AT86FC_final:AT86FC_2a 8/2/07 9:32 am Page 3

Inside view of Boeings 747-8 programme

Airbus A380 maintenance preparations
Cargo hold security systems
Engine maintenance costs
Profile: GKN Aerospace
IT for flight ops
The leading international magazine for the manufacturing and MRO sectors of commercial aviation

February-March 2007 Issue: 86

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AE ROS T RUC T URES & C OMPONENTS

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A86News:AT86news 20/2/07 5:07 pm Page 1

C O N T E N T S

An Aviation Industry Press publication

EDITOR
Martin Fendt
martinf@aviation-industry.com February - March 2007 Issue: 86
DEPUTY EDITOR
Daniella Horwitz
daniellah@aviation-industry.com
NEWS
STAFF WRITER News, contracts, products and people 4
Alex Derber
alexd@aviation-industry.com
EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTOR
IN MY OPINION
Bernard Fitzsimons
Dan da Silva, VP sales & marketing,
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Phil Hine
Boeing CAS 10
philh@aviation-industry.com
CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER
T E C H N O LO G Y
Dino DAmore
dinod@aviation-industry.com
Boeing 747-8 programme 14
CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS ASSISTANT Safety and survival equipment 20
Heather Podbury Cargo hold security 26
heatherp@aviation-industry.com
SALES EXECUTIVE - EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA AIRLINE VIEWPOINT
Alan Samuel
alans@aviation-industry.com UAE airline maintenance focus 32
PUBLISHER & SALES DIRECTOR - USA
Simon Barker ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE
simonb@aviation-industry.com
MANAGING DIRECTOR Avionics reliability, management & repair 34
Paul Copping
paulc@aviation-industry.com Engine maintenance cost management 42
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance A380 maintenance preparations 50
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A86News:AT86news 19/2/07 4:32 pm Page 4
NEWS ROUND-UP
BRIEFLY
TDG Aerospace has received a STC for
its UFI on B757-200 and -300 aircraft. The
UFI provides centre fuel tank electrical
fault protection and pump auto-shutoff.
The FAA has issued a STC for Innovative
Solutions & Supports (IS&S) Cockpit/IP flat
panel display system on B757s.
Precision Conversions has received a
STC from Agencia Nacional de Aviacao
Civil-Brasil, for the full 15-pallet position
B757-200PCF.
Avborne Accessory Group has been
registered to AS9110 by NSF
international strategic registrations.
Pratt & Whitney Canada has
appointed Scandinavian Aircraft
Technologies (ScanTech) as a recognised
maintenance facility for its PT6A, JT15D
and PW100 series.
CTT Systems Zonal Drying system will
be installed as a basic feature on the B787.
GA Telesis has acquired two A320-200
aircraft from AWAS for disassembly and
subsequent remarketing by its aircraft
systems and turbine engine groups. The
engines will be entered into GA Telesis
lease pool.
TeamSAI has provided certification
services for MAXjet to add cargo service
to its air carrier-operating certificate.
Jeppesen has delivered Carmen Crew
Pairing optimisation software to Qantas.
Airbus has reached the 5,000th order
mark for its A320 family aircraft. The
milestone was reached with the sale of 30
A319s to US-based Spirit Airlines.
GA Telesis, in participation with Global
Principal Finance, has purchased one
B737-300 aircraft from CIT Aerospace.
Airbus has delivered the first VIP
version of its A340-600 to the private
business group SAAD Air of Saudi
Arabia, the first customer for the type.
Alteon Training, a Boeing subsidiary,
has agreed to supply a B737NG
simulator and a B777 simulator to Air
Indias flight training centre in Mumbai
in 2007. These deliveries are in addition
to a previously announced B787
simulator delivery scheduled to arrive
in 2008.
After initial certification in 1969, JAT
Tehnika has been recertified as an FAA
145 repair station.
Pakistan International Airlines has
taken delivery of the first of three new
B777-300ERs.
China United Airlines has taken
delivery of a new B737-800.
SLCA, an affiliate of the SAFRAN
aircelle business unit, has expanded its
facilities for the manufacture of
composite aerostructures in Florange,
France.
4 Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
TAT becomes sole shareholder
of former EADS-Sogerma
TAT, the French aviation group, has
become the sole shareholder of Sogerma
services. This follows the recent
acquisition of the maintenance activities of
the former EADS Sogerma Services.
Sogerma services reinforces TAT Groups
capabilities on Airbus aircraft and military
aircraft. This acquisition equally includes
the transfer of Barfield (see story below),
based in the US, to Sabena technics and a
50 per cent share ownership in Sogerma
Tunisie, a joint venture in partnership
with Nouvel Air in Tunisia. The new
structure now counts a turnover of 450
million euros.
Sabena technics acquires EADS
Barfield
Sabena technics, the TAT Group
subsidiary, has acquired EADS Barfield,
provider of aviation support, service and
component repair and maintenance. The
acquisition will play a part in the Groups
integration into the Northern and
Southern American markets through a
pooling of expertise and resources.
Barfields strengths lie in power-by-the-
hour (PBH) contracts, across North and
South America. The company says that
Sabena technics pool of rotables and its
capabilities on regional aircraft types will
complement Barfields services. Moreover,
Barfields ground support equipment (GSE)
activity will complement Sabena technics
own offerings. Barfield employs 250 staff
across its Miami, Phoenix and Louisville
facilities with a total turnover of 50 million
euros. In addition, Barfield is an
authorised repair facility for more than 30
European and major US OEMs.
GAMCO approved by APB for
B757 winglet retrofits
Gulf Aircraft Maintenance Company
(GAMCO) has completed its first B757-200
aircraft modification incorporating Aviation
Partners Blended Winglets. The addition of
the winglets, which replace the standard
wingtip, produce increased fuel efficiency
and range. The modification work
comprises removing approximately six
feet of the skin on lower and upper
surface of both wings, reinforcement of
stringers, installation of adapter plugs
and winglets, along with
modification/lighting changes. This
capability and approval is a huge boost to
our business, says Saif Al Mughairy,
GAMCOs CEO. With high fuel prices
contributing to such a large percentage of
an airlines expenses, investing in Blended
Winglets makes sense even for older
aircraft.
Hamilton Sundstrand acquires
Page Group
Hamilton Sundstrand has completed its
acquisition of Page Group, a designer and
manufacturer of aerospace lighting and
cockpit controls. Page, based in Sunbury,
UK, supplies electronically controlled LED
lighting and related power systems,
warning panels and cockpit controls.
The company employs approximately 200
people and had 2005 revenues of 23
million ($43 million).
A330 passenger version
maintains demand
Through December 2006 and January 2007,
the widebody Airbus A330 maintained
strong sales including: 20 A330-200s for
AerCap (the Netherlands); six A330-200s
for Pegasus Aviation Finance Company; and
22 A330-200s from Grupo Marsans for its
subsidiaries Air Comet and Aerolineas
Argentinas. The Pegasus A330 order was
also accompanied by an order for two new
generation A350-XWBs. Meanwhile, Grupo
Marsans also signed for the lease of an
additional two new A340-300s.
AAR acquires Reebaire
AAR has acquired all assets of Reebaire
Aircraft, a regional aircraft MRO located in
Hot Springs, AK. The newly acquired
business will operate under the name AAR
Aircraft Services - Hot Springs. AAR says
the acquisition is part of its strategy to
expand its MRO business and support of
regional aircraft operators, especially as
year-on-year, AARs sales to regional
airline customers have increased 48 per
cent.
The Reebaire acquisition doubles the size
of our regional MRO capacity and
strengthens the companys position in this
fast-growing market, says David Storch,
CEO of AAR CORP.
The business will report into AARs
Oklahoma City operation.
CMC bought by Esterline
Esterline Corporation has agreed to
acquire CMC Electronics for
approximately $335 million in cash.
For the 12 months ended September 30,
2006, CMC recorded revenues of C$205
million. Completion of the transaction is
expected in 30 to 45 days, contingent
upon Hart-Scott-Rodino and other
governmental approvals. The transaction
expands the scale of Esterlines existing
avionics & controls businesses and ...fits
our stated strategy to consolidate
manufacturers of superior aerospace
systems and components, said Robert
Cremin, Esterlines CEO.
A86News:AT86news 19/2/07 4:34 pm Page 5
A330-200 Freighters robust
launch . . .
Airbus has been granted the go-ahead from
the board of directors of its parent company
EADS for the industrial launch of its wide-
body A330-200 Freighter aircraft, for which it
has already received 40 commitments from
the following customers:
Avion Aircraft Trading (Iceland) for six;
MNG Airlines (Turkey) for two;
Guggenheim Aviation Partners for six;
Flyington Freighters (India) for six; and
Intrepid Leasing for 20.
Following its commercial launch last summer,
the decision for the industrial launch of the
A330-200F is based on projected market
demand for over 400 freighters in the 60-plus
tonne category over the next 20 years. Airbus
says that the A330-200 Freighter is the only
mid-size, long-haul all-cargo aircraft capable of
carrying 141,093lb (64 metric tonnes) a
distance of 4,000nm / 7,400 km, or 152,116lb
(69 metric tonnes) up to 3,200nm / 5,930 km in
payload mode configuration. Entry into service
of the first A330 freighter is planned for the
second half of 2009.
Flexibility has been enhanced on the A330-
200F with the introduction of a main-deck
cargo loading system which can accommodate
both pallets and containers, enabling operators
to service each of these very different markets.
This versatility offers several different
arrangements on the main deck, taking up to
23 side-by-side pallets, aimed at the high
volume, high value commodities or single-row
loading of 16 pallets (96x 96x125 pallets)
and/or nine AMA containers aimed at the
general cargo higher density markets.
SR Technics u-turn on Empire
SR Technics has announced that it will not
pursue the option of acquiring a 60 per cent
stake in Empire Aero Center. In a recent
statement, the company said that whilst SR
Technics continues to be interested in the North
American market, for the present it intends to
focus its investment interests on the high-growth
markets in the Middle East and Asia.
Empire Aero Center provides airframe
maintenance services to customers at its facility
in Rome, New York. The option to acquire a 60
per cent stake had been under review since a
MoU was signed in April 2006.
Empire is an excellent company with an
outstanding management and a growing
customer base. However, within SR Technics
growth strategy, we have now defined other
priorities, said Hans Lerch, chairman and CEO
of SR Technics. For the time being, we want
to focus capital and management resources on
high-growth businesses and markets in the
Middle East and Asia. However, we continue
to be interested in the North American market
and do not exclude future activities there
should other interesting opportunities arise.
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
UPS orders 27 new-build B767
freighters
UPS has ordered 27 new B767-300ER
freighters to support its growing package
business while providing broad options for
the management of its jet fleet. The 27
aircraft will be delivered between 2009 and
2012. The value of the contract was not
disclosed.
In the context of UPS growth in its
international package business (with
average export volume climbing 12 per
cent in 2006 alone), the wide-body B767s
will be used on routes between Europe
and Latin America as well as on lanes
within Asia and Europe. Furthermore, the
27 new freighters will allow UPS Airlines
to improve the efficiency and speed of its
air network as it eventually replaces
ageing aircraft.
The B767-300ER freighter already is
part of our current air fleet and we know
from experience what a great workhorse it
is, says Bob Lekites, UPS VP for airline
and international operations. Its also a
good answer to our fleet management
needs because it provides flexibility, fast
time in transit and sound cost
performance. In addition, we already have
the pilot training, ground support and
maintenance systems in place, making for
a seamless integration.
The B767-300ER freighter which entered
service with UPS in 1995 can accommodate
24 containers on its upper deck and seven in
the lower cargo compartments. It can either
carry a maximum payload of 132,200lb
(59.97 metric tonnes) or fly 3,000 nautical
miles.
It should be noted that amid much current
speculation, the company stresses that the
order for the 27 B767s is not related to UPSs
on-going review of its order for 10 Airbus
A380 freighters. The A380s are planned to
be utilised on specific long-haul routes
presently served by B747 and MD-11
freighters.
160 more A320 orders in
January 2007
December 2006 and January 2007 saw a surge
of A320 family orders. From the end of
December 2006 and into January 2007, Airbus
received orders from South East Asia for 131 of
the type comprising: 11 A320s for Singapore-
based SilkAir; 100 (50 firm plus 50 options) for
AirAsia (a grouping of Malaysian, Thai, and
Indonesian interests); and 20 A320s for
Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE).
The Americas followed with orders from that
region for 40 of the single-aisle airliners
comprising: 10 orders from the Mexican low-
cost carrier, Interjet; and 30 A319s from the
Florida-based Spirit Airlines. Sales of the A320
Family now approach 5,000 units.
NEWS ROUND-UP
Boeing has delivered its 600th B777 to
Singapore airlines.
The first B747-400ER freighter has
been delivered to Guggenheim Aviation
Partners and will be put into service by
TNT.
Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation
Services is to provide AOG support for
Bombardier business jets at Munichs
Franz Josef Strauss airport.
Tufnol Composites has achieved
AS9100 certification.
ABC Completions of Montreal, Quebec,
has received STC approval to install the
CMC Electronics PilotView EFB on a CL-
604 Challenger business jet aircraft.
The first of four B737-300s converted
in-house by Qantas Airways under IAI
Bedeks STC have been delivered to
Australian Air Express.
Aircelle, part of the Safran group, has
upgraded its Burnley, UK facility, by
expanding its capability to produce
composite thrust reverser parts and
components.
Bombardier has appointed Gate V
Aircraft Maintenance in Vienna, Austria,
as an AOG/line maintenance facility for
Bombardier Learjet aircraft.
Bombardier has appointed Mather
Aviation of Sacrametno, CA., as an
authorised line maintenance facility for
Bombardier Learjet aircraft.
Pratt and Whitney Canada will invest
$1.5bn in research and development over
the next five years.
Between 2007 and 2008 Lufthansa
Technik plans to take on over 400
university graduates. About 80 per cent
of the new positions are for engineers,
but there are also positions for business
graduates and for IT specialists.
Landmark Aviation has received STC
approval for the installation of the
Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 IDS on
Dassault Falcon 50s.
The Board of Star Alliance has voted
to accept the membership application of
Turkish Airlines.
Lufthansa will sell its half share of
Thomas Cook to fellow 50 per cent
shareholder, German store group
KarstadtQuelle, for 536m (over $1bn).
GAMCO has recently completed C-
check work on two A32Os operated by
Indias Air Deccan.
ATR has opened a new spare parts
distribution centre in Auckland, New
Zealand.
GA Telesis has passed its audit by
QMI and its quality system is now
certified to AS9120: 2002.
ATR has delivered the worlds first
ATR turboprop with IFE to Indias
Kingfisher Airlines.
SR Technics has opened a sales office
in Mumbai.
5
A86News:AT86news 19/2/07 4:37 pm Page 6
NEWS ROUND-UP
CONTRACTS
Russias Orenair has awarded Snecma
Services Brussels a maintenance contract
for the CFM56-3s powering its fleet of B737
Classics. It is a three year time and material
contract.
Netherlands-based Martinair has signed
a three-year maintenance contract with
Sabena technics. Sabena technics will
provide full support for the airlines A320-
200 V2500-powered fleet.
ELTA has been awarded a Boeing SFE
contract for its ADT 406 S survival ELT,
now specified for the B787. Based on
current orders and options, the contract is
estimated to be worth more than $5m over
the life of the programme.
Alitalia Maintenance Systems (AMS)
has signed an exclusive long-term material
support agreement with Kellstrom
Industries covering the supply of all
overhauled and new surplus parts required
by AMS in the repair and overhaul of its
CF6-50 engines.
French start-up Elysair has signed a
Total Technical Support contract with
Lufthansa Technik. Elysair will operate
under the brand name LAvion.
Stork Fokker AESP, a Stork Aerospace
company, has signed a contract with
Boeing for the design, development,
manufacturing and supply chain
management of the initial series of inboard
flaps on the B747-8 programme.
Rolls-Royce has signed a long-term
TotalCare services agreement with
Singapore Airlines covering the Trent 800
engines that power its fleet of 58 B777s.
Jordan-based JorAMCo and Vueling
Airlines, a low-cost carrier based in Spain,
have announced the signing of a long-term
maintenance agreement. JorAMCo will
provide all airframe heavy maintenance to
Vuelings fleet of A320s.
ST Aerospace Supplies has been
awarded an aircraft components
maintenance-by-the-hour contract from
AirAsia Berhad for its new fleet of
A320s. The 10-year contract is valued at
$130m.
BAE Systems Regional Aircraft has
leased a Jetstream 41 to Eastern Skyjets of
the United Arab Emirates.
China Sonangol has ordered three
Airbus Corporate Jetliners, becoming the
first named Chinese customer for this
aircraft.
Jet Aviation has outfitted a VIP A320-
200 for Saudi Arabias SAAD Group.
Air Astana has selected TRAX
maintenance and engineering software.
Brazilian airline TRIP Linhas Aereas
has ordered seven ATR72-500s plus five
options. The order is valued at about
$125m.
6
Saudi Arabias Sama airline has signed
up for SR Technics APU support services
for its GTCP85 APUs fitted to its B737-300
fleet. The five-year contract is worth about
$10.8m.
Azerbaijan Airlines has ordered six new
ATR aircraft (two ATR42-500s and four
ATR72-500s). The deal is worth about $100m.
B/E Aerospace has won nine B787
programme awards including: seating
and/or an array of food and beverage
preparation, storage equipment and oxygen
systems for nine airlines.
Four Chinese airlines have contracted
B/E Aerospace to outfit over 130 of their
new Boeing and Airbus narrowbody
aircraft with first class and coach seating,
food and beverage preparation, storage
equipment and oxygen systems.
Europes Corsair has signed a multi-year
contract with Jouve Aviation Solutions to
provide an integrated electronic
maintenance manual system to support the
airlines B747 fleet.
Orcon Aerospace and Avio-Diepen
have signed a sales and distribution
agreement for the complete range of Orcon
aerospace products.
UK-based MyTravel Airways has placed
an order for three Zonal Drying Systems
from CTT Systems. The systems will be
installed in an A320, A311 and A330-200
during 2007.
Derco Aerospace has signed a five-year
aftermarket distribution agreement with
Honeywell, to distribute aviation spares
and repairs for 60 countries.
Fokker Elmo, a Stork Aerospace
company, has been selected to manufacture
and supply two electrical wiring work
packages for the B777.
Stork SP Aerospace, part of Stork
Aerospace, has signed a contract with
Goodrich Corporations landing gear
division for the manufacture of
Bombardiers DHC-8 Series 400 landing
gear.
Alteon Training, a Boeing subsidiary,
has appointed Teledyne Controls to
deliver multiple ReVision brief-debrief
systems to support Alteons training
operations in the Pacific Rim region.
UPS has ordered Teledyne Controls
integrated condition-monitoring Data
Management Unit for installation on its
new fleet of B747-400Fs.
PrivatAir of Switzerland has placed a
$153m order for a B787-8.
Australias Virgin Blue has signed a
technical support contract for landing gear
overhaul with Lufthansa Technik. Over
the next eight years the landing gears of 53
B737NGs will be sent to Hamburg for
complete refurbishment.
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
UK-based First Choice Airways has
placed an additional order for two B787-8s.
Deliveries will begin in 2011.
Egypt Air Maintenance and
Engineering has signed a MRO agreement
with Messier Services UK. This covers
maintenance for four A321s.
Icelandair and Stella Aviation
Technics have signed an agreement to
support the Icelandair B757 fleets at Paris
CDG, Hurgada Egypt, Schiphol Amsterdam
and Liege Belgium.
Air China has selected the CFM56-5B
engine to power its fleet of 24 A321s. The
order is valued at $345m and the airline
will take delivery between 2008 and 2012.
Bulgarias BH Air has signed a by-the-
hour A320 support contract with A J
Walter Aviation.
Air Caraibes has placed an order for
one Embraer 190 jet with one option. The
delivery is scheduled for late 2007.
Thomas Cook Airlines has renewed its
supplier contract with A J Walter Aviation.
Rolls-Royce has signed a contract with
lessor LCAL, to provide Trent 1000 engines for
nine firm B787s and up to 11 purchase options.
Air Seychelles has selected GEnx
engines to power its two B787-8 leased
from ILFC. The airline has also agreed to a
10-year $25m OnPoint Solutions agreement
to cover the maintenance and overhaul on
the engines.
China Southern Airlines has placed an
order with Rolls-Royce for V2500 engines
and aftermarket services for its new 50
A320s. The order is valued at about $450m.
Thai carrier Nok Air has selected Air
France Industries for B737 support. Over
the next eight years AFI will perform
engineering, airframe maintenance,
component and engine support on a by-
the-hour basis.
Boeing Commercial Aviation Services
has reached an agreement with Goodrich
Corporation whereby Goodrich
Aerostructures Service Centre Europe will
perform nacelle component repair and
overhaul services on B737NGs and B777s.
Rolls-Royce has signed an agreement
with First Choice Airways to provide
complete engine overhaul for RB211-535s
on 12 of the airlines B757s. Rolls-Royce has
also signed an agreement with Thomas
Cook Airlines covering RB211-535s for the
airlines 18 B757s.
Kenya Airways has signed an order for
three additional B787s. The airline now has
nine B787s on order and four options.
SR Technics has been selected by
Boeings Commercial Aviation Services
as one of the preferred suppliers for
provision of MRO services on landing gear
for B737NGs.
A86News:AT86news 19/2/07 4:38 pm Page 7

