns to LABACE

Bombardier Aerospace recently announced that after a very successful launch last year, Safety Standdown Latin America is returning to Brazil for a second edition of the seminar. The seminar is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, August 10, at the Grand Hyatt Sa?o Paulo Hotel on the eve of the opening of the eighth annual [...]

ExecuJet Awarded ASC Status for Hawker Beechcraft

The ExecuJet Aviation Group has gained Authorized Service Center (ASC) status from Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) at six of its worldwide MRO facilities – Lanseria and Cape Town, South Africa; Dubai, UAE; Melbourne and Sydney, Australia; and Lagos, Nigeria. The company will provide line and base maintenance on HBC’s current line of Hawker series products, including [...]

Full Circle

BY JOY FINNEGAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF I’ve come full circle as they say. I was a part of this publication for about six years, first as managing editor and then as editor-in-chief. When the magazine’s previous ownership sold Aviation Maintenance to the new owner, the previous media company kept me on and gave me the opportunity to [...]

PAMA Forum

This month we introduce a new column by the new president of the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association, Dale Forton. — Ed. DALE FORTON has worked in aviation for more than 32 years and as a licensed A&P Technician has been an active PAMA member for more than 26 of those years. For the past seven [...]

NEW US-EC AGREEMENT AFFECTING AIRCRAFT PARTS

By Jason Dickstein Welcome to a bold new era of aerospace transactions between Europe and the United States. The United States and the European Community (EC) have signed a new Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) that replaces existing agreements between the U.S. and certain European nations and replaces it with an agreement that spans the [...]

1st ACB Maintainers Prep Aircraft for Afghan Mission

BY STAFF SGT. JOE ARMAS 1ST ACB, 1ST CAV. DIV. PAO CAMP MARMAL, Afghanistan It’s full speed ahead for the soldiers of the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division as the brigade’s aircraft roll into theater. It is the duty of the brigade’s aircraft maintainers and maintenance test pilots to ensure the aircraft are [...]

Light Sport Aircraft and the Implications on the Mechanic

BY: DAVID SCHOBER When the FAA enacted the “Light Sport Rule” in September of 2004, they established rules for new aircraft definitions. While the Light Sport rule breaks down these new aircraft into category and classes, this article will break them into “Special” and “Experimental” and the impact on mechanics and the limitations imposed on [...]

Cessna’s New Head of Product Support

Kelly Reich has a new challenging position. Not only are his responsibilities diverse but so also is the fleet of aircraft for which his organization plays a major support role. BY DAVID JENSEN Cessna Aircraft recently promoted Kelly Reich to vice president of product support in its Customer Service organization. In his new role, Reich [...]

Leveraging Lean

For an investment primarily of time, Lufthansa Technik (LHT) Group has achieved faster turnaround times (TATs), improved quality and dispatch reliability, and in the process saves “in the high two-digit millions of euros per year,” says Christian Langer, head of Lean activities for LHT Group. Man-hours are the single biggest cost driver, he says. LHT’s [...]

Greenpoint and ATS Team Up on BBJs

Greenpoint Technologies and Aviation Technical Services (ATS) signed installation agreements for two Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) Greenpoint aircraft completions. Installations will be performed at the ATS facility in Paine Field, Everett, Wash., located adjacent to Boeing’s 777 and 747-8 production lines. “Our next induction will be Greenpoint’s 18th BBJ completion. Partnering with ATS is an [...]

More Than 100 Gulfstream Aircraft Enrolled in FORMS Program

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. announced today that more than 100 aircraft are now enrolled in the company’s Flight Operations Risk Management Service (FORMS), the largest base of business aircraft participating in any Flight Operations Quality Assurance/Flight Data Monitoring (FOQA/FDM) program. “We’ve reached a critical mass of aircraft to provide valuable data to those flight departments interested [...]

Gulfstream Celebrates 300TH Master Technician

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. says that more than 300 of its employees have earned the FlightSafety International Master Technician designation, the most of any original equipment manufacturer worldwide. Gulfstream reached the milestone of 301 Master Technicians after four technicians at Gulfstream’s West Palm Beach, Fla., facility completed the 30-hour GIV Operational Maintenance Procedures course at FlightSafety’s [...]

Dassault Falcon Adds New ASC in Austria

Dassault Falcon has further expanded its Authorized Service Center (ASC) network with the appointment of Jetalliance Technical Services in Vienna, Austria, as a Line Service Center for Falcon 2000 classic aircraft. This brings Dassault’s ASC Network to a worldwide total of 28 facilities after the agreement signed yesterday with Air Works India and Jet Aviation [...]

Ultramain Nabs Software Agreement with Boeing

Ultramain Systems (USI) and Boeing have signed a Software Development License Agreement that will allow USI to build, test, and deploy software targeted for the Boeing EFB platform. This includes all ULTRAMAIN Onboard Systems airborne software, including efbTechLogs and eReporting. efbTechLogs was the first-ever connected electronic technical log to receive approval by an aviation regulatory [...]

Jet Aviation to provide aviation services from Al Bateen Executive Airport

The Jet Aviation Group and Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) recently signed a lease agreement whereby Jet Aviation will start to provide aviation services from Al Bateen Executive Airport later this year The agreement with ADAC includes the lease of offices at the exclusive business aviation airport, where Jet Aviation will be Al Bateen Executive’s [...]