PPG Industries’ aerospace business is expanding its participation at the 2014 Aerospace Maintenance Competition in Las Vegas by sponsoring an event with four transparencies and sealants maintenance skill tasks and by donating prizes.
The PPG Aerospace cockpit and wing sealant event will challenge teams in four maintenance skill tasks: cockpit window hump seal repair, SURFACE SEAL(R) hydrophobic coating application, wing section sealant application of PRC(R) seal caps, and fillet sealing in a wing fuel tank using SEMCO(R) specialty-application nozzles. The winning team will accomplish the tasks in the best time and with the best quality.
The annual competition is hosted this year by the Aerospace Maintenance Council in conjunction with AMTSociety for certificated Aircraft Maintenance Technicians; Aircraft Maintenance Engineers; students enrolled in Federal Aviation Administration, European Aviation Safety Agency, Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority or equivalently authorized schools; and armed services aircraft maintenance personnel. Sixteen events will be held at the Sands Expo Convention Center, March 25-26, along with the AviationPros Live Expo.
According to Aaron Anderson, PPG global segment manager for aerospace transparencies, PPG returns as a sponsor for the third year and is expanding the number of skill tasks in its event from two to four because of the educational benefits provided.
“This is an opportunity for PPG to support the aircraft maintenance industry through the Aerospace Maintenance Council and AMTSociety and to work directly with aircraft maintenance professionals, students and military personnel,” Anderson said. “By sponsoring this event, we provide valuable training that will benefit the participants so that they are able to get the best performance from PPG products. PPG Aerospace sees this as a ‘win’ for everyone involved.”
In the PPG Aerospace event, contestants will compete in four maintenance skill tasks. They will be challenged to repair the hump seal on a commercial aircraft cockpit window using PPG’s hump seal repair kit. Participants will apply SURFACE SEAL hydrophobic coating to a commercial aircraft windshield using PPG’s quick application kit and then demonstrate the coating’s ability to provide water shedding for visibility without wipers. Contestants will seal dome-style fasteners by traditional hand-sealing methods and with PRC seal caps on a wing section. Teams will apply two overlapping and two triangle fillet seals to joints in a wing fuel tank using different SEMCO application tools.
PPG is donating payment of the entry fee for 2015’s competition as well as a set of five SEMCO sealant dispensing guns to the grand-prize winners. A second set will be presented to the winners of the PPG-sponsored event or to the second-place team if the first-place team also wins the top spot.
PPG Aerospace is the aerospace products and services business of PPG Industries. PPG Aerospace – Transparencies is the world’s largest supplier of aircraft windshields, windows and canopies. PPG Aerospace – PRC-DeSoto is the leading global producer of aerospace sealants, coatings, and SEMCO packaging and application systems.