NEWS ROUND-UP

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A340-500/-600 orderbook
boost
In December 2006, Lufthansa placed a follow-
on order for seven additional Airbus A340-600
aircraft. The new order raises the total number
of A340s in Lufthansas fleet to 52. With this
order Airbus passed the milestone of 1,000
aircraft sales of the A330/A340 family.
The A340-600HGWs (380 tonne MTOW) will
be configured with about 300 seats in a
three-class configuration and will be
delivered from early 2008. The order doubles
the number of three-class A340-600s in
Lufthansas fleet. Lufthansa plans to use the
aircraft on high passenger demand long haul
routes out of Frankfurt and Munich, to
destinations like the US West Coast and Asia.
In a further boost to the A340-500/-600
orderbook, in February 2007, Airbus
received its first order from an Asian
customer for the VIP version of the ultra-
long range A340-500. A week earlier,
Airbus won two new customers in Europe
for VIP Prestige versions: one for an
A340-500 and one for an A340-300.
On signing the order, Airbus chief operating
officer customers, John Leahy enthused:
With its huge cabin, ultra long-range, and
the four-engined freedom to take the
remotest routings, the Airbus A340 is
todays ultimate long-haul VIP transport.
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
ST Aerospace closes BASCO
facility
After four years of loss-making operations,
both shareholders of BASCO ST
Aerospace and FRA came to the
conclusion that it was not viable to carry on
with the operations and decided to close
BASCO. This decision to close is a result of a
long and hard review of BASCOs operations
and all available options.
STA says that the decision for BASCO does
not impact its overall business direction of
ST Aerospace. We remain committed to,
and will continue to seek to bring value to
our customers. The recently combined
company of SAS Component/ARL will
continue to provide component MRO
support to the European region as well as
complement other parts of ST Aerospace
around the world to provide Total Aviation
Support.
STA adds: We began our review many
months earlier, and the open consultation
process with employees, union, and
managers of BASCO some months back. We
regret it had to end with this timing. We
understand the emotional and financial
impact of this situation on our staff and the
remaining company. We will continue to
maintain an open dialogue with all staff
until after closure.
New interior for B747-8
Intercontinental
Boeing has unveiled a life-size sales display of the
interior for the new B747-8 Intercontinental [as
depicted on this issues front cover]. In short, the
B747-8 applies interior features from the B787
which includes a new curved, upswept
architecture giving passengers a greater feeling of
space and comfort, while adding more room for
personal belongings. The interior architecture is
accentuated by new lighting technology to create
a perception of airy brightness and provides
smooth lighting transitions to offer a more restful
environment. In addition, the B747-8 integrates
features from the B777, including windows
which are derived from those on the B777 (15.3in
tall and 10.76in wide), are larger than those on
the B747-400. Boeing says that by incorporating
B787-style interior features, the new B747-8
Intercontinental will provide a significantly
enhanced passenger experience. Door number-
two (where passengers normally enter a B747),
represents the most noticeable change from the
B747-400: The entryway replaces the spiral
staircase with a straight one leading to the upper
deck, and which was also designed to facilitate
improved passenger flow during boarding and
deplaning. In December 2006, Lufthansa
launched the B747-8 versions with an order for
20 aircraft plus 20 purchase rights worth
$5.5bn at list price.
7
A86News:AT86news 19/2/07 4:40 pm Page 8
NEWS ROUND-UP
PEOPLE
Michael Moore (above) has been named as
VP of operations and programme management
at Associated Air Centre, a Landmark Aviation
company at Dallas Love Field.
Kerry Trosper has been named new GM
for Landmark Aviations Wichita Falls,
Texas, FBO.
Andr Dos has been appointed as the
new CEO of Gulf Air. Dos will take office
on April 1, 2007.
Fouad Benbrahim has been appointed
VP sales, Middle East & Africa, for Air
France Industries - KLM Engineering &
Maintenance.
GA Telesis has appointed David
Daughters MD of its new distribution and
operations centre in Bournemouth, UK.
Victorville Aerospace has appointed Jim
Dodgen to director of programme
management, Tony Gonzales to director of
maintenance and Jeff Keel to manager
planning/production control.
Peter Chapman (below) has been named
CCO of AAR, while Richard Poulton has
been named VP of acquisitions and
strategic investment and Rono Dutta has
been appointed as a strategic advisor for
the companys activities in India.
8 Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
Charles Chadwell and Arthur Wegner
have been appointed to the board of B/E
Aerospace.
Ric Anderson has joined EmpowerMX
as a senior consultant. He will be
responsible for aircraft maintenance
programme studies and training efforts.
Didier Evrard has been appointed head
of the A350 programme.
William McMeekin has been named
director of operations at Alteons training
centres in Japan and Korea.
Bernhard Conrad has been appointed
chief technology officer of Lufthansa
Technik, while Dr Hans Schmitz has taken
over as new SVP VIP & Executive Jet
Solutions.
Tracy Herrbach has been appointed
customer service manger for PAS
Technologies.
Stan Deal has been named VP
Asia/Pacific sales for Boeing Commercial
Airplanes. Rob Laird, VP Greater China
sales, will be responsible for sales in China,
Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines.
Philippe Petitcolin (above) has been
named chairman and CEO of Snecma. He
replaces Marc Ventre, who has been
appointed an EVP of the SAFRAN group.
Lydia Lee is new Asian business
manager for Wall Colmonoys alloy products
group.
Greg Mark has been appointed as
repair vendor manager for A J Walter
Aviation.
Chuck Thomas will head Bombardier
corporate shuttle solutions sales in the
US.
Satoshi Yokota has been appointed EVP
technology development and advanced
design at Embraer. Emilio Matsuo has
been appointed SVP, engineering.
Brett Forrester has been promoted to
sales manger of General Aviation Services, Il.
John McCoury has been appointed as
VP and chief engineer of Aviation
Technology Group.
Following A380 certification,
Qantas & SIA come back for more
Singapore Airlines has reaffirmed its
commitment to the A380 programme by
expanding of its Airbus A380 fleet with
the signing of a firm contract for an
additional nine orders and six new
options. The delivery positions were
protected by options accompanying the
airlines original firm order for 10 aircraft
in 2001. The first A380 is scheduled for
delivery to Singapore Airlines in October
2007.
The airline also signed an agreement to
lease 19 new A330-300s.
The following day after the SIA firm
announcement, Qantas Airways signed a
firm order for eight more A380s, taking
the total number of A380s ordered by
Australias national carrier to 20 aircraft.
Geoff Dixon, Qantas chairman, noted:
The A380 is clearly the most suitable
aircraft for Qantas to meet passenger
traffic growth on our dense long haul
routes. The aircraft will play a key role in
alleviating airport congestion without
losing capacity. It has breakthrough
technology and everything we have seen
reinforces our view that it is the best
aircraft available for Qantas. It is an
aircraft that will provide unprecedented
comfort and space for our passengers and
at the same time meet our payload and
range requirements.
On December 12th, 2006, the A380
powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900
engines, received European Aviation
Safety Agency (EASA) and Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) type
certification, after more than 2,600 flight
hours and 800 test flights involving five
aircraft. During the certification process,
the A380 demonstrated easy airport
acceptance and compatibility by visiting
38 airports around the world.
Boeing finalises large Korean
Air deal
Boeing and Korean Air have finalised an
order for 25 airliners with a value of
approximately $5.6 billion at list prices.
Korean Airs order includes: 10 B777-
300ERs; five B747-8 Freighters; five B777
Freighters; and five B737s, along with
options for eight additional aircraft: four
B777-300ERs; two B747-8Fs; and two
B737-900ERs.
The B777-300ERs will replace B747-400s
which Korean Air is converting into
freighters, while the B747-8 Freighters
and B777 Freighters will provide
expansion capacity. Meanwhile, the new
B737s will provide additional capability
for domestic and regional routes to
neighbouring countries.
A86News:AT86news 19/2/07 4:40 pm Page 9
PRODUCTS
Rolled Alloys offers RA2507 plate
products and welding consumables in its
inventory. RA2507 is a super duplex
stainless steel with 25 per cent
chromium, seven per cent nickel and four
per cent molybdenum which offers a
combination of high strength, corrosion
resistance and better economy than
nickel alloys. RA2507 has a minimum
yield strength of 80,000psi and is
approved for ASME pressure vessel use.
Flomerics has released the latest
version of its engineering fluid dynamics
(EFD) analysis software suite. Version 7.3
includes a 64-bit processor support for
increased analysis power, speed and user
convenience, support of CATIA V5 R17
in both 32- and 64-bit formats; and an
integrated interface with MSC Patran for
finite-element-analysis.
POTAFILT a new concept in potable
water filtration which recently entered
service in December 2006 with a UK
charter airline has completed testing
and approval to EASA 21 and BS 6920
Wrc-NSF for initial installation on a B757.
The system uses Aerocare 1-03 polymer
technology with multiple synergistic
biocides attached which are then applied
to woven stainless steel mesh elements and
the granulated activated carbon core.
CF6-80 PMA wiring harness saves weight and cost
Co-Operative Industries Aerospace, Fort
Worth, TX, is extending the warranty
period of their PMC Wiring Harnesses as
used on the CF6-80A/A2 and -80C2
engines. Due to the performance and
proven field reliability of this PMA design,
the warranty schedule is being increased
from two years (or 6,000 engine operating
hours) to four years (or 10,000 engine
operating hours).
The warranty extension not only
reaffirms our confidence in the PMA
Co-Operative Industries PMA approved PMC replacement wiring harnesses are lower cost,
repairable, and offers weight reduction and durability.
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
CMC Electronics has developed a
Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver
which incorporates wide area
augmentation system (WAAS)
technology. The IntegriFlight CMA-5024
aviation GPS receiver provides space
based augmentation system and GPS
primary means navigation as well as GPS
approach capability for aircraft. It is
intended for both retrofit and OEM
installations.
GE Inspection Technologies has
developed a new CR 50P portable
computed radiography scanner. It is
light and compact enough to allow
computed radiography to be realised at
remote locations in applications
requiring both high throughput and
high resolution. With a laser spot size
of 50 micron and with the high
resolution IPS display screens, the new
scanner will allow computed
radiography to assume more of the
duties previously restricted to film
radiography.
UK manufacturer Access has installed
new-technology boarding gate readers,
the BGR120Ms, that handle both new-
format 2D BCBP and traditional ATB2
boarding passes at Londons Heathrow
and Gatwick airports.
design, but more importantly supports
the industry trend of longer
maintenance intervals by TC holders,
says Sam Symonds, Co-Operative
Industries CEO. Co-Operative
Industries FAA/PMA approved PMC
wiring harness was introduced as a cost-
effective alternative that was designed
for engine specific fit. The company
reckons these repairable interconnects
are approximately half the weight of the
current OEM design.
NEWS ROUND-UP
GE set to acquire Smiths
Aerospace
GE has agreed to purchase Smiths
Aerospace, the UK-based supplier of
integrated systems for aircraft
manufacturers and components for engine
builders, for $4.8 billion in cash. The deal
is subject to approval by Smiths Group
shareowners as well as customary
regulatory reviews. GE says that the
acquisition will broaden its offerings for
aviation customers by adding Smiths
flight management systems, electrical
power management, mechanical actuation
systems and airborne platform computing
systems to GE Aviations commercial and
military aircraft engines and related
services.
GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt says:
This acquisition is consistent with our
strategy to invest in high-technology
infrastructure businesses which deliver
strong growth, earnings expansion and
higher margins.
Smiths Aerospace, which is part of
Smiths Group, has more than 11,000
employees and had $2.4 billion in
revenues in 2006. Smiths has a significant
presence on most commercial aircraft,
including the A320 and B737, as well as
many military aircraft. Importantly,
Smiths has a major presence on new
aircraft such as the A380, B787, and the
Joint Strike Fighter.
US Airways selects AIRMAN for
200 aircraft
Following the success of AIRMAN in
America West operations, Airbus real-
time maintenance and troubleshooting
tool, Airbus customer services will see the
fleet engineering team of US Airways as a
new AIRMAN user. To this end, Airbus
has signed an agreement with US Airways
Group for the selection of AIRMAN to
monitor its Airbus fleet of over 200
Airbus aircraft. With this selection, US
Airways becomes the largest user of this
Airbus maintenance service, designed to
help reduce maintenance and operating
costs and improve aircraft dispatch
reliability.
Scott Hutson, manager, engineering
technical centre at US Airways says: We
will add over 100 aircraft to this tool in
early 2007, bringing the total to over 200
aircraft being monitored and evaluated by
AIRMAN.
Version 9 of AIRMAN was released at end
of November 2006. New features further
increase the efficiency of the maintenance
control centre and line maintenance.
Selected by 84 airlines, AIRMAN
presently monitors over 2,000 aircraft
worldwide.
9
AT86Opinion:AT86Opinion 13/3/07 8:13 am
IN MY OPINION...
Dan da Silva, VP sales & marketing,
Boeing CAS
Boeing celebrated a record
year for aircraft sales in 2006.
Perhaps just as significant,
though, was its continued
expansion into the aircraft
services market. Aircraft
Technology talks to Dan da
Silva about the direction the
company is taking in this
arena and the impacts this is
likely to have on the aviation
industry.
How would you describe the evolution
of Boeing Commercial Airplane
Services?
We started on the road to a larger presence
in the aviation services market about six or
seven years ago. When we started we were
uncertain as to what our customers wanted
Boeing exactly to participate in. As that
matured it became very clear to us that the
areas where we could add most value were
areas where we could use our technology
and our knowledge of the aeroplane to
provide our customers with a way of
operating them more efficiently. So we
10
Page 10
focus our efforts today in areas where
Boeing has core strengths and can really
add value: efficiency and reliability; safety
and security; and increased passenger
comfort. Those are the main areas we focus
on and we have achieved tremendous
success in the last few years. The key to
2006 for us as a banner year was the
adoption of multiple tools that we offer in
the marketplace we call them digital
productivity tools by single customers.
So you have customers with up to five
different products that Boeing offers,
combining them together and taking
advantage of the synergistic value of those
tools together rather than the value that
they offer individually.
How did Boeing fare in marketing its
support services in 2006 and what are
your predictions for 2007?
We have been on a growth path, so in
terms of our revenues from services it was
a record year and we expect every year
going forward to be a record year. I think
services will represent between 10-12 per
cent of the revenues of Boeing Commercial
Airplanes [in 2006]. I dont know about a
higher percentage in 2007 because
aeroplane deliveries keep growing at a fast
pace so you would have to look at what
our projections are for those. But I
guarantee 2007 will present growth
relative to 2006. If nothing else just the
acquisition of Aviall [worlds largest parts
distributor] and the inclusion of those
revenues will provide quite a good bump.
In which regions do you think there is
a need for Boeing to amplify its
aftermarket presence?
We have pretty good geographical
distribution in terms of where our
revenues come from. Theres still a
predominance of revenues around our
parts sales. We have been growing quite a
bit in our passenger-to-freighter business,
our overall modification business and also
the digital productivity tools as well as the
material management products. Those have
been very successful in Asia and in Europe
and in the US. Growth regions are
obviously where new fleets are entering
service, like Africa and Latin America. You
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
may have noticed last year we sold
aeroplanes to Ethiopian Airlines, to Royal
Air Maroc, Kenya Airways and TAAG
Angola Airlines. So, these areas are all
candidates now for new services such as
our component services programme, AHM
(Airplane Health Management), and IMM
(Integrated Materials Management). In
Latin America we had Aeromexico, we had
GOL and later in 2006 we also announced
TAM in Brazil as the new operator for
777ERs so theres a lot of growth potential
in those regions ahead of us.
What kind of strides has Boeing been
making in materials management?
We started a few years ago with a
programme called GAIN with KLM and
Japan Airlines. As we operated that
programme we realised two things. Firstly,
we were doing it very well with those two
customers, but they asked to do it with
more than just our parts. The second thing
we noticed was that is really wasnt
financially efficient for us to buy
inventory back because most of these
airlines had already depreciated their
inventory and when we bought it back we
just created another capital cost to be
amortised. So we said to the airlines that
wed create Integrated Materials
Management and take over the
management of their current inventory
rather than buying it from them. And we
will replenish it at point of use so at some
point in the future Boeing and our IMM
partners will own the inventory, but for
now they [the airlines] own it and when
they pull parts from that inventory they
just have to pay a management fee until we
have to replenish it. Thus, it became a
more efficient programme from a fiscal
point of view. All that worked very well
and it became the IMM programme for
which, today, we have nine customers.
Where do you feel Boeing fits into the
global aviation supply chain picture?
I think the market is coming to grips with
what the value is for someone else to
manage their supply chain. Obviously
everybody thinks they can do things
better than the next-door guy. The reality
is that doing this kind of large-scale
check_FPA:AT84_CHECK 5/2/07 1:58 pm Page 3

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Theyre also the least costly to maintain. All of which means they
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Including seven of the eight most profitable. To find out more
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CFM, CFM56 and the CFM logo are all trademarks of CFM International, a 50/50 joint company of Snecma and General Electric Co.
AT86Opinion:AT86Opinion 13/3/07 8:13 am
IN MY OPINION
system integration is one of Boeings core
strengths so I think we add a lot of value
to the industry and its been recognised by
the customers who have this programme
with us. We also have a special relationship
with the OEM suppliers which allows us
to work out contractual terms that are
advantageous to our customers and
ourselves. For airlines, as they grow bigger
supply-chain management becomes more
complex and they are realising that it is
not their core business. Some of these
airlines are managing 2,000-3,000 suppliers
and they have entire departments that are
devoted to that. Theyre realising that this
is a side activity that theyd rather not do.
So, I think youre going to see more market
success for IMM in 2007.
In terms of refinement, how well do
you think the aviation supply chain
compares to that of the automotive
industry?
The scale and the complexity are both
completely different. When you look at
the automotive industry the
standardisation around car models and
the volume that each car model sells is
such that supply-chain management is
key. Our industry is just now
consolidating. At Boeing, we went
through a process of reducing our
primary suppliers by a third in just the
first three years that we embarked on
the effort. Theres a lot more work to be
done as to how we manage our supply
base and how our primary suppliers
now manage the secondary supply
level. I think were still getting to the
level of supply-chain management that
the automotive industry has, but it was
never an imperative in our industry
everybody was very happy having
different relationships and trying to
leverage those relationships into
competitive positions. Today theyre
realising that its a cost that can be
better managed. So, I think some parts
of the industry are very well developed
and others are still learning the
advantages of applying the latest
technology and latest techniques of
managing supply base.
How do you think parts distributors
will have to adapt as Boeing begins
to encroach on what was
traditionally their business ground?
Were managing Aviall as a separate
business and were allowing them to
12
Page 12
continue operating independently.
Were just trying to take advantage of
their relationship with common
suppliers to our business to help us on
our IMM path. You shouldnt take IMM
as a programme that will eliminate any
other means of managing the supply
chain or buying parts. Its actually a
complementary way to take care of
larger, more complex supply-chain
requirements. The distributors will still
have an important role to play in the
industry. Obviously, though, Aviall is
almost 10 times larger than the second
largest parts distributor in the world
and I think that proportion will still
exist because we will not only let
Aviall grow, but also cement their
growth with whatever we can help
with. However, Boeing is not really
trying to take over the role that the
distributors play, but rather that of the
airlines.
What degree of success have you had
with the AHM programme?
2006 was our first full year selling
AHM. We have seven announced
customers so far so I think this shows
the momentum this tool is gathering.
More than 25 per cent of all 777s flying
today are being monitored by AHM
and I believe in 2007 youre going to
see that momentum continuing and also
the integration of AHM with other
tools. So youre going to see customers
who announced AHM last year adding
Maintenance Performance Toolbox,
IMM and other tools and services to it.
How many more partners do you
expect to add to the GoldCare
aftermarket lifecycle programme?
We announced GoldCare last year;
probably a little earlier than we wanted
to bring it out to market as we were
still developing the concept and
forming our network of supplier
partners and MRO partners. We
continue on that roadmap. We
announced our European MRO partner
last year SR Technics and we
intend in 2007 to announce both our
Americas MRO partner and our Asia
MRO partners. We are pretty much
complete in our supplier partner
selections: weve selected the top six
suppliers to the 787 which cover about
75 per cent of all vendor parts in that
aeroplane, including all the LRUs. With
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
that we will be ready in 2007 to bring
this service to market.
How prevalent do you expect
GoldCare to become?
If you look at the history of engine
total care it is somewhat similar,
although not identical. So, you see a
slow adoption with the first model
where we launch it, but obviously if
GoldCare is a success, which we think
it will be, the idea is that it becomes a
standard offering for our next new
aeroplane.
An old question, but why has
Boeing never involved itself directly
in maintaining aircraft?
In the aviation services market our
strength is really in leveraging our
large-scale systems integration, our
engineering knowledge, our intellectual
property around the aeroplane, and
what we know about aeroplanes into
services that really allow our customers
to be more efficient. In the end, our
success hinges on our customers
success. You saw what happened to
Boeing after our customers were
damaged severely after September
2001. And when they suffered, we
suffered and we are very aware of that.
So, if we help them be successful we
have a much better chance of
continuing to be their preferred
provider going forward of aeroplanes.
Do you expect the quality of the
services package offered by OEMs
with their aircraft to become as
important a competitive issue as,
say, fuel economy and other
operational characteristics?
Definitely. Here I want to differentiate
between support package and services
offering. Support has historically been a
differentiator for Boeing. We have had
recognition from the marketplace that we
offer superior coverage and support for
our products. But, I think going forward
services and the kinds of services we
offer, will also be an important
differentiator. I think the reason is
airlines are becoming more aware of the
lifecycle cost of the aircraft. And we feel
we have achieved some competitive
advantage in the marketplace by offering
these coordinated, combined and
integrated services offerings that enhance
the value of the aeroplane through its
entire lifecycle.
check_FPA:AT86_CHECK 14/3/07 8:45 am Page 3
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AT86Tech_b:AT86 Tech_B 13/3/07 8:15 am
TECHNOLOGY
Natural selection
the B747-8 programme
Since the early 1970s the
B747, instantly recognisable
by its girth and signature
hump, has carried millions
of passengers and the
majority of the worlds air
freight. Over three decades
later, the latest evolution of
the B747 is a significant
departure from its ancestors,
while inheriting some of
their strongest genes. Aircraft
Technology reports.
T he B747-8 Intercontinental (B747-
8) and B747-8 Freighter (B747-8F)
are the new high-capacity B747s
designed to plug the gap between
existing long-haul aircraft and the
A380. Since the November 2005 launch,
Boeing has received 78 firm orders (24
B747-8s and 54 B747-8Fs). Cargolux is
the launch customer, signing up for 10
freighters plus 10 options for its B747
fleet. Delivery will begin in the third
quarter of 2009. Other freighter
customers include NCA (Nippon Cargo
Airlines), Emirates Airlines and Korean
Air. In December 2006 Lufthansa
ordered 20 of the passenger aircraft and
delivery is expected in 2010. The
remaining four B747-8 orders are for
VIP aircraft destined for as yet
undisclosed customers.
The freighter will enter service first
and this can partly be attributed to
strong demand and a volatile cargo
market. Tim Bader, spokesman for the
B747 programme, says: The cargo
market is really hot right now and
growing faster than the passenger
market. A lot of growth is happening in
14
Page 14
The B747-8 will have similar engine and flight deck technologies to the B787, hence the 8
linking the names.
south-east Asia with expansion in China
and other emerging markets. However,
in time the passenger market is
expected to overtake the cargo market.
In Boeings current market outlook it is
estimated that over the next 20 years
there will be approximately 990 aircraft
within the B747 and larger aircraft
market. One third is expected to be
cargo and two thirds passenger aircraft.
Something old, something new
Boeing has looked at advances in its
existing and upcoming programmes and
incorporated them in to the B747-8. It
will use similar engine and flight deck
technologies as the B787.The use of the
8 in the name signifies the link
between the two models. The most
obvious similarities with the B787 will
be the interior, engines and
improvements in wing design.
Advanced alloys and flight deck
features from the B777 will also be
incorporated. The B747-8 is stretched
5.6m (18.3ft) from the B747-400 to
provide 450 seats in a three-class
configuration and a 14,815km
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
(8,000nm) range. The aircraft will be
able to fit in with existing airport
infrastructure. It will have a common
type rating with the B747, thus from a
pilot-training perspective it will help
minimise downtime.
The B747 is a popular freighter,
carrying about half the worlds air
freight and the B747-8F looks set to
continue this tradition. It provides 16
per cent more revenue cargo volume
than its predecessor. The additional
space from the longer fuselage offers
space for four additional main-deck
pallets, two additional lower-hold
pallets and two additional lower-hold
containers. Cargo can be loaded and
unloaded on the B747-8F using both the
nose and side doors. It has a maximum
structural payload capability of 140
metric tonnes (154 tons) and a range of
8,275km (4,475nm).
Engine matters
Key to that performance of the
B747-8 is the 66,500lb-thrust GEnx
engine derived from the B787
programme. The B747-8 version is
check_FPA:AT84_CHECK 6/2/07 5:53 pm Page 3
AT86Tech_b:AT86 Tech_B 13/3/07 8:16 am Page 16
TECHNOLOGY
slightly smaller than that of the
B787, with a smaller fan, but for the
most part the central core will be the
same. We are shrinking the
architecture of the engine a little,
explains Bader. The 747-8 is a four-
engine aircraft instead of a two-
engine aircraft, so the outboard
engines cant be as big.
A plus of the B747-8 engine being
based on that of the B787 is that
Boeing will have a sound knowledge
of its operations when Cargolux
starts flying, as the B787 will already
have been in operation (the first
flight of the B787 is scheduled for
later in 2007 with entry into service
in 2008).
There is only one engine provider
for the B747-8. Bader says the reason
for this is that the market for the
B747-8 is not large enough for Boeing
and another engine manufacturer to
absorb the costs of design,
certification and support. He
16 Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
expands: While we see the market
growing over the next 20 years,
compared with the 737 or 777, it is a
smaller market. The larger volume
market is better able to absorb the
costs of two suppliers. And they
need more than one supplier to meet
demand.
Wing redesign
The wing of the B747-8 is marginally
bigger than the B747-400, enabling the
aircraft to carry more fuel and increasing
the range. The flap system on the wing
has been simplified in the same manner
as the B777 wing. Previous B747s had
triple-slotted inboard and outboard
flaps, but the B747-8 will have double-
slotted inboard flaps and single-slotted
outboard flaps, like the B777. The wing
will also have a raked tip borrowed from
the B777 programme, as opposed to the
winglet on the B747-400. In a wing twist
test of the B747-400 and the B747-8, the
newer model showed a half a per cent
AT86Tech_b:AT86 Tech_B 13/3/07
improvement, which amounts to 40nm
Changes to the wing are primarily from
an external standpoint... the loadpath is
pretty much the same. That is why we
have such a good understanding of this
planes capability and strength, notes
Bader.
The fuselage of the aircraft will be
aluminium, while the control surfaces
on the wings (flaps, spoilers, ailerons)
will be composites. The wings
themselves will be made out of
advanced aluminium alloys used on the
B777. Bader explains: Composites offer
weight reduction, but we could not
make the entire plane out of composites,
because it would have meant creating a
completely new airplane programme,
much like a 787... A lot of the design
work that was put into the 747 from the
very beginning was very well done the
first time and we are using that.
The B747 family has a strong
maintenance record and Boeing plans to
build on that for the B747-8. For those
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
8:16 am Page 17
TECHNOLOGY
areas of the aircraft where parts are
being changed, maintenance costs for
specific components will be improved.
When the B747-8 takes flight, the A-
check interval will be 1,000 hours
versus 600 hours today, and the C-
check interval will be 10,000 hours or The B747-8 serves the area
24 months, versus 7,500 hours or 18
months. Maintenance training for the between the A340 and
B747-8 will be minimal and there is no A380 We fully anticipate
need to purchase new equipment, that you will see airlines
enabling the aircraft to fit easily into
existing B747 fleets.
operating both. It is not
either or.
Interior difference Tim Bader, spokesman
From a passenger perspective, the
for the B747 programme
interior will be dramatically different
from that which is seen on a B747
today. The B747-8 will have B787
interior features and mood lighting
by LEDs will replace the usual B747
fluorescent lighting. Typical entry
through door 2 of a B747-400 is
through the kitchen galleys. This is
not the most pleasant passenger
17
AT86Tech_b:AT86 Tech_B 13/3/07 8:17 am
TECHNOLOGY
The interior of the B747-8 is radically different from previous family members, with bigger
windows and a wider entrance.
experience and now Boeing has made
the entrance more open, like that of a
cruise ship, with the staircase offset
to the far side of the main cabin and
a curved wall hiding the galley. In
the ceiling above the staircase are
three windows, these are not real
windows, but form part of the
interior look. The actual passenger
windows are larger than those of a
B747, similar in size to those of a
B777.
The engines on the B747-8 are smaller versions of the GEnx engine on the B787 programme.
18
Page 18
The space between the bump and
the tail section on the upper deck,
termed the SkyLoft, has come in for
special attention. We have used that
space previously for crew rests in the
-400, but we now realise there is
opportunity there. We are making
that space available by taking
systems that typically run through
that attic space and moving them to
the side along the fuselage walls. A
lot of the airlines are intrigued by
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
that capability. Some airlines favour
taking the galleys off the main deck
and putting them up into the
SkyLoft, because it opens up space
on the main deck for approximately
12 more seats. Airlines could also use
the space to create personal suites, a
lounge or a business center.
Improvements
Boeing says seat mile costs for the
B747-8 are 10 per cent lower than a
B747-400. Compared with the A380,
Bader maintains that trip costs are 19
per cent lower and seat mile costs
about 3 per cent lower. Because of
technological advances, the B747-8 is
approximately 15 per cent more fuel
efficient than the B747-400. This
reduces fuel costs in addition to
reducing emissions by 15 per cent.
The estimated turn-around time of
the aircraft is 80-90 minutes, but
airlines will have to operate the
aircraft first to confirm that.
The noise generated by the B747-8
will be about 30 per cent less than
the B747-400 from a footprint
perspective. Both the passenger and
freighter jet will meet QC2 for
arrivals and departures. The noise
reduction is primarily due to
improvements in the wing design and
the engine, as well as improvements
in the flight management computer.
There will be acoustic installations to
absorb the noise and chevrons will
help mix the air and reduce the noise
behind the engines (that also helps
reduce the noise for passengers).
Boeing is confident that the B747-8
will meet QC1 standards and is
attempting to get the freighter down
to that level.
The media often cites the A380 as
the big competitor to the B747-8, but
Bader disagrees: I dont know about
that. I think a good example is
Lufthansa, which ordered A380s. But
they needed something to handle the
400- to 500-seat markets and they
ordered the B747-8. It serves the area
between the A340 and A380 within
their fleet. We fully anticipate that
you will see airlines operating both.
It is not either or. The aviation
industry eagerly awaits the flight of
both aircraft.
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AT86Tech_b:AT86 Tech_B 13/3/07 8:20 am
TECHNOLOGY
This could save your life safety and
survival equipment
According to the Geneva-
based Aircraft Crashes Record
Office, fewer aircraft crashed
worldwide in 2006 than in any
year since 1963.The number
of fatalities in aircraft carrying
more than six people was
1,292 down 11 per cent
compared with 2006. Safety
and survival equipment plays
a significant role in reducing
the number of fatalities in a
survivable crash. Aircraft
Technology looks at some of
the available products.
T he safety equipment onboard
aircraft varies according to which
side of the Atlantic the aircraft is
flying on, the regulatory body that has
certified the equipment and the product
choice made by the airline. During an
emergency, it is of course crucial that
passengers follow the instructions of the
crew who have been trained in aircraft
safety and evacuation procedures. There is
a wide range of safety and survival
products that the crew may utilise; this
article discusses the following products:
airbags, childrens restraints, emergency
exit lighting, oxygen systems, evacuation
slides, life rafts and life vests.
More than half of all general aviation
accidents occur during taxi, take-off or
landing, and a large proportion of these
scenarios are survivable. One primary
factor in surviving an aircraft accident is
avoiding a head or neck injury that could
prevent a quick exit from the aircraft.
Research has shown that under survivable
impact conditions, passengers equipped
with an airbag have a significantly reduced
risk of head injury and concussion.
Airbags have traditionally been associated
with cars, but now they are safety
equipment in many passenger jets.
20
Page 20
The airbag in the AAIR system is designed to significantly reduce the risk of head injuries.
The AmSafe Aviation Inflatable Restraint
(AAIR) system was designed to meet the
initial 16g ruling set by the FAA in 1988
that affected only a small percentage of
aircraft. However, commercial aircraft
delivered after October 27, 2009 must
comply with the 16g ruling, meaning
every seat on every commercial aircraft
must be 16g compliant. There are various
ways of complying with this regulation -
the shoulder harness and inflatable
restraint are two of them.
Bill Hagan, VP of AmSafe and president
of AmSafe Aviation in Phoenix, Arizona
explains that given the new FAA
regulation, AmSafe designed an airbag to
fit in the seatbelt portion of the restraint
instead of the structure of the aircraft. It
was the most effective means to meet the
requirement of passenger safety, he says.
The AAIR system looks like a standard
seat restraint and operates in the same way.
The only visible difference is that the
lapbelt, where the airbag is stored, is
slightly thicker. It is comprised of four key
components: seatbelt airbag assembly,
inflator assembly, electronics module
assembly and cable interface assembly.
With the exception of the seatbelt airbag
assembly, the remaining components fit
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
under the seat and are not in view of the
passengers.
Preventing head injuries
When the system detects an impending
impact, the airbag deploys within 50
milliseconds less time than the blink an
eye up and away from the seat
occupant. This gives passengers of all sizes
critical protection to the head, neck and
torso in the event of a survivable accident.
The airbag subsequently deflates within
10 seconds, enhancing chances for
survival by allowing egress under
emergency conditions.
Currently there is select seat placement
of the AAIR on aircraft. The airbags are in
use at seats in which passengers are at the
greatest risk during a survivable crash.
These are seats that are near potentially
hazardous obstructions or those that turn
into flatbeds and are angled to face the
aisles. However, AAIR is designed for use
on all seats in the aircraft and can be
installed on any seat.
Hagan says that currently 80 per cent of
new general aviation aircraft are equipped
with the AAIR system and more than 20
commercial airlines around the world also
have it installed in their seats. To date,
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AT86Tech_b:AT86 Tech_B 13/3/07 8:20 am
TECHNOLOGY
more than 11,400 AAIR systems have been
installed in a variety of aircraft. Air
Canada, Virgin Atlantic and Cathay Pacific
are customers. Most recently, Delta Air
Lines announced that it will become the
first major US carrier to embrace air bags
in their new premium business-class seats.
Lighting the way
UK-based STG Aerospaces SafTGlo
system is a photoluminescent floorpath
marking system that stores and
simultaneously emits light, providing
highly visible emergency exit guidance.
Illumination is guaranteed for up to 16
hours of darkness, after a short period of
charging with normal cabin lighting. In
developing the product, STG worked in
conjunction with photoluminescent
pigment manufacturers and combined new
methods of processing to create a material
with the ability to produce highly visible
green light.
Photoluminescent technology uses the
natural ability of a substance to emit a
glow for some time after absorbing energy
from a light source. The glow continues
even after the light source has been
removed, requiring no power supply to
operate effectively. This means that
operators can avoid the failure of a critical
electrical system by replacing it with an
FAA-approved non-electrical alternative.
SafTGlo customers include regional
carriers such as: GOL (Brazil), Sama (Saudi
Arabia), CityJet (UK), Cebu Pacific
(Philippines), and Hainan Airlines (China).
Royal Jordanian, British Airways and Air
Canada are also customers. SafTGlo is a
factory-fit option on B737 and B757
aircraft. Last year STG won an extension
to its contract to supply the product as
standard fit to the Embraer 170 and 190.
Lufthansa Technik offers Guideline
ColourFit, a coloured non-electric floor
path marking system. The ColourFit
photoluminiscent system is FAA - and
EASA - approved and consists of the
following main parts: aisle light, galley
light and aisle light with arrows. The
system has been successfully introduced
into service and will be installed on the
A380. Retrofit programmes are also
available.
Breathe in, breathe out
Oxygen systems are specified by the
aircraft OEM and certified to a particular
22
Page 22
airframe. The systems are SFE and
generally the airline has one or two
systems to choose from. FAR/JAR Part 25
establishes the amount of oxygen supplied
to aircraft occupants. Various engineering
calculations are used to convert the
requirement to flow rate, taking into
account the efficiency of the oxygen
dispensing device.
B/E Aerospace manufactures and designs
fully integrated passenger and crew
oxygen systems for commercial, regional
and business jets in the Lenexa, Kansas
facility. Products include: flight crew
dispensing, distribution and storage
systems; complete gaseous and chemical
passenger oxygen systems; Personal
Breathing Equipment (smoke protection)
for cabin and crew; and portable oxygen
systems.
In the event of a loss of cabin pressure,
the oxygen systems in an aircraft will be
deployed. The system works in the
following sequence:
Altitude switch detects change in cabin
pressure electrical contacts close.
Aircraft circuit powers latch to open
container doors.
Masks drop within reach of
passengers.
Passenger pulls mask to actuate oxygen
generator in a chemical system and the
manifold in a gaseous system.
The B787 will be the first aircraft
equipped with a passenger oxygen system
using B/Es advanced Pulse Oxygen
technology. Mark Oswald, VP Commercial
Oxygen Products, says the system delivers
oxygen more efficiently than traditional
Hoovers life preserver for children is designed
to keep infants dry and protect them from
hypothermia.
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
passenger systems, and reduces overall
aircraft weight and fuel burn. The system
also facilitates lower maintenance and
cabin reconfiguration costs. The first
installations on the B787 are due in late
2007. B/E Aerospace has oxygen systems
or components installed on the following
platforms: A330/340, A320, A320 family,
B737, B767, B777, Embraer and
Bombardier aircraft. It is also exclusive
provider of the passenger oxygen system
modules and crew distribution system for
the A380.
Taking care of the kids
The FAA requires children of two-years
and older to occupy their own seat.
Although not required, the authority
encourages the voluntary use of a child
restraint system to enhance safety during
taxi, take-off and landing. The AmSafe
Child Aviation Restraint System (CARES)
has been certified by the FAA for use on
aircraft for children occupying their own
seat, who weigh between 20-44lbs. It is a
small, light-weight device designed to give
parents travelling with small children a
convenient alternative to flying with a
15lb car seat.
The CARES unit, weighing 1lb, is a belt
and buckle devise that loops over the back
of virtually any size airline seat, with
adjustable shoulder straps that fit the
directly into the standard seatbelt. CARES
can be used in all seat locations on the
aircraft with the exception of exit rows.
Hoover Industries, the Miami-based raft
and life vest manufacturer, has developed
an infant life preserver that keeps babies
completely dry. Hoover claims the FAA
TSO-C13f -approved Infant Small Child
Life Preserver has unique design elements
which provide protection from the
elements and hypothermia and are not
found in any other existing infant life
preserver. The special features are the
survival capsule and the thermal
protection vest, which replace the
traditional baby cot and vest.
A full viewing window permits the
infants adult companion to constantly
monitor him/her, while a towing bridle
and lifting handle facilitate rescue
operations. Two large ports provide air
circulation and prevent water entering the
capsule. A large ballast bag ensures stable
flotation. Both oral and CO2 inflation
systems are included. The preserver is
AT86Tech_b:AT86 Tech_B 13/3/07 8:44 am Page 23

TECHNOLOGY

packaged in a flame-retardant bag.
The Infant Small Child Life Preserver is a
highly visible yellow, manufactured from
flame-resistant urethane coated nylon and
has heat-sealed seams. Standard features
include: FAA-TSO C85-approved water-
activated locator light; rescue-facilitating
reflective tape; 72in. tether and thermal
protection vest inside. Options available
are: a sea dye marker; varied bags and
packing configurations and 35 gram CO2
replacement cylinders.
Float your boat
Evacuation slides play a key role in safe
egress from the aircraft. Most evacuation
slides today act not only as a slide, but also
as a life raft. Goodrich Corporation has
been selected by Airbus to supply the
evacuation systems for the A380 aircraft.
Once in the water, a slide detaches from
the aircraft and flattens out, but does not
otherwise change shape. The slides
undergo rigorous testing to ensure they
can withstand the dual nature of their role
and do not flip over in the water.
Miami-based Eastern Aero Marine
(EAM) has been a leading manufacturer of
inflatable safety gear for over 50 years.
EAM products are used by commercial,
corporate and general aviation and aircraft
manufacturers worldwide.
The twin tube Classic (FAA type I) is
EAMs most popular raft. The Classic is a
highly visible yellow, adaptable for OEM
configuration and some types have
reversible twin tubes. EAM also
manufactures a series of VIP rafts with
inflatable canopies for use in corporate
aviation. The survival kit (which is
equipped with a first-aid kit) is included
with the rafts as required by FAR 121.
Each survival kit contains a first-aid kit
with standard products. Additional first-
aid kits can also be purchased separately.
The type of survival kit and first-aid kit
depends on the aircraft configuration.
Steven Kuras, EAM director of Strategic
Business Development, explains that size
and weight are crucial factors when
designing a life raft. In addition, for a
passenger or crew member trying to use
the raft under emergency conditions, it is
crucial that there are clear operating
instructions with automated inflation
eliminating manual processes. He notes
that the design of life raft has not varied
much in recent years; the only major
change is a new part-composite cylinder,
which reduces the weight of the life raft
package and improves the inflation system.
Airlines are always searching for cost
saving measures and new aircraft
configurations and seat designs are
constantly evolving. This means that
manufacturers producing safety and
survival products must ensure the
products are of the highest quality and
flexible enough to meet each customers
needs. However, as Kuras points out,
searching for cost savings while
jeopardising quality standards is not
acceptable. The safety equipment may
only be used one time, but failure is not
an option.

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Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007 23

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AT86Tech_b:AT86 Tech_B 13/3/07 8:46 am
TECHNOLOGY
Cargo hold security
Bombs and fires in the cargo
holds of passenger aircraft and
stowaways aboard dedicated
freighters all pose threats to
aviation safety. Securing cargo
holds and the cargo they
contain is a multi-faceted
endeavour, one that has
spawned wide-ranging
research in bomb protection
and is now applying video
technology to reduce the
incidence of false fire alarms
that can result in unnecessary
diversions. Bernard Fitzsimons
investigates.
26
Page 26
The output from AD Aerospace's CargoVu hold monitoring system can be displayed on electronic
flight bags.
T he security of air cargo, in both
passenger aircraft and freighters,
has been a major concern for nearly
20 years. In December 1988 Pan Am flight
103 was destroyed over Lockerbie,
Scotland, when an improvised explosive
device (IED) contained in a portable radio-
cassette player detonated in the B747-100s
forward cargo hold, effectively blowing
off the aircrafts nose section. The event
focused attention on the vulnerability of
pressurised aircraft to relatively small
quantities of explosives: the bomb itself
was said to have been transferred,
unscreened, onto the New York-bound
B747 after arriving at Heathrow on a
connecting flight carrying the same flight
number. Nine months later a McDonnell
Douglas DC-10 operating UTA flight 772
from Brazzavile to Paris via NDjamena
broke up over Niger after a bomb in the
forward cargo hold exploded.
Bombs are not the only threat. Just over
a year before the Lockerbie accident, a
South African Airways B747-200 Combi
en route from Taipei to Johannesburg had
crashed into the Indian Ocean, apparently
after a fire in the main deck cargo area.
And in May 1996 improperly loaded
oxygen generators started a fire in the
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
cargo hold of a Douglas DC-9 operated by
ValuJet Airlines. It crashed in Florida 10
minutes after taking off from Miami.
The September 2001 hijackings of US
airliners led to unprecedentedly intense
scrutiny of air transport security. The US
Transportation Security Administration
(TSA) view is that the main threats to air
cargo security are the introduction of an
explosive device on a passenger aircraft
and the hijacking of an all-cargo aircraft.
According to a January 2007 report by
the US Government Accountability Office
(GAO), there have also been several
instances in recent years of stowaways in
the cargo holds of all-cargo aircraft.
In May 2006 the TSA issued new
regulations intended to enhance and
improve the security of US domestic air
cargo. To ensure that cargo transported on
passenger aircraft is screened in
accordance with the November 2001
Aviation and Transportation Security Act
(ASTA) and unknown shipments are
excluded, the agency relies mainly on its
known shipper programme, which allows
individuals or businesses with established
histories to ship cargo on passenger
aircraft. This had been created before
September 2001 on a voluntary basis, and
AT86Tech_b:AT86 Tech_B 13/3/07 8:47 am
an earlier GAO report found that the
information in TSAs database was
incomplete and might not have been
reliable. In fact, the centralised database
contained data on only 400,000 of the
estimated total population of 1.5 million
known shippers. The agencys response
was to make it mandatory for air carriers
to report information on their known
shippers.
Another GAO concern had been that
exemptions in the TSAs requirement for
random inspections of air cargo might
leave the system vulnerable to terrorist
attack. In September 2006, accordingly,
the TSA revised the criteria for
exemptions, and has been reviewing the
remaining exemptions to determine
whether they constitute an unacceptable
vulnerability. (Neither the percentages of
cargo which passenger and cargo carriers
are required to inspect nor the exemptions
to the requirement have been publicly
released.)
The GAOs other reservations about the
TSAs approach focus on performance
measures and targets. The agency
conducts audits of air carriers and indirect
air carriers to ensure their compliance
with security requirements, but has not
developed performance measures. That
means it cannot effectively focus on
entities posing the greatest risk, nor assess
the performance of individual carriers
against national averages.
Implementing all the provisions of the
TSAs May 2006 regulations, including
ongoing measures such as the random
inspection by carriers of a percentage of
air cargo, would cost $2 billion over the 10
years to 2014, the agency estimated. The
GAO agrees that the cost of enhancing
air cargo security can be significant, but
comments only that the potential costs of
a terrorist attack, in terms of both the loss
and life and property and long-term
economic impacts, would also be
significant, although difficult to predict
and quantify.
Meanwhile, airworthiness authorities
and manufacturers continue to pursue
answers to the threat posed by IEDs in the
cargo holds of passenger aircraft.
Harder aircraft
The UKs Air Accident Investigation
Branch (AAIB) painstakingly
reassembled the remnants of the B747-
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
Page 27
TECHNOLOGY
100 blown up over Lockerbie, enabling it
to analyse the processes involved in its
destruction. The most serious damage
was the star-burst rupture of the fuselage
skin between frames 680 and 740, and
the cracks radiating from it. But there
was also indirect damage caused by the
channelling of shock waves and
supersonic gas flows through interlinked
cavities, along with disruption to flight
control and other critical systems.
As the AAIB concluded, pure
containment of the explosive energy is
theoretically possible but not viable in
an aviation context. Moreover, any
unsuccessful attempt to contain the
explosive would probably result in
greater devastation, since all the energy
would be stored until the containment
finally ruptured, then released along
with massive fragmentation of the
containment.
However, the branch did recommend
that the airworthiness authorities and
aircraft manufacturers undertake a It's a covert system. You
systematic study with a view to
don't want the bag handlers
identifying measures that might mitigate
the effects of explosive devices and to know you're monitoring
improve the tolerance of aircraft them if your objective is to
structure and systems to explosive catch them.
damage. Its own suggestion was for
strengthened containers incorporating a Mike Horne, managing
blast vent on the outside, stronger floor director, AD Aerospace.
and ceiling liners, and blow-out panels
in the fuselage coinciding with the vent
apertures in the containers so that the
skin rupture would take place within
pre-determined zones and provide
immediate pressure relief. The gaps
between the hold liner vent apertures
and the fuselage skins at the blow-out
region would need to be sealed to keep
the explosive energy out of the cavities,
which could be further protected by
lightweight energy-absorbing material
such as vermiculite.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority
(CAA) aircraft hardening research
programme concluded in 2001 that it
was possible to substantially increase
aircraft resistance to explosions in flight.
Specifically, it found that hardened
containers could increase the charge size
which the fuselage could resist by a
factor of 1.7 while imposing a weight
penalty of 0.9 tonnes, while hardened
liners gave a 4.2 times increase for a
weight penalty of 0.46 tonnes. Dividing
27
AT86Tech_b:AT86 Tech_B 13/3/07 8:48 am
TECHNOLOGY
AD's SmokeVu system combines monochrome
video cameras, infrared illuminators and
specialised software and is claimed to detect
fires faster and more reliably than
conventional smoke detectors.
28
Page 28
the increase in charge size by the
increased aircraft mass gives a
performance index of 1.9 for hardened
containers and 9.1 for hardened liners.
On new-build aircraft the use of bonded
stringers or local reinforcement of the
skin under stringers could more than
double resistance for respective weight
penalties of 0.031 and 0.045 tonnes,
giving respective performance indices of
74 and 51.
Hardened containers
The FAAs Pan Am 103-inspired
commercial aircraft hardening
programme (CAHP), which was initiated
in 1990 and transferred to the newly
constituted TSA by the ASTA in 2001,
focused on determining the minimum
quantity of explosive that would result
in aircraft loss in order to validate and
refine standards for explosive detection.
It has also looked at techniques to
reduce aircraft vulnerability to internal
explosions, and since 1992 has carried
out more than 100 tests on commercial
aircraft structures. They include a joint
test with the CAA on a B747, a joint
test with Boeing on an L1011, and tests
on DC-9, DC-10, B727, B737 and A300
airframes. Since 1990 there have also
been more than 50 tests on full-scale
blast mitigation prototypes. Other
intentional threats assessed under the
programme include electromagnetic
interference, projected energy,
shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles
and small arms fire.
Aircraft survivability is a function of
susceptibility that is, the probability
that explosives of a particular nature
and amount may be placed on board
and vulnerability. For the cargo hold,
susceptibility is a function of the
performance of checked baggage
explosive detection systems (EDS) and
their operators, the possible use of
computer-assisted passenger pre-
screening systems (CAPPS) and positive
passenger-bag matching. Vulnerability,
or the conditional probability that an
aircraft will be destroyed or suffer some
specific level of damage if an explosion
takes place on board, is a function of
the weight, type and location of the
explosive charge, and of the aircrafts
structural ability to withstand it. The
aim is to provide a safety margin by
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
reducing the level of susceptibility
below the level of vulnerability, that is,
ensuring that aircraft can withstand a
bigger explosion than would be caused
by the largest quantity of explosive
likely to avoid detection.
One of the CAHPs thrusts has been
the hardened baggage container, or unit
load device (HULD), project, with a
specific focus on the LD-3 containers
that are most commonly used for
passenger bags on widebody aircraft.
The HULD research resulted in
performance specifications for
fragmentation resistance, shock holing
to establish that the material is strong
enough to withstand the shock loads
resulting from a nearby explosion, and
blast containment. To demonstrate
compliance with the last requirement, a
container positioned in the cargo hold
of a widebody aircraft must maintain its
integrity and cause minimal damage to
the surrounding aircraft structure when
an explosive device is detonated inside
it. The explosive threat it must contain
is larger than the charge size specified
in the criteria for EDS certification.
In 1996, with airline input, the FAA
drew up a draft technical specification
for hardened containers. In 1998 a
HULD designed by Galaxy Aviation
Security (now part of SRA
International) was the first to pass the
tests, and in August 2001 another
design from Telair International also
passed the tests; requirements are
specified in a classified appendix to ISO
6517, which specifies general
dimensional and functional
requirements.
The SRA Galaxy ECOS3 has a metal
frame and panels of Glare aluminium-
fibreglass laminate. It weighs 330lb
empty (LD-3s are designed to hold
3,000lb of baggage) and uses a patented
door sealing mechanism to distribute
the blast load evenly. Telairs design,
which was awarded TSO certification in
January 2002, has an aluminium frame
plus panels of what the manufacturer
describes as a patented configuration of
Kevlar developed in association with
DuPont.
Both have been used in a TSA pilot
programme involving two airlines to
asses their performance and potential
application in regular airline operations.
AT86Tech_b:AT86 Tech_B 15/3/07 4:46 pm
Weight and cost considerations the
GAO quotes a TSA estimate that
hardened containers would cost
$20,000-$40,000 each would make
their use as replacements for all existing
LD-3s impractical.
Securing the cargo
Almost all air freight, of course,
poses no risk to the aircraft carrying
it, but operators are increasingly
concerned about the security of the
cargo itself. AD Aerospace has been
supplying FlightVu cockpit door
monitoring systems (CDMS) since
they became a requirement in the
wake of September 2001, but we
shifted our emphasis to cargo 12-18
months ago, says managing director
Mike Horne.
There are several kinds of cargo
application, he says: From the
passenger airline point of view
theres a problem with theft from
passengers bags. British Airways is
3PONSOREDBY
Page 29
TECHNOLOGY
just one of several carriers to have
selected AD to equip its Airbus fleet
with cameras to monitor the baggage
loading and unloading operations.
Its a covert system, Horne
comments. You dont want the bag
handlers to know youre monitoring
them if your objective is to catch
them.
Freight operators have different
problems, Horne says. They have
theft as well to a certain degree, but
also damage from loading and
unloading operations and cargo
shifting in flight. In October 2005
Boeing picked AD to supply the
video viewing system that the FAA
required aboard the Dreamlifter
B747-400 conversions used to
transport sections of the
manufacturers 787 Dreamliner. The
Dreamlifter system links
environmentally protected cameras
and LED illuminators in the main
deck cargo hold to the pilots
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AT86Tech_b:AT86 Tech_B 13/3/07
TECHNOLOGY
Cameras give different perspectives of the hold.
The consequences of false
alarms can include fire
extinguisher activation and a
diversion to the nearest
airport, possibly followed by
an evacuation with its
inherent risks and even an
AOG if the fire extinguishing
bottles cannot be replenished.
30
8:53 am Page 30
electronic flight bags, enabling each
pilot to select a group of cameras on
their EFB display and view the image
from a selected camera.
ADs own pedigree goes much
further back. Horne himself has been
involved in airborne video
applications since 1989, when the
AAIB recommended that aircrew
should have a means of visually
inspecting the exterior of their
aircraft. And AD worked
subsequently with Boeing Long
Beach on a programme for Swissair
after an MD-11 caught fire in flight
and crashed in Peggys Cove off Nova
Scotia, Horne recalls: They took all
the MD-11s down and looked at how
to make them more fire-resistant,
they changed a lot of wiring and a
lot of interior materials, and they put
a camera system in the inaccessible
areas in the avionics bay, above
the galley and above the cockpit
to let the pilots see what was going
on in those areas and assess a fire.
AD ended up equipping 19 MD-11s.
The company is also working with
freight carriers who are just looking
for operational control of the their
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
loading and unloading operations,
Horne says. Were in discussions
with Cargolux and with FedEx
specifically about systems similar to
what we developed for the
Dreamlifter. ADs CargoVu system
uses video motion detection to detect
automatically activity such as
shifting cargo, escaped livestock or
stowaways.
But the main change he perceives is
that video has become an accepted
tool in aircraft operations, and the
operators are now quite open to
looking at different applications for
video throughout the operation. I
think the airlines can see that just
letting pilots get that extra data from
being able to see whats going on
around their aeroplane is
advantageous for all sorts of reasons.
When we start talking about
stowaways in freighter aircraft, being
able to see rather than having to put
on a load of sensors makes a lot of
sense.
Another area where video has
potential applications is in fire
detection. In the wake of the ValuJet
DC-9 crash the FAA required the
installation of smoke detection and
fire suppression systems in cargo
compartments of passenger aircraft.
The rule affected around 3,000
aircraft, and the result was a
significant increase in the number of
cargo compartment fire warnings: an
IATA study covering the three years
2002-04 found that half of all such
warnings were false. The
consequences of false alarms can
include fire extinguisher activation
and a diversion to the nearest
airport, possibly followed by an
evacuation with its inherent risks
and even an AOG if the fire
extinguishing bottles cannot be
replenished. Much of that might be
avoided if the crew could see what
was happening rather than having to
rely on remote sensors that can be
triggered by dust or condensation.
Despite new rules, Horne points
out, the smoke detectors in large
cargo aircraft can be a long way from
where a fire might start, so youre
still having to wait for smoke to come
away from the source to get to a
AT86Tech_b:AT86 Tech_B 13/3/07
smoke detector. ADs sister
company, DTEC, is a leader in video
analysis for smoke and fire detection,
having installed systems in hangars,
nuclear power stations and tunnels as
well as offices and factories. Were
adopting that technology into our
systems, and within the next couple
of years we will have a viable,
commercially available video-based
smoke detection system. Theres been
a lot of talk academically about how
this could be done, and Boeing and
Airbus are quite interested in it, but
were practical engineers and Im not
going to put it out on the market
until weve got something that is
actually going to solve the problem.
Most of ADs current camera systems
will be upgradeable to include
SmokeVu capability through a
software change, he adds.
Goodrich, another company with
extensive involvement in CDMS, is
extending its video applications to
include cargo security and fire
detection. The company says its cargo
video surveillance system is designed
to reduce the costs resulting from
theft, smuggling and damage caused
by ground equipment while lowering
the insurance liability for aircraft and
lost passenger luggage and
possessions. It can also improve the
supervision of cargo loading
operations and enable the crew to
monitor the cargo area in flight
without leaving their seats. It
comprises up to eight cameras and a
video server whose output is
recorded on a removable hard drive
and can be viewed remotely over an
optional wireless data link as well as
monitored on flight deck LCDs.
Airbus has been an advocate of the
benefits of video-based cargo fire
verification systems for at least five
years, and Goodrich developed a
video fire protection system for the
A340. It uses low-cost CCD cameras
operating in the near infra-red range
to directly detect fire and hot spots,
while LED illumination units can be
switched on and off and the resulting
images analysed to detect smoke. The
vendor says fusion of the image
processing results with temperature
and humidity readings makes it
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
8:55 am Page 31
TECHNOLOGY
possible to detect true fires reliably
while eliminating false alarms caused
by fog and dust.
The purpose of the system is to
confirm alarms issued by the primary
system and identify false ones:
suppression would still be carried
out after a smoke alarm, but the
decision to divert would be based on
the actual state of the cargo bay.
Imagery is recorded, so the crew can
look at the cargo bay before the
alarm and see how the situation
developed. And because visibility Video cameras have been installed to monitor
may be restricted to narrow gaps many cockpit doorways and are now finding
between containers and the cargo applications in monitoring cargo holds for
bays ceilings and walls, the system hazards such as shifting cargo, escaped livestock
uses image processing to detect and and stowaways.
differentiate phenomena invisible to
the naked eye on the raw video feed,
fusing image features calculated from
multiple frames with non-video data
to maximise rejection of false fire
alarms.
A more established innovation in
smoke detection is the ST3000
wireless system from Securaplane,
which uses spread spectrum wireless
communication technology to carry
the output from the smoke detectors
in the cargo holds to the central
control unit and from the control
unit to the suppression control units
in the holds. The control unit is
hard-wired to the flight deck control
display unit. The elimination of
wiring between sensors and control
unit make for easier and quicker
installation.
The vendors new business
development manager, Harvey Blair,
says Securaplane is also working on
enhanced systems for applications
such as the B737 replacement with
new features that will help avoid
false alarms. Securaplane also
supplies the ground manoeuvring
camera mounted on the left hand
horizontal stabiliser of the B777, and
has proposed a three-camera system
for monitoring the main deck cargo
door of the B777 freighter. The door
can be opened only from the cockpit,
so in addition to a stabiliser-mounted
camera to make sure the area outside
the door is clear, there would be two
more cameras inside to monitor the
doorway.
31
AT86AV:AT86 AV 13/3/07 9:00 am Page 32
AIRLINE VIEWPOINT
UAE airline maintenance
focus
Balancing fleet expansion
with adequate MRO support
is one of the key issues in the
Middle East. Alex Derber
investigates three UAE
airlines with markedly
different approaches to
organising their
maintenance.
T he pace of change in the UAE is
relentless. In Dubai and Abu
Dhabi especially, barely a month
passes without announcement of a new
skyscraper, hotel, resort or airport
project. In no sector is this more
evident than aviation. Emirates is
undertaking ongoing expansion of its
fleet and support network while Abu
Dhabi-based Etihad is growing rapidly
in its bid to establish itself as a genuine
rival to its Dubai competitor.
Since local government threw its
weight behind Etihad as the national
carrier of Abu Dhabi, the airline has
gone from strength to strength.
Launched in 2003, it operates one of the
most modern fleets in the world and
flies to the Middle East, Europe, North
America and Asia.
Etihad entrusts the bulk of its
maintenance to GAMCO (Gulf Aircraft
Maintenance Company). Although this
is a boost to the MRO provider in the
wake of Gulf Airs defection to SR
Technics, Etihad maintenance alone
does not fully replace the lost business.
Happily for GAMCO, however, it
appears to have made up the deficit
through other customers. Supporting
Etihad is expected to provide around 14
per cent of GAMCOs business in 2007.
There is a good reason why GAMCOs
new in-house customer offers less work
32
Aside from a small number of line maintenance contracts, Emirates Engineering focuses solely on
in-house MRO work.
than Gulf Air once did: its fleet is so
young, with an average age of little over
two years. It is believed that GAMCO
wont receive any lucrative maintenance
for the next four years. In that time it
will also have to perform numerous
light checks on Etihads A340s and
777s, putting a strain on its capacity to
overhaul older aircraft, naturally more
remunerative. At least Etihads recent
investment in Boeings Airplane Health
Management system means that
GAMCO will be forewarned of any
necessary repair work!
Old guard
One organisation that always seems to
be two steps ahead of the market is
Emirates. Its new engineering centre,
comprising seven A380-sized hangars
and a paint hangar, opened in 2006.
Located on the North side of Dubai
International Airport, the facility
embodies the determination of Emirates
Engineering (EE) to furnish the parent
airline with the most wide-ranging and
effective array of support services
available.
EE will be able to undertake both
light and heavy maintenance at the new
centre. The heavy maintenance section
will perform all Aircraft Maintenance
Schedule (AMS) requirements up to and
including 8C, 10-yearly checks, major
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
modifications and reconfiguration
work. Routinely, up to three aircraft
undergo C checks at any one time while
a fourth line is being launched in 2007.
The light maintenance section is
responsible for all lower-level checks as
well as casualty work, outstation AOGs
and recovery.
Component maintenance capabilities
range from avionics level 2 and 3
repairs and tests to software
development, cabin interior restoration
work and the overhaul of wheels and
brakes. There is also an engine shop,
which already performs Trent 700 and
800 modular changes, and is on the
verge of adding Trent 500 and GE90-
115 module changes to its portfolio. An
engine test cell will also soon be up and
running.
To cater for the arrival of the A380,
each of Emiratess new hangars
measures 110m x 90m and is tall
enough to accommodate the
superjumbos 24m tail. In addition, each
hangar has a mezzanine docking system
for access to the aircraft, while two are
equipped with full fuselage docking
systems designed for heavy
maintenance.
With such extensive capabilities and
an engineering staff of 2,100, one
might expect Emirates to boast a
significant third-party MRO business.
AT86AV:AT86 AV 13/3/07 9:01 am
Yet, aside from a number of line
maintenance customers, EE
concentrates purely on its own fleet.
Although the airline doesnt rule out
third-party work, it is thought in the
medium term that hangar capacity will
be devoted to refurbishment work on
Emirates older 777s. Despite this,
though, EE would be well advised to
consider third-party work once it frees
up enough capacity. Adel Al Redha,
executive vice-president, Emirates
Engineering & Operations, notes:
Across the region, MRO is booming
fuelled by the growth of carriers,
not just in the Middle East but also in
the Indian sub-continent, that are
outsourcing their aircraft maintenance.
The MRO market outlook is
encouraging and it is estimated that
aggregate commercial MRO spending
will increase.
If Emirates opts not to take a larger
slice of the increased maintenance
spend, the onus will fall largely on
GAMCO and the recently-formed Dubai
Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) to assuage
MRO demand in the UAE. At present,
though, despite DAEs part in the
acquisition of SR Technics, there are no
definite plans for new airframe
maintenance facilities at DAEs Jebel Ali
development and this could pose a
problem for the expanding airlines in
and around the UAE.
Newcomers
To gain a better insight into the
specific MRO challenges faced by
airlines in the UAE, it is useful to study
the fortunes of a less established airline
than Emirates. Launched in 2003, Air
Arabia (AA) is the Middle Easts first
low-cost carrier (LCC). Operating out of
Sharjah International Airport in the
UAE, the airline is modelled directly on
American and European LCCs and is the
creation of the Sharjah Civil Aviation
Department and the Sharjah Airport
Authority (SAA).
Currently, AA operates nine A320s
on dry leases. With these it offers
flights to over 30 destinations, from
Colombo in the East to Istanbul in the
West. Mohammed Al Kassimi, an
advisor to the CEO and board of Air
Arabia on aircraft finance, technical
and operational matters, was
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
Page 33
responsible for the airlines aircraft
selection and acquisition. Convinced
that technically there is little to choose
between the A320 and B737NG, Al
Kassimi explains why the LCC opted for
the Airbus narrowbody: Its broadly
the market share; if you look around
the Gulf you have Gulf Air, Kuwait
Airways, Qatar Airways, Middle East
and Jordanian all with A320s. GAMCO
has been the maintenance provider for
Air Arabia for three-and-a-half years
and they are well capable of handling
an A320, plus they have a vast amount
of spares.
Initially, Air Arabia contracted all its
maintenance out to GAMCO, with
whom the airline still maintains a
strong relationship. They were one of
the reasons for the success of the
airline, says Al Kassimi. However, Air
Arabia now performs its own line
maintenance and A checks. This it
undertakes with an engineering
department comprising roughly 62
personnel. In addition, the airline is
close to completing construction of its
own hangar at Sharjah airport. The one-
bay hangar will be able to accommodate
aircraft up to the size of an A321 and
should be operational by mid-March
2007.
Al Kassimi is confident that with its
new hangar, Air Arabia will be capable
of performing up to C3 checks within a
year. He explains why the carrier is so
keen to diverge from the traditional
low-cost model it once espoused: Four
years ago we wanted to exactly adapt
the philosophy of a low-cost airline; i.e.
outsource everything. Unfortunately, in
the Middle East you cannot outsource
everything. It would be different for
Ryanair or for easyJet they are
surrounded by MROs, other airlines
and people with the spares...We had
only one source and that was GAMCO.
But when you have only one source of
supply we found that its more
economical and operationally efficient
to have our own maintenance up to an
A check at our own base. And the same
applies to the technical services: the
planning and material control and so
on. Aside from its relationship with
GAMCO, Air Arabia also has spares and
component agreements in place with SR
Technics and a time-and-materials
AIRLINE VIEWPOINT
engine maintenance deal with Snecma.
It also has smaller maintenance
agreements such as with Messier
Bugatti for brakes.
Air Arabias plans, however, stretch
further than next years C checks: in
addition, it hopes to offer third-party
maintenance services in a bid to
develop the Sharjah airport zone. Space
has already been reserved for a second
Air Arabia hangar which is to have
three times the capacity of the first.
As of January 2007, Air Arabia
remains the Middle Easts only
operational low-cost operator, due in
part perhaps to the lack of maintenance
options in the region. However, an
organisation with MRO aspirations may
be about to change that the Dubai
Aerospace Enterprise (DAE). It will
make life much easier for a low-cost
airline or a newcomer in this region or a
start-up airline, says Al Kassimi. You
dont have to invest heavily in
engineering and hangars and services
like development and planning: such
services will be provided. Not only
that; I gathered from the DAE
proprietors there will be other services
like consultancies and people who will
lend you a hand. Rather than going all
the way to Europe to do a viability
study you would have it next door.
Airlines will also benefit from better
access to spares, resolving the
sometimes crippling problems caused
by transportation delays of crucial
parts.
Nevertheless, maintenance capacity in
the region will remain constrained,
perhaps vindicating Air Arabias
decision to establish its own
capabilities. Al Kassimi comments: If
you look around today we estimate over
300 new aircraft coming to this region
in addition to used ones and new
airlines coming here. Yet there is hardly
anything coming as far as hangar space.
You have Emirates which is purely for
Emirates Airlines, you have GAMCO
which is already short of space and
there are hardly any hangars being
built. When one also considers the
more severe maintenance shortfall to
the East in India it appears that
Air Arabia is certainly making the right
choices in the UAE and Middle East
MRO arena.
33
AT86E&M_b:AT86E&M_b 13/3/07 10:47 am
ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE
Avionics reliability
management and repair
In the avionics world,
customers seek infinite life,
less than 10 days turn-time
for repair, and bills averaging
$2,000 per component or
less. However,no-fault-
found events are still
occurring at too high a rate
so there remains much more
to be done for operators,
repair shops, and OEMs alike.
Aircraft Technology finds out
more.
Operators who have
consistently utilised the same
shop to detect trends have found
that unscheduled removals can
become more predictable and
on-wing reliability can be
increased.
Dan Wisnieski,manager of
domestic sales at New York-
based Aero Instruments and
Avionics (AIA)
34
Page 34
W here early aircraft had
large numbers of different
avionics components
installed, each with relatively low
reliability characteristics, the modern
approach has been to integrate the
functions of many different avionics
components into highly reliable
avionics modules. Moreover, as new
aircraft roll off the assembly lines
very well equipped and there is often
little for a shop to install in a new
aircraft, such as with glass cockpits,
where the level of integration is such
that little is necessary for aftermarket
retrofit. Indeed, some independent
observers would even go as far as to
suggest that the avionics OEMs are
setting out to dominate the avionics
aftermarket.
And whilst full glass cockpits have
on rare occasions been retrofitted
into existing aircraft (e.g. DC-10-to-
MD-10 freighter upgrade by
Honeywell for FedEx), the practice is
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
not generally considered a
worthwhile undertaking, and as some
would say, it is throwing good
money after bad. The result is that
shops are now left with the many
older aircraft which are available for
upgrade with individual new-for-old
colour flat-panel displays (such as
those from providers including
IS&S, CMC Electronics/Esterline etc.)
which, for example, can simply slot
into the dashboard of the Boeing
747/757/767, using the existing
sensors and connections. In short,
this is the second best option to OEM
equipment.
Another factor which is making
competition amongst third-party
independent avionics repair shops
tougher than ever is the conclusion
of most of the work to do with fleet-
wide upgrades for TCAS MOPS 7
RVSM. This has increased the
pressure on small shops forced to
specialise. Moreover, the
check80:check 78 2/2/06 2:40 pm Page 3

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AT86E&M_b:AT86E&M_b 13/3/07 10:50 am Page 36

ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

unavailability of intellectual property The resultant situation is that

for new avionics has forced them to
compete on the basis of older
equipment which has resulted in
some consolidation. Indeed, small
shops are now offering niche repair
services for outdated equipment, and
Asian and even Latin-American
markets are increasingly offering
significant competition in this field.
From a new aircraft technology
standpoint, the miniaturisation of
avionics black-boxes and the
extreme integration of functionality
has evolved into a very complex piece
of modern electronics. Moreover, the
required test equipment is now the
same as one would use in the factory
which builds it. Whilst airlines may
choose to retain some sort of
screening capability for modern
avionics, small independent mom
and pop backshops to an airline
hangar or refurbishment centre are a
thing of the past.
today many airlines and operators no
longer have the on-hand resources to
deal with the very complex and
capable test equipment, if they are to
focus on their core operational
activities. Equally importantly, they
do not want to invest in that level of
complex test equipment.
Consequently, this has created much
clearer accountability with customers
expecting to send repair work on an
as-required basis back either to
OEMs (Rockwell Collins, Honeywell
etc.), or to independents. The latter
will have purchased the necessary
OEM licenses to be able to decipher
the complex code contained in
black-boxes and diagnose them
using proprietary test equipment.
For example, Millennium
International Avionics & Instrument
Support, a dedicated specialist based
in Missouri, has capabilities on
Collins, Honeywell, and L-3

Its 40 years experience in testing, diagnostics

and repair. Its more than 100 employees

dedicated to exceptional service and

quality work. Its one of the worlds largest

independent ATE testing facilities. And its

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36 Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007

AT86E&M_b:AT86E&M_b 13/3/07 10:50 am Page 37

ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

Avionics, and now has a total of 15 corrected by replacing the suspected

ATE test stations on site. Likewise, unit, then it becomes obvious that
Avcom Avionics & Instruments, the removed unit is faulty. However,
Miami, FL, is well equipped with if the same fault recurs with the
extensive ATE including: IRIS 1200, replacement unit on a subsequent leg,
2000 & 7000 series; MTS 2000; and it would appear that something else is
RADA CATS using the latest OEM- causing the problem.
approved test-program-set (TPS) Operators who have consistently
software. utilised the same shop have found
Interestingly, even within the that unscheduled removals can
avionics OEMs themselves, the sheer become more predictable and on-wing
breadth of the product range has reliability can be increased, says Dan
meant that it has been necessary, for
them to produce centres of
excellence. This is particularly
necessary when some products are
seen so infrequently that it would be
impossible to maintain the specific
capability everywhere within the
network, because staff cannot remain
adaquately trained. Honeywell, for
example, has a focus for Airbus
avionics products in Toulouse. It
deals with Boeing products in the UK
(for the European market).
Avionics repair and downtime
mitigation
Given the reality that little in the
way of field repair is possible for
most new avionics equipment,
returning it to the factory for repair
becomes a necessity. Minimising
downtime is paramount for operators
who will often swap boxes when this
occurs to prevent aircraft operation
from being interrupted. At the same
time, they must ensure an equal
balance between parts and cost,
which will in some cases sacrifice
cost savings for decreased downtime,
especially as minimising downtime
and reducing costs are
interdependent to an extent.
When hiccups occur in service,
some cost-conscious airlines may use
what is commonly referred to as the
hold procedure to minimise the
cost of NFFs. For example, if a line
maintenance technician is not certain
what is causing a fault reading on an
aircraft, regulatory authorities permit
carriers to pull the unit and put it on
a hold shelf, tagging it as
serviceable. In other words, the NFF
item receives the benefit of the
doubt, but in the interest of time, it
is replaced with a spare. If the fault is

Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007 37

AT86E&M_b:AT86E&M_b 13/3/07 10:54 am
ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE
Wisnieski, manager of domestic sales
at New York-based Aero Instruments
and Avionics (AIA), an independent
provider of repair services. Its clients
include: UPS, Air Atlanta Icelandic,
Orient Thai Airlines, Asiana Airlines
and A J Walter. Wisnieski suggests
the issue of whether to repair or
replace usually depends on the
importance of the item and how many
spares the customer has. He observes
that many customers are reducing
their inventory to cut costs, since
fewer spares places the onus on turn-
time optimisation. Often operators
are willing to spend a little more to
get the part back sooner, but we
make every effort to ensure they get
their parts back as quickly as
possible without the extra costs.
As part of its continuing effort to
improve turn time and expand
support, the company operates several
large footprint ATEs including the
Rockwell Collins ITS-700; a Boeing
ATS-182A; and an ATEC 5000 in
addition to 13 other ATEs from the
IRIS RADA and MARTRON families.
Numerous PC-based benchtop ATEs
are also employed as the OEM test
equipment is reduced in size and
scope, two examples of which are the
test systems used to support
Honeywells TPA-81A TCAS II
processor and EGPWS. Together with
its existing manual bench capabilities,
38
Page 38
AIA believes it provides customers
with a viable alternative to OEM
pricing.
It should not be overlooked,
however, that an effective way to
reduce inventory while preventing a
shortage of spares is via exchange
pooling provided by the OEM. For
example, Rockwell Collins ensures
parts are procured and on-hand in
advance of need. This is done by
forecasting parts demand, then
procuring parts against that forecast.
The forecast has two components:
Firstly, a statistical forecast is produced
using historic parts usage. This
forecast will subsequently identify
trends and predict the future based on
the past. Secondly, to this forecast one
adds knowledge of: planned future
modification programmes; recently
won contracts to repair customer units;
anticipated aircraft retirements; and
marketplace and the industry activities
which would not show up in historic
parts usage. By combining these
sources of demand, one can draw-up a
forecast which allows parts to be
procured in advance of need.
Interestingly, to aid its planning,
Rockwell Collins tracks units that
come back to its shops multiple times.
They are tagged as rogue units and
subjected to special testing, including
thermal shock and environmental
tests not normally required. The
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
company also tracks components by
the tail number of the aircraft they
come from.
No Faults Found
Despite advanced technology, no-
faults-found (NFF) is still a
widespread thorn in the side of
commercial aircraft operation,
particularly when an operator
introduces a new fleet. In a nutshell,
NFF occurs when a component which
apparently failed in flight is sent to a
repair station or OEM for testing, but
no failure is found. In addition, some
components are more difficult to test
in an operational environment than
others are. Shops have experienced
difficulty in testing items such as
autopilot boxes, with first- and
second-generation avionics. Some
components reach the end of their
lives, and faults show up in flights,
but subsequently the part would be
perfect in the test environment.
Indeed, the problem is not new, but
many believe it is actually getting
worse, in part because todays highly
complex aircraft are equipped with
more electronic sensors, computers,
control functions and wires.
The NFF issue is compounded by
the fact that the complexity of the
new systems combined with time
constraints to get the aircraft turned
around and put back in the air again,
makes it difficult for line maintenance
personnel to properly troubleshoot an
avionics problem when it arises.
Sometimes when a diagnostic tool
indicates a failed component and
replacing that component seems to
eliminate the failed condition, there is
little time or inclination to look for
an intermittent or repeat failure
mode.
Of course there could be multiple
factors impacting a NFF scenario and
each maintenance provider needs to
analyse its own role in its resolution,
and aircraft maintenance providers need
to look critically beyond the seemingly
obvious answer when it comes to NFF
mitigation.
Some airline-based shops, such as
Delta TechOps, specifically seek-out
and track rogue units. To this end,
Deltas technicians monitor and track
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AT86E&M_b:AT86E&M_b 13/3/07 10:56 am Page 40
ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE
serial numbers and have tools
available to help them determine if
the unit has a repetitive problem.
Delta also looks at the number of
removals over a certain time period,
and present graphs that actually show
whether a unit that was repaired six
months ago has been flying for six
months.
Automated test equipment (ATE)
An increasingly important tool to
mitigate NFFs is automated test
equipment (ATE) which pro-actively
detects faults to keep trouble-shooting
to a minimum. Indeed, with the
potential to test units more thoroughly,
ATE can quickly and accurately
identify the failed component and
reduce final test times, thus helping
customers and avionics companies
alike. An example is the Collins MDS-
3100/4100 maintenance diagnostic
system which performs an integral
function within Pro Line 4 and Pro
Line 21 by monitoring LRUs and line
replaceable modules (LRMs) to detect
failures, identifying the LRUs requiring
replacement and logging fault data to
permit diagnosis of intermittent faults.
The MDS-3100/4100 can also display
aircraft systems data, engine
maintenance information and extensive
airframe/user customised checklists
that depend on aircraft configuration.
In essence, ATE offers two major
advantages: the reduction of NFF
during bench testing of line
replacement units (LRUs) and the
ability to predict faults which have
not yet occurred. For example, a
technician using a hand-held meter
cannot see inside a large bundle of
wires to detect chafing resulting in
shorting. However, by injecting
currents through a wire, electronic
analysers can detect wiring
degradation caused by cold solder
joints, bad crimps, corrosion and
chafing. A high-speed analyser can
do the job in about a minute.
Aero Instruments & Avionics (AIA)
stresses that whilst ATE plays a role
in the high-end avionics, the
technical ability and expertise of the
bench technician is also crucial.
Indeed, ATE allows its technicians to
spend less time testing and more time
40
CMCs and built-in-test-
equipment can create problems
as well as detecting them.For
example,a problem identified
with the flight computer can
actually be caused by another
unit.But in many cases the flight
computer is erroneously pulled
because it shows a fault.
doing the repairs and it speeds up
the overall testing process which in
turn decreases turn time.
Mature aircraft coming good
B777 case study
While the problem of no faults
found, has certainly dogged the
industry for many years, especially
when any new aircraft type is
introduced, it would now appear to
be coming under control on the
digital B777.
Importantly, this aircrafts digital
architecture incorporates a central
maintenance computer (CMC)
developed by Honeywell for which
there is a truth table of every
potential fault scenario permutation,
together with the fault effects, tallied
with the probable root cause.
By understanding the map and
modelling the faults, operators are able
to pinpoint the true cause of a problem.
And by assessing the magnitude of a
problem, it is not necessary to enunciate
everything to the flight deck, which
means flight-crew are not bothered by
routine write-ups about systems nuances
after every flight. Instead, a maintenance
memo is flagged so that the maintenance
technicians know precisely what the
issue is and how often it occurs. In
addition, Honeywell developed fault-
tolerant capability within the B777 for
the inertial reference system with built-
in redundancy in a completely
compartmentalised fashion, which allows
the customer to extract value from their
despatch even with known faults.
Ironically, CMCs and built-in-test-
equipment can create problems as
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
well as detecting them. For example,
a problem identified with the flight
computer can actually be caused by
another unit. But in many cases the
flight computer is erroneously pulled
because it shows a fault.
On the B777, which features a
much more complex system than
earlier generation aircraft, NFF
events typically run at about 20 per
cent. This figure compares well with
other fleets where the NFF problem,
combined with the can not
duplicate (CND) scenario during
testing can account for as much as 40
to 60 per cent of all reported
component failures.
For the B777, Honeywell has taken
its CMCs capabilities and installed it
into a corresponding ground-based
system called the advanced
maintenance and operations support
system (AMOSS). This allows the
same model-based diagnostics to be
performed but within a ground-based
system. It subsequently becomes
possible to communicate with the
flight deck and tell them what the
most probable cause of a defect is.
Furthermore, they can be advised
how much time is required to take
corrective action.
Such systems also give information
on the second most probable cause and
how much time and cost is involved in
taking corrective action to resolve that
problem. This is aided by the ability of
such systems to be broken into
modules allowing customers to select
either the full suite or a sub-set of the
suite to provide, say, fault reporting or
fault forwarding.
It should be noted that the aircraft
OEMs Airbus and Boeing are now
strategically integrating their own
brand of real-time monitoring,
diagnostics, and fault forwarding into
their customers new aircraft fleets:
AIRMAN is Airbuss system, while
Boeings is called Airplane Health
Management (AHM). By intelligently
correlating real-time data with
historical events to provide useful
diagnostic recommendations to both
flight crew and maintenance
personnel, they are a leap ahead of
ACARS data links that download raw
in-flight data.
check_FPA:AT84_CHECK 5/2/07 1:37 pm Page 3

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AT86E&M_b:AT86E&M_b 13/3/07 11:00 am
ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE
Managing engine maintenance costs
There are three basic facets to
managing and minimising
the costs associated with
engine maintenance: Keeping
the engine on-wing for as
long as possible; minimising
level of intervention when
the engine does come off-
wing; and minimising costs
when touching expensive
components. In short this is
Snecma Services three-point
mantra to tackling the issue.
Aircraft Technology finds out
what this strategy entails.
A t a top-level, engine
maintenance costs (EMC) are
generally considered part of
the airline operating costs which
essentially comprises two
components: indirect operating cost,
and direct operating cost (DOC).
Aspects to do with aircraft
maintenance come under the latter
category. Taking the example of an
aircraft such as a A320 or B737 flying
500nm missions with two mature
CFM56 turbofans,
airframe/engines/accessory
maintenance could typically account
for 18 per cent of the total DOC a
third of which will be engine related.
To put this into perspective, a
reduction of 15 per cent EMC will
result in reduction of one per cent of
total DOC, which, for example, is
enough to offset a six per cent fuel
price increase.
Shop-visit cost drivers
Drilling-down further by
subdividing EMC into shop
maintenance cost (SMC) and line
42
Page 42
maintenance cost and one will find
that the latter accounts for by far the
larger portion of overall EMC 93
per cent whilst the remaining
seven per cent is related to line
maintenance, comprising line
material such as consumables, LRUs
(fan blades, lube unit, sensors etc.),
and line labour (inspection,
troubleshooting and LRU replacement
etc.). As for the SMC, this is a
function of engine flight hours (EFH)
is the product of shop visit cost (SVC)
and shop visit rate (SVR), where the
SVR is usually taken as the number of
shop visits per 1,000 EFH.
In turn, the total SVC is split into
three main categories: routine shop
labour; part repairs; and parts &
materials. The latter, accounting for
over 60 per cent of the total SVC
comprises: used serviceable parts; new
OEM parts; and LLPs. Of these, new
parts and LLPs are where most of the
money is spent.
Pierre-Emmanuel Gires, SVP customer
operations at Snecma Services explains:
In the new & serviceable parts, LLPs are
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
an important contributor, and we are
directing increasing resources in this
regard as we become more successful in
distributing serviceable parts around the
world with the aim of lowering this
component of the EMC.
It is also useful to analyse to SVC by
module: Typically, the HPT accounts for
biggest spend at 41 per cent; the HPC
follows with 24 per cent; LPT with 22 per
cent; combustor with eight per cent; and
the fan with five per cent. Taking mature
models of the CFM56 as an example, one
can determine that shop visit causes fall
broadly under the following categories, in
descending order of magnitude:
performance related (40 per cent); LLP life
expiration (20 per cent); hot-section
related (16 per cent); cold-section related
(four per cent); and the remaining 20 per
cent are collectively attributed to other
causes.
LLP factors
Regarding LLPs, the following points
should be noted:
The lowest EMC is theoretically
obtained through maximum
check_FPA:EYB2007_CHECK 13/9/06 5:00 pm Page 3

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AT86E&M_b:AT86E&M_b 13/3/07 11:01 am
ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE
utilisation of LLP ultimate lives (e.g.
25,000 or 30,000 cycles);
A short-haul operation (typically
with less than 1.4 hours-to-cycles
ratio) may induce a high level of
LLP-related (rather then EGT
related) removals with engines
operating at low thrust ratings, e.g.
CFM56-7B24. This is because the
operator will be burning through
the LLPs very quickly since LLPs
are driven by cycles;
For each type of operation, a
compromise between ultimate LLP
life and stub life policy for engine
build needs to be found;
The LLP policy must take into
account EGT margin restoration
level, i.e. one has to match the EGT
margin according to the stub life
that one builds into the engine. In
other words, one should not over-
build a certain section of the engine
in relation to another section with
an intrinsically lower life;
Managing LLPs is a complicated
topic, stresses Gires, and that is
where our expertise comes into play.
It requires sophisticated
management, but it can help
44
Page 44
source: CFMI
operators greatly reduce costs, as
these parts are very expensive.
It is worth noting, especially on the
more modern engines such as at the
CFM56-7B and the -5B models, that
most engine removals are linked to
the LLP limit. There are three kinds
of LLPs, he notes. There is the core
for which the life is usually limited
to 20,000 cycles; the LP turbine where
it is usually 25,000 cycles; and there
is a fan booster, where the LLPs last
for 30,000 cycles.
We have tripled our resources for
developing repair solutions with
the OEM,using serviceable parts
which are cheaper than using
new parts.
Pierre-Emmanuel Gires,SVP
customer operations,Snecma
Services.
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
However, due to the different lives,
operators face two decisions: One can
remove all the LLPs at the same time
(i.e. at 20,000 cycles), but by doing that
you lose all remaining life of the other
modules (because it does not make
sense to put them back into the engine),
or the engine can shop visit at 20,000
cycles, again at 25,000, and a third at
30,000 cycles so as to eek out every bit
of LLP life remaining, but at the
expense of having extra shop visits.
Gires illustrates this with a typical
example: If you are building an engine
for 5,000 cycles as dictated, say, by the
return conditions to the lessor, there
may not be any point fitting new
nozzles or new blades into it.
EGT factors
Besides LLP, another major driver is
EGT margin which affects the hot
section lives. It should be noted that
EGT margin usually determines overall
engine on-wing life in absence of other
causes of removal such as LLP
expiration, mechanical failure, and FOD
ingestion. Importantly therefore,
optimal shop and workscope policy
aimed at maximising EGT margin will
provide engine maximum on wing life
potential.
When the engine is new you have
the optimum time on wing. Then as you
go through shop visits, you tend not to
obtain as much EGT margin when you
repair it the next time. However, when
it becomes mature the time on wing
obtained between shop visits becomes
pretty much stabilised, he adds.
Importantly, good engineering
support should make use of remote
diagnostics wherever possible. At
best, this is the live and continuous
monitoring of key engine parameters,
which allows operators to anticipate
problems before they occur by
highlighting any significant
divergence of parameters. Engine
servicing should also include fleet
management whereby airlines
anticipate and plan the engine
removal schedule with the right level
of staggering to spread the cost
wisely. Also important is the ability to
fulfil airlines LRU requests locally.
For example, Snecma Services has set
up two logistics hubs in North
check42:check 78 14/3/06 5:41 pm Page 3

 
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AT86E&M_b:AT86E&M_b 13/3/07 11:01 am
ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE
America to meet the expectations of
airlines in the Americas for faster
turnaround times.
Practical ways to minimise engine
DOCs
Gires explains three basic facets to
managing and minimising the costs
associated with engine maintenance:
Keeping the engine on-wing for as long
as possible; minimising level of
intervention when the engine does come
off-wing; and thirdly, when you do
have to go into the engine, the costs
associated with touching expensive
material need to be minimised.
Taking the first point, to achieve
the longest on-wing life as possible,
Snecma Services offers what it calls
engine maintenance on-site
(EMOS) which encapsulates
initiatives to conduct more and more
maintenance tasks on-wing, with
correspondingly fewer actually
performed in the shop. For example:
water-washing helps to keep the EGT
margin sufficient to continue flying
longer. Shop visits can also be
avoided by undertaking repairs to
the low pressure turbine and the
HPC through existing borescopic
access ports.
46
Page 46
It should be noted that some MRO
organisations can develop bespoke
tooling to facilitate on-site access to
specific modules and LLPs, and thus
avoid having to take the engine off-
wing. For example, Snecma Services
has such a capability to change all the
fan and LPC LLPs on-wing.
Other examples of common tasks
which can be undertaken on-wing i.e.
without putting the engine into the
shop include:
engine version up-down grade
i.e. changing engines up the range
(e.g. moving engines from an A320
to an A319 as EGT deteriorates);
VSV dynamic rigging to
optimise the stall margin and hence
reduce fuel burn;
mapping and repositioning such
that each fan blade with its own
moment/weight is positioned
optimally to reduce vibration and
wasted energy;
trim balancing to optimise the
balance of the fan system, which in
turn reduces vibration and hence
lowers stress and fatigue;
stage 2 & 3 booster blade
replacement: Gires notes: If you
appreciate that the engine booster
blades are behind the fan blades
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
then you can realise that changing
the booster blade on-wing is not an
easy task. But we are able to do that.
It is not innovative as such, but
there are very few companies able to
do it.
LPT blade blending with FPI: In
this case, you enter directly though
the borescopic holes, this repair
previously required removal of the
LPT to reach the blade.
Top casing removal: We remove the
top casing of the HPC with the
engine in a stand, so we can change
the HPC airfoils without
dissassembling the engine or
shipping it to the shop.
Other techniques in the on-wing
EMOS toolbox include: fan abradable
liner restoration; fan disk dovetail
inspection; on-wing gearbox
replacement; HPC blade blending; and
oil flow check & cleaning.
Minimising intervention
The second category for minimising
EMC DOCs focuses on when the engine
has to be removed, what can be done
to minimise the level of physical
intervention? One of the ways we
have achieved this, notes Gires: is
that we have developed a full set of
workscopes which are adapted to each
of the various customer issues. These
allow us to focus on the problem in
hand, in a specific part of the engine,
without physically interfering with
any other engine module.
In general it boils down to
minimising engine teardown and
optimisations of the engine
maintenance plan (EMP). Essentially,
the EMP comprises a collection of
reference workscopes, each being
optimised with regard to shop visit
objectives, time-on-wing, and
turnaround-time. Moreover,
workscopes are available for the whole
engine, for modules or accessories, and
for specific engine shop visit causes.
Repair versus replace
Another important facet of the DOC
reduction strategy, according to Gires, is
the repair of parts, rather than their
replacement. We have tripled our
resources for developing repair solutions
with the OEM, using serviceable parts
check_FPA:EYB2007_CHECK 18/9/06 4:14 pm Page 3

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AT86E&M_b:AT86E&M_b 13/3/07 11:01 am
ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE
which are cheaper than using new parts.
Furthermore, we have also been developing
LLP management such that we are now in a
position to optimise the usage of the LLPs
by working with our customers, which
helps them to reduce their costs.
It should be noted that, a repair
solution makes most sense if its price is
below 30 per cent of a new part price.
Typical ratios are often in the 10-20
per cent range (this would be for light
repairs only, for more extensive repairs
it may be worth considering a new
part). This can represent a significant
saving for an HPT nozzle with an OEM
list price (year 2006) of approximately
$35,000. Other parts which are
expensive when purchased new
include HPT blade, HPT shroud and
LPT nozzle.
He adds: When one has invested in
technology to repair the parts, there is a
vested interest to increase ones volumes,
so we are not only chasing engines for the
parts repair, but we are also chasing shops
which are selling us parts for repair. In
other words, our parts repair business is
made from the parts coming from the
engines we repair, as well as the engines
coming from our competition.
Impact of spare engines ratio
Mitigating costs can also be
achieved by mixing-in spare engines
48
Page 48
to the operational fleet. In a nutshell,
the number of spare engines relative
to the number of installed engines is
known as the Spare Ratio.
Moreover, if an operator staggers
engines within its fleet, then the
direct effect of such a policy is that
the engines age less. For example, if an
operator has a spare ratio of 10 per
cent (i.e. there is one spare engine for
10 installed engines), and each aircraft
is flying 3,300 hours per year, then by
rotating the spare engine, the average
usage of each engine will be 3,000
hours per year. Staggering allows the
timely removal of engines.
What we recommend is 7-10 per
cent spare engine ratio, says Gires, and
then we are ready to help the airline to
plan that shop visit correctly to make
sure they can do all their activities in
the shop visit with the spare engines
they have without having to lease
anything else.
Predictable cost management
through LTSA partnership
Since EMOS is essentially focused on
events and actions which do not involve
a shop visit, it is logical that any tasks
associated with it should, where
possible be undertaken close to the
point of operation. In essence what this
means is that there needs to be a local
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
presence on the part of the maintenance
provider Snecma Services or one of
its strategically located partners. When
we talk about EMOS we have an interest
to have partners around the world,
points out Michel Guibert, executive
delegate Americas, Snecma Services,
because usually the airlines call us
when the aircraft is on the ground. And
having to send a team to the other side
of the world takes time and money, so
we have partners around the world to
help operators wherever they happen to
be. Usually this is facilitated through
joint ventures. Today there is an EMOS
partnership with Air China which
covers customers in the Far East
including Singapore. For the Middle
East, however, we serve EMOS
customers from France, given the fairly
close flying-time proximity no more
than five hours.
He adds: For North America, we
have a partnership with American
Airlines to provide EMOS to our
customers in the area.
In short, there are many factors
which affect EMCs, with the numerous
peaks and valleys. Of course all
operators would appreciate having the
graph as flat as possible and thus more
predictable, and that is why it will be
in their interests to enter into a fleet
management type contract typified
by what we call a long-term-service-
agreement (LTSA), notes Guibert.
The advantages to the operator of the
LTSA include: budget planning;
insurance against random events;
transferral of high shop cost risk away
from the operator; longer on-wing life;
smaller spares inventory; better
performance restoration; optimised
engineering resources; not to mention a
dedicated programme manager.
To conclude, if you look at our
objective as a company, our main goals
are to help the operators optimise
their global cumulative costs as well as
making sure their cashflow remains
stable and protected by whatever
means. This requires us to be as close
as possible to our customers which is
why we have JVs and companies
stationed in Europe, Africa, Asia, and
North America, permitting us to be
more reactive, and offering the same
high level of quality.
check_FPA:TAP_new 7/3/07 9:29 am Page 3
AT86E&M_b:AT86E&M_b 13/3/07 11:02 am
ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE
Gearing up for the big one
A380 maintenance preparations
Despite the various delays to
the A380 programme, to
date 166 have been ordered
by major carriers and it is
anticipated that the aircraft
will be in operation by the
end of the year. Forward-
thinking MRO companies
have decided to avail
themselves of this new
market and are ramping up
their capabilities. Daniella
Horwitz reports.
T he A380 is on its way into
maintenance hangars
launch customer Singapore
Airlines has 19 aircraft on firm order
and the first four are scheduled to be
delivered from October 2007. The
superjumbos size (73m long with an
80m wingspan and a tail 24m high)
demands a bigger hangar and many
larger MRO providers consider A380
capability a necessary long-term
investment. Even if the A380
occupies a relatively small part of
the maintenance market, the new
hangars will also be able to
accommodate the latest widebodies
such as the B787 or B747-8.
However, the majority of small MRO
shops will be excluded from this
market as they will not be able to
raise the substantial capital required.
German MRO leader Lufthansa
Technik (LHT) seems to have as many
fingers in the A380 pie as possible.
Hardly surprising, as Lufthansa CEO
Wolfgang Mayrhuber has said the
company wants the A380 to become
its flagship. LHT will conduct A380
maintenance at its home base in
Frankfurt, and together with
50
Page 50
SIA Engineering Company will offer commercial maintenance services for the A380 at its sixth
hangar at Changi Airport in Singapore.
partners will offer A380 MRO
services in Beijing, China and Malta.
Spairliners, a JV between LHT and
Air France Industries (AFI) will
provide component support services
for the A380. I think that at the
moment, every businessman would
be wise to take into consideration
A380 capability when building new
hangars says Aage Dnhaupt, LHT
spokesman.
Germanys largest industrial hall
Lufthansa is purchasing 15 A380s,
all of which will be based at
Frankfurt airport. The first four will
be delivered before the summer 2008
timetable and LHT will construct a
new hangar at Frankfurt to
accommodate them. Measuring 350m
long, 140m deep and 45m high, or
42,000m2, the hangar can
accommodate four A380s or six B747s.
With these dimensions, the new
hangar will become the largest
industrial hall in Germany. Initially
there will be no permanently installed
docking stations in the hangar, but
rather flexible mobile work platforms
on wheels, ensuring that all systems
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
of the aircraft can be reached.
Lufthansa is the main client, but if
necessary the aircraft of other LHT
clients can undergo A380 maintenance
at the hangar.
LHT Malta, a JV between LHT and
Air Malta, will also have an A380-ready
facility.
In the first quarter of 2007 LHT
Malta will begin groundbreaking for
two widebody hangars. These hangars
are primarily to perform C-Checks and
D-Checks on the A330/A340, but they
will have the capacity to perform
A380 maintenance. It is not A380-
focused, but the hangars will be ready
to handle it... It gives us a certain
possibility to do A380 maintenance if
we need to, explains Dnhaupt.
Ameco Beijing
Asia has a large A380 customer base;
China Southern, Korean Air, Malaysia
Airlines, Thai Airways and Singapore
Airlines, to name a few. Ameco (Aircraft
Maintenance and Engineering
Corporation) Beijing, a JV between Air
China and Lufthansa, is expected to
become the regions major A380
maintenance provider. In September 2006,
56137_210x278_Engines.qxd 05.08.2004 8:36 Uhr Seite 1

We are passionate about engine maintenance. At SR Technics, we love a challenge. Thats why we offer the worlds fastest
turn-around times for engine overhaul. But we dont stop there. Were constantly looking for better, more efficient ways to
maintain your engines and increase time on wing. We know that challenges are a way of life for you too. Whether you need
prompt, reliable engine overhaul or complete fleet management services, we can be your source of competitive advantage.
For more information, visit www.srtechnics.com or call +41 43 812 65 67.
AT86E&M_b:AT86E&M_b 16/3/07 9:38 am Page 52
ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE
Ameco Beijing laid the foundation of an
A380 hangar north of terminal three at
Beijing Capital International Airport. The
new hangar has a total investment of over
$87 million and will be operating before
the Beijing Olympic Games in August
2008. It is the biggest line maintenance
hangar in Asia with a total floor area of
70,437m2, simultaneously providing six
widebody and four narrowbody
maintenance positions.
The A380 hangar will not only
support the fast growing Air China fleet,
but also provide convenient and quick
maintenance services to the airlines which
arrive at and depart from terminal three.
The construction will place Ameco Beijing
in a very advantageous position in the
MRO competition with Beijing as hub,
said Chai Weixi and Dr. Hans Schmitz,
GMs of Ameco Beijing.
Emirates Engineering
Emirates Engineering has
constructed a new $353 million
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engineering centre on a 55-hectare
site on the north side of Dubai
International Airport. The new centre
is one of the biggest civil aviation
maintenance facilities in the world.
Its eight hangars will form the largest
free-spanned structures in the Middle
East, with roofs supported by 110m
long single spans. Outside the
hangars are nine dedicated aircraft
parking bays, with facilities for
refuelling.
Emirates has been rapidly
expanding its fleet, adding one new
aircraft per month, and is aiming to
have 156 widebody aircraft in its fleet
by 2010. The new centre has been
built to support the accelerated
growth of Emirates fleet which
includes future deliveries of not just
45 A380s, but also of 31 B777-300ERs
and 10 B777-200LRs, explains Iain
Lachlan, SVP aircraft maintenance.
The centre has seven fully air-
conditioned hangars for A380 heavy

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AT86E&M_b:AT86E&M_b 13/3/07 11:02 am Page 53

ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

and light maintenance, each equipped for light maintenance checks.

measuring 110m x 105m, and a paint The French MRO will also offer
hangar capable of accommodating the dedicated GSE and tooling; all line
superjumbo. These eight hangars maintenance operations at Paris-CDG
provide more than nine hectares of airport and dedicated outstations; and
space. Each hangar has an entrance repairs to metallic and composite
gate 88m wide and every bay can structures.
accommodate aircraft of any size, Engine Alliance (EA) will support AFI
including the A380. The hangars in establishing overhaul and repair
have almost the same dimensions as capabilities for a powerplant of the
the facilities specially constructed by A380, the GP7000. EA is a 50/50 JV
Airbus in Toulouse to assemble the between General Electric and Pratt and
A380. Whitney, which produces the GP7000
Each hangar has a mezzanine engine. The engine has been selected
docking system for access to the for approximately 72 A380s ordered
aircraft, while two hangars are with the engines specified. Air France,
equipped with full fuselage docking Emirates, International Lease Finance
systems designed for heavy Corporation and Korean Air have
maintenance. The fuselage dock selected the GP7000 engine for their
consists of left and right modules A380 fleets, resulting in firm orders for
moving horizontally on floor- 320 engines valued at more than $3
mounted rail tracks, while vertical billion.
movement is ensured through screw AFI will operate as an official
jacks. The dock is computer- repair facility in Paris covering
controlled enabling all areas of the GP7200 engine/module overhaul,
aircraft to be fully accessible says
Lachlan.
Testing of engines on the wing is
done in an engine run-up bay with
15m high acoustic walls. Engines are
tested with the bays rear wall
ensuring that the jet blast is directed
safely upwards. The centre can
accommodate 18 A380 aircraft; one in
each of the eight hangars, nine in the
dedicated parking bays outside the
hangars, and one in the engine run-
up facility.
All hangars and selected workshops
are equipped with roof-mounted
cranes. All the support services
needed in the hangars, including air
conditioning and electrical power, are
housed underground. When needed,
consoles are raised from the floor to
avoid potential accidents caused by
trailing wires across the hangar floor.
Lachlan says that the new
engineering centre will cater
primarily to Emirates A380 fleet.
Third-party maintenance is a
secondary consideration which the
company may look at in the future.
Air France Industries
Air France has ordered 10 A380s and
AFI will have a new A380 hangar at
Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport, fully

Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007 53

AT86E&M_b:AT86E&M_b 13/3/07 11:03 am
ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE
Lufthansa Technik will have a new A380 hangar at Frankfurt airport, ready to accommodate
four A380s.
parts repair, engine accessory repair
and on-wing support for EA and its
customers. AFI will start with partial
service capability when the engine
enters into service, and will ramp up
to engine overhaul capability as the
fleet grows. The AFI facility will
operate as a part of the EA MRO
network.
SIA Engineering
Singapore is one of Asias largest
hubs and Singapore Airlines (SIA) has
ordered 19 A380s. SIAs engineering
subsidiary, SIA Engineering Company
(SIAEC), aims to make its
maintenance shop a global MRO
Centre of Excellence. With the
completion of its sixth hangar at
Changi Airport, SIAEC declares it is
the first MRO in the world to offer
commercial maintenance services for
the A380. Groundbreaking began on
Hangar 6 in 2006 and the one-bay
A380 hangar will be operational in
early 2008, in time to handle
maintenance for SIAs new fleet.
GAMCO
Operators in the Middle East (Qatar
Airways, Etihad Airways) will be
flying the A380 and GAMCO (Gulf
Aircraft Maintenance Company) is
establishing A380 capability. GAMCO
has a hangar large enough to
accommodate one A380 at Abu Dhabi
54
Page 54
International Airport. Measuring
10,000m2, the $12 million hangar
was completed in 2003 and will be
used be used for A380 heavy and
light maintenance.
A380 Component support
LHT and AFI have recently
plugged a gap in the A380
component support market with
Spairliners, a 50/50 JV operating as
an independent company. Spairliners
is an investment decision for both
MROs. Component stock for the
A380 is expensive and not widely
available teaming up with a
partner reduces cost and leads to
SR Technics and Qantas are
continuing to work on the
operational details behind the
formation of the organisation to
provide support for the A380,
albeit that the originally
envisaged timelines have been
impacted...
Mike Humphreys,CEO of SR
Technics Integrated
Component Solutions Business
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
economies of scale. Spairliner
customers will benefit from a cost
advantage that the company can
offer from the start, due to the core
fleet of 25 aircraft. The repair
capabilities are to be shared between
LHT and AFI, with a specialisation
of the existing shops in Hamburg
and Paris on certain repairs and
overhauls, in order to prevent
double investment.
Jean-Luc Fattelay, Spairliners CEO
is concerned by the impact of the
A380 delays on the company but
considers it also as an opportunity
The delay will give Spairliners some
time to further develop and enhance
the existing processes and
functionalities of the IT. In early
2007 Spairliners IT systems will
undergo an extensive test.
Everything is on track to support the
first A380 commercial flight
component-wise.
Last year SR Technics signed a
non-binding MoU with Australian
carrier Qantas to establish a JV to
provide an integrated component
inventory for the A380. Mike
Humphreys, CEO of SR Technics
Integrated Component Solutions
Business says that despite the delays
in delivery of the A380, both SR
Technics and Qantas have continued
to work on the component support
solution for the A380. He explains:
SR Technics and Qantas are
continuing to work on the
operational details behind the
formation of the organisation to
provide support for the A380, albeit
that the originally envisaged
timelines have been impacted...
However, SR Technics believes that
this will mean that we will be in
excellent shape to offer A380
customers a world class Integrated
Component Solution when they
require it. At the moment SR
Technics has no plans to undertake
hangar maintenance on the A380.
Looking at the various providers, it
appears that when the worlds largest
commercial aircraft comes into service it
will have no shortage of maintenance
providers. What remains to be seen is
the maintenance issues the A380 will
present.
check_FPA:AT84_CHECK 12/3/07 2:07 pm Page 3

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AT86_IT:AT86IT 13/3/07 11:38 am Page 56
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
IT for flight operations
There is a clear trend toward
making the separate IT
systems used to plan, crew
and operate flights work in
harmony rather than in
isolation. Bernard Fitzsimons
spoke to three companies
with their roots in widely
different sectors of the air
transport industry about
their approaches to
integration and the potential
benefits.
T he airline industry cautiously
embraced the first computers in the
late 1970s, usually in order to
automate core and complex airline
processes such as reservations and flight
planning. Today information technology
(IT) is used throughout the airline
environment in almost every activity from
the back office to critical front line
applications. And where computers in the
early years were effectively isolated,
deployed to perform a specific task with
little or no integration, the need for
integration is currently pushing the
boundaries of automation to new limits.
Being able to share information across
different systems is helping airlines to
differentiate themselves in the marketplace.
And the exchange and sharing of
information enables complex decisions to
be made more effectively, more consistently
and faster.
Specific integration requirements are
usually aligned to the structure of a
particular airline. A small or medium sized
operation, for example, may have a single
department responsible for both crew
control (tracking) and operations control,
perhaps with the same staff responsible for
both activities during each shift rotation.
The IT applications needed to support
this combined task, says SITAs John
Alderman, will need to deliver both crew
56
Jeppesen's Airline Operations Control suite is designed to reap the benefits of disparate systems
working together rather than in isolation.
management and operations control
capabilities to a single PC. Both
applications, moreover, should preferably
have a similar look and feel to maintain
overall consistency and ease of use. And
integration must be comprehensive, with a
shared database able to immediately reflect
changes a flight delay, cancellation,
aircraft registration change or crew member
change from one system to the other.
Where the departments are separate, and
the users different, regardless of the fact
that the applications are now provided to
separate PCs, complete integration is still
needed.
The requirement for integrated
scheduling, crew management and
operations control systems is becoming
ever more important, Alderman says, if
airlines are to achieve the best efficiencies
and highest levels of punctuality. But the
scope of integration goes far beyond these
three tasks: today airlines want to be sure
that the most up-to-date information is
available for a vast range of applications
both within and beyond the flight
operations domain.
The flight plan should determine a very
accurate flight time. Passing this time to the
operations control application will ensure
that it can provide the latest estimated time
of arrival (ETA) to its users, and to other
related systems. If a flight is not going to
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
arrive on time, they need to know how late
or early it is going to be, and whether the
arrival time will contravene an airport
curfew or cause the crews duty day to
exceed the regulated limits. If so, there is
the potential for disruption later in the day.
So it is vital that each stakeholder in the
airline is aware of these risks as soon as
possible. With effective system integration,
Alderman says, the flow of this information
across relevant applications means that
airlines can respond quickly and effectively
to potential problems.
Operational effectiveness can be
improved further by linking additional
systems into the process. Providing updates
via the aircraft communications, addressing
and reporting system (ACARS) directly into
the operations control system, for example,
will enable the ETA to be further refined.
Airport and airspace congestion means a
long-haul flight can see an additional 60
minutes added to the sector time: without
dynamic updates from the aircraft an ETA
based solely on times predicted by the
flight plan can be misleading information.
The use of ACARS communications
makes available a wider range of
improvements to both operational control
and cost management. With engine status
and monitoring information also being
provided directly into ground-based
engineering systems, airlines can react
check78:check 78 14/10/05 4:42 pm Page 3

7HENITCOMESTOlNDINGANAIRCRAFT
MAINTENANCEMANAGEMENTSYSTEM
nTHATCOVERSTHEFULLSPECTRUMOFMAINTENANCE
ENGINEERINGLOGISTICSBUSINESSFUNCTIONS
nTHATSTANDSOUTFORITSFUNCTIONALRICHNESS
nTHATEASILYINTEGRATESINTOANEXISTINGSYSTEM
ENVIRONMENT
nTHATISWRITTENINPURE*!6!WHICHIMPLIESPLATFORM
INDEPENDENCE
nTHATISFULLYWEB ENABLED
nTHATMAKESUSEOFTHELATESTSTATE OF THE ART
TECHNOLOGIESLIKEOBJECT ORIENTEDARCHITECTURE
HYPERLINKTECHNOLOGYOPENCONNECTIVITY
nTHATISSCALABLEFORANYAIRLINE-2/
ORGANISATIONnIRRESPECTIVEOFITSSIZEANDSTRUCTURE

THEREISONLYONE

SWISS
ASCOM
AT86_IT:AT86IT 13/3/07 11:46 am Page 58
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Electronic charts from Lufthansa Systems
displayed on an A380s on-board information
terminal.
more rapidly to potential technical
problems. Before the aircraft has landed,
engineers can be waiting at the gate to fix
engine performance issues during
turnaround. This can be a critical factor for
low cost carriers, whose 25-minute
turnaround times must be protected to
ensure that subsequent flights operate on
time.
The future, Alderman predicts, will see
what have been regarded as completely
separate systems supporting very different
airline processes being drawn closer
together. Integration will continue to widen
and deepen, as airlines seek to inform,
predict and prepare more effectively to
maintain competitive differentiation.
Carbon emissions, for example, will soon
become an additional cost factor for airlines
to consider. As the cost of fuel begins to
stabilise, airlines may return to slightly
longer flight times in order to route over
countries levying lower overflight charges
and exploit the overall least-cost route. But
the increase in fuel burned and consequent
higher emissions may offset any gain in en-
route charges. And the influence of high-
value premium frequent flyers may dictate
a shorter flight time to ensure connecting
flights are comfortably met. But higher
speed mean higher emissions.
As a supplier, Alderman says, SITA
focuses on providing highly capable
systems that enable airlines to oversee and
deliver an efficient and profitable
operation. They cover everything from
check-in systems and airport security
applications through to flight planning,
weather solutions and the new integrated
Network Planning, Scheduling, Operations
Control and Crew Management solution.
58
And it is here, using a single, common
database, that he maintains the greatest
benefits can be realised.
It might be argued that a single supplier
who can provide a fully integrated suite of
products will win the deal. But some
airlines value choice and the ability to pick
the best standalone system that matches
their specific requirements. That is why
system vendors who are focused on
providing what the market needs and
wants must support a wide range of
integration requirements, and why the
platform and software architecture are
designed to link with other systems simply
and effectively.
The question is, though, how far are
airlines prepared to go, how much will they
want to invest, and how supportive will
advances in technology be in enabling
these future and very complex integration
requirements to be achieved? Whatever the
ultimate objective is, system vendors need
to keep up.
Integrated operations control
Lufthansa CityLine has been using the
Integrated Operations Control Centre
(IOCC) from sister company Lufthansa
Systems (LSY) for more than a year, and in
August 2006 CSA Czech Airlines embarked
on the process of implementing the suite
by contracting for the vendor's network
and route planning systems.
Marc Szepan, LSY's senior vice president
airline operations solutions, says
development of the IOCC was driven by
"what we see in the market, what we see
on the part of our customers and what we
see in Lufthansa. It's a completely
innovative approach that goes far beyond
the natural evolution of the patchwork of
systems that the industry has been using
so far."
Those systems have been developed over
a long period, but in terms of productivity,
efficiency and safety "we are more or less at
the end of the line for individual
solutions," he considers. Rather, integration
is the route to additional efficiency and
safety gains. LSY's product portfolio covers
all the building blocks for an IOCC, so "the
challenge was finding a way to tie them
together technologically and operationally
within a single operational platform. Our
IOCC is the only integrated platform on the
market to cover virtually every aspect of an
airline's fleet operations."
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
In developing the IOCC the company
expected the main challenge to be
primarily a technological one of coming up
with the right software technology,
hardware and architectures. But in the end,
Szepan says, "as in so many areas in life, it's
not technology that is the most difficult
part, but acceptance on the part of
customers. It is quite a different mindset to
move away from a best-of-breed, local
optimisation type of approach to a more
integrated systems approach." Another
obstacle is that often department heads are
concerned about their own cost centres and
do not want to consider others.
What is happening now in integrated
operations happened in the accounting and
general business management world 10 or
15 years ago, Szepan says. Twenty years
ago everybody had their own systems for
cash management, accounts receivable and
inventory management. Then SAP and
Oracle came out with R/3 and the Oracle
product suite, and now integrated
systems are the norm in business
management. Now flight operations are
moving in the same direction and for the
same obvious benefits. In our opinion the
business case for an integrated operations
approach is so compelling that there is no
way to say no to it.
In a typical airline, he points out, fuel
accounts for 30-40 per cent of total
operating costs "The way to build the
business case for whatever you do in an
airline is to tackle the largest cost position,
and the only way to do that is to take a
look at everything from all angles in an
integrated way. And by integrating their
systems airlines can derive a five per cent
efficiency gain in fuel consumption." Even
if the gain is only one per cent out of a 30-
40 per cent total operating cost item, "you
would have to cut crew costs by a factor of
four or five times in order to gain the same
cost advantage. The business case is
absolutely compelling."
It is at its most compelling when it comes
to dealing with disruptions, Szepan says.
"If you have operational disruptions, as we
always have, whether it is a strike
somewhere or a fog-bound airport, you
need to make quick decisions about how to
reallocate an aircraft, how to reallocate a
crew, how to replan your flight, and you
need to be able to do that in real time. If
you can't, invariably you are choosing a
non-optimal solution in the way you
16329 AirTech B 11/24/03 12:54 PM Page 1

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AT86_IT:AT86IT 13/3/07 11:46 am Page 60
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
dispatch your aircraft, the way you plan
your flights, and that can have an
absolutely negative impact on fuel
consumption."
"Pilots complain a lot about non-
conformity of FMS data, of flight plan and
of aeronautical charts from different
providers," Szepan adds. "We feel that with
an integrated approach, being able on our
part to provide a chart both in electronic
version and in paper version, that is one
kind of safety issue we can drive out of the
system."
The potential cost saving is calculated
with the customer, he says. "It depends on
your level of operational sophistication
and the level of the optimisation already
available. In general we feel that we could
achieve up to 10 per cent in fuel savings,
depending on what level of optimisation
you had before. That's 10 per cent of the
largest part of total operational costs up to
30-40 per cent." The resulting savings of
three to four per cent overall might be
unremarkable in some industries. But as
Szepan points out, "in our industry we
talk about total margins of three to four
per cent."
Airline operations center
Jeppesen has a long background in the
flight planning and flight data aspects of
flight operations. Parent Boeing bought
crew scheduling specialist SBS
International in 2001, and last June that
company along with new acquisition
Carmen Systems was merged into
Jeppesens Commercial & Military
Aviation business unit. Just four months
later Ukraine International Airlines
became the launch customer for
Jeppesens new airline operations centre
(AOC) software suite, which combines
Carmens crew management solution with
the SBS crew tracking capabilities and
other Jeppesen services, which range
from flight planning charting to
electronic flight bag (EFB) provision.
Heath Bowden, the companys
enterprise manager AOC solutions, says
the new development is a direct
response to the reaction from customers
when they were offered both Jeppesen
and SBS systems: The customers were
all asking the same thing: you have a
crew management solution and an
operations control solution, when you
deploy these can you make them talk
together?
60
Essentially, he says, operators wanted
their dispatchers to know all the crew
information, from whos on the crew to
what their legality situation is, if theyre
about to time out, where are they flying
next. That really opened our eyes to this
evolution of airlines and the airlines
themselves changing from being very
functional and very serial to realising that
theres some real benefits in tying these IT
systems together.
Last years acquisition of Carmen was
intended to build out the AOC, Bowden
says. As well as crew management
solutions, the Swedish company had
developed recovery technology to help
airlines restore operations after a
disruption. The AOC is a business
operational solution, he says, not just
for the day of operation, but for the
whole business from planning and
forecasting through to the day of
operation.
In the meantime, Jeppesen had been
developing what it terms the AOC
integrator, which Bowden describes as
the framework through which the
individual elements of the solution
communicate: Its a very powerful
technology integrator for an airline. Were
taking some fairly standard IT
middleware technology for brokering
messages and acting as a communications
layer between different systems, but were
adding value by capturing any industry
standard messages that are available, and
defining a library of messages between all
the systems that we expect in an airline
business environment.
The benefits are twofold, he explains. It
means the complete solution can be
deployed without point-to-point
connections among the various pieces.
The AOC is a business
operational solution, not just
for the day of operation, but
for the whole business from
planning and forecasting
through to the day of
operation.
Heath Bowden, enterprise
manager AOC solutions,
Jeppesen
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
And because airlines are often
encumbered by relatively inflexible
legacy systems the way weve defined
and developed this AOC integration
framework enables the solution to be
modular. So a customer can buy an
individual module and use that standard
message set to tie into any existing
systems. That gives the airline the
flexibility to move down its own
technology road map in a way that
doesnt impact the business negatively by
trying to swap or change out an entire IT
infrastructure in a short amount of time.
The reception has been universally
positive, Bowden says, and Jeppesen is
currently working to help financially
challenged airlines justify the investment:
One of the things were working on is
tools to help the customer build the
business case to show that the investment
has some real cost savings benefits in a
very short time. Fuel and crew are big
cost drivers, and we have pieces of the
solution today that are directly impacting
those optimised flight planning and
aircraft performance and so on to
minimise the amount of fuel the aircraft is
using, and our best-in-class crew
management solution with far superior
optimisation capabilities for airlines with
complicated curfew management
situations.
Another big cost driver in the future is
likely to be disruption, whether minor
disruptions adding up over time or the
sort of massive disruption that occurs
when weather closes several of a carriers
major airports. Where the AOC as a
solution is pointed is that once you have
these systems integrated together and you
have some of the technology that we
gained with the Carmen acquisition for
operations recovery, you can start to look
down the road at what were calling
disruption management.
The idea, Bowden says, is to minimise
the cost impact of a disruption as
efficiently and effectively as possible by
using all the same optimisation tools that
were used to build the original plan:
And down the road were even looking
at things like schedule robustness and
being proactive. If a snowstorm is coming
and an airport is closing, can we
preposition assets or modify our plan
today to minimise the impact that closure
is going to have tomorrow?
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A86Regional:A86REGN 13/3/07 12:19 pm Page 62

REGIONAL

GEs CF34 optimising ownership

As the CF4 family reaches
maturity, initial concerns about
operational reliability and
maintenance costs are on their
way to being overcome
through various initiatives on
several OEM-driven fronts,
ranging from component
upgrades, LLP life
synchronisation, through to
intelligent maintenance
workscoping and innovative
repair schemes.Martin Fendt
outlines its evolving
aftermarket and discusses
initiatives to improve operation
performance and reduce cost
of ownership of this popular
family of turbofans.
For the original CF34-3A1 on the CRJ, GE offers an upgrade to the improved -3B1 standard.

T he CF34 is the family of engines

a direct successor of the TF34
military engine, powering the US
Navy S-3A and the US Air Force A-10
aircraft was created by GE to power
regional aircraft. The CF34 family can
be divided into three main sub-families,
varying significantly from one each
other: CF34-3, CF34-8 and CF34-10.
Today there are over 4,400 CF34s in
commercial service.
Family description
The first CF34 model produced was
the CF34-1 which entered into service in
1983 on the Challenger 601 corporate
jet. The subsequent CF34-3 entered
regional jet service in 1992 on the
Bombardier CRJ100. In the 1990s, GE
started developing the family with the -
8 and -10 variants, with the aim of
reaching from 8,600lb to 18,000lb thrust
for these new engine models. With these
new engines, GE had the opportunity to
dominate an important niche market.
The CF34-8 series, the CF34-8C1, was
FAA certified ahead of schedule in
November 1999 and entered service on
the Bombardier 70-seat CRJ700 in 2001.
In April 2003, Bombardier launched into
service the 90-passenger CRJ900,
powered by the CF34-8C5. The CF34-8E
powers the Embraer 170 and 175
commercial jets.
The largest and newest CF34-10E
model, with a wide-chord fan, powers
the Embraer 190/195, which entered
service in the fourth quarter of 2005. By
the beginning of 2007 there were over
129 engines in service with 10
operators, with about 150,000 hours of
operation.
Ron Hutter, general manager
marketing, small commercial engines
points out: The -10 leverages CFM56 -7
and -5 technology and we have enhanced
that over and above the CFM56 which
makes it the highest technology engine
we currently offer in the marketplace for
narrowbodies. That architecture was
slightly different than the baseline CF34
platform of the early RJs in that we
adapted the CFM56s single-stage turbine
architecture which allows for reduced
maintenance costs in relation to the
reduced number of HPT components. We
have also extended the time-on-wing to
first shop visit for the -10 to around
14,000-15,000 cycles which is probably a
50 per cent increase over the first
generation CF34s. The -10 has also been
selected by ACAC for the ARJ21, for
service in 2009, with the first aircraft
being rolled-out in December 2007. It is
identical in the turbomachinery
perspective, just a difference in the
fuselage-mount configuration.
MRO aftermarket trends
Most, if not all, operators interested in
buying Embraer or Bombardier aircraft
have been approached by GE to enter into
a maintenance-cost-per-hour (MCPH),
material-by-the-hour (MBTH) or a similar
type of engine support contract. Indeed,

62 Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007

check_FPA:AT84_CHECK 14/2/07 2:04 pm Page 3

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A86Regional:A86REGN 13/3/07 12:33 pm
REGIONAL
Delta TechOps opened its dedicated lean CF34 engine shop in 2003, able to handle large number
of engines as they reach the 15,000 cycle threshold.
several operators have elected for these
deals as soon as the aircraft were ordered.
About 80 per cent of the operators have
signed for these types of contracts with
GE and only a few operators have adopted
a conventional time-and-material approach
with other engine shops.
Presently, only a limited number of
engine shops are actively repairing CF34-8
engines. These include: GE, Standard
Aero, IHI, MTU, and Lufthansa AERO. It
is also understood that additional engine
shops are evaluating overhauling these
engines, with the final decision to step
into this market at a later date, when the
number of orders will make the size of the
potential market more clear. GE is
currently the only MRO with capability
on CF34-10 engines, although MTU, and
IHI are in the process of receiving the
approval to repair this engine model,
observes Paolo Lironi of IASG Powerplant
Support Services.
Standard Aero, recently announced
several deals for CF34 MRO. These include
the following: (a) An extension to its total
engine asset management (TEAM)
contract with GoJet Airlines which adds
an additional 10 CF34-8s to the
programme, along with additional
64
Page 64
100 engines in per year, then it is really
accessory repair and overhaul coverage
(Standard Aero is now contracted to
service all 30 of GoJets CF34-8 engines,
plus spares, powering their fleet of CRJ-
700 aircraft for United Express); (b) an
amendment to its contract with SkyWest
Airlines to add 44 CF34-8s. (Standard Aero
is now contracted to service all 114 of
SkyWests engines which power their fleet
of CRJ-700 aircraft for United Express).
It should also be noted that MTU
Maintenance Berlin-Brandenburg recently
secured its largest CF34 repair contract:
Air Wisconsin Airlines will send all of its
CF34-3B1 engines powering its fleet of 70
Bombardier CRJ200s to MTUs
Ludwigsfelde plant for repair and
overhaul. The 10-year contract is worth
about 240 million euros (approximately US
$300 million).
Abdol Moabery, CEO of GA Telesis
observes: For the earlier CF34s the
-3As & -3Bs Standard Aero, GE, Delta
TechOps, Lufthansa AERO and MTU are
great shops. We use them all. However, on
the newer -8s and -10s, so many of the
operators are on cost-per-hour
programmes, so that it is not even worth
us participating, other than in potential
sale & leaseback type opportunities.
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
Moreover, it is very difficult for us to go
out in the spot market and buy an
engine and try to lease it, simply because
so many of these regional operators are in
cost per hour programmes.
He adds: It has certainly been an
increasing trend which is especially more
prevalent with the smaller jets. I think
much of that comes down to the many
smaller operators which dont possess the
major infrastructure to do so. If you take
the newer generations of the engine
the -8 and the -10 we are finding that a
lot of the smaller operators, including
some of the major ones, have just tied up
on cost-per-hour programmes with GE.
So it is my opinion that on the newer
generation -8 and -10, it is a one-stop
shop, and thats GE, maintains Moabery.
Those engines are so new that GE are the
only ones who can really for the next
five years make a good business case to
repair them. There are just too many
unknowns for somebody else to just pop
in, and if they dont feel they can pull 50-
going to be hard to justify. So for that
reason GE right now is the place to go.
Technical issues, and product
improvement
During the development of the CF34-8,
in an attempt to decrease the number of
rotating parts, GE decided to have three
HPC stages with Blisk (BLaded-DISK)
technology such that the blades and the
disk of the first three HPC stages consist
of only two parts. While an advantage
from this decrease in the number of
rotating parts is evident, concerns are
expressed by the operators of how
durable this design will be in the case of
FOD, notes IASGs Lironi.
GE notes that the design has proven
itself with almost six million engine flight
hours of operation with only a handful of
instances where FOD was beyond
repairable limits, and additional blisk
repair development is ongoing.
According to GA Telesis, the CF34-3A1
on CRJ-100s experienced significant
technical difficulties. The -3B upgrade
came along which fixed the problems and
now it is the standard engine for the
Bombardier CRJ-200. The newer CF34-8
variant for the CRJ-700, the -8C for the
-900, and the -8E5 for the Embraers, are
for the most part operating pretty well.
A86Regional:A86REGN 13/3/07 12:26 pm Page 65

REGIONAL

We have not experienced any major issues
as we did with the -3A1, says Moabery.
However, the areas where we are
seemingly having difficulty across all of
the types, he adds, encompass two
things whether it is a -3A1 or an -8C5
they are all pretty new engines, and
consequently, when they go into the shop
there arent a lot of repair schemes. The
result is that you could have a blade with
an issue that nobody has ever dealt with
before, so you have to scrap it. Whereas on
an older engine type that might have been
repaired and put right back in, either via a
OEM repair, or a DER repair etc. which
allows you to keep that part. The other
issue is that these engines are tiny, which
brings the limits down significantly, so
where you might have been able to sustain
a 0.1m m sized ding on a on a CFM56
blade, the same kind of damage to a CF34
blade would require scrapping it.
The OEM, for its part, stresses that it is
working hard on reducing the cost of
ownership by all available means, as Tracy
Moore, GEs general manager of small
commercial services explains: In terms of
improvements to the engine family over
time we have focused on maintenance
cost, cost of ownership, and durability
improvements as the aircraft and engine
have matured together. Essentially that
boils down to materials improvements,
additional repair capability for the engine;
and workscoping optimisation to reduce
cost as we get better knowledge of the
engine. We are also looking at used
material to reduce the overall costs of
ownership. In short, over the past three to
five years we have reduced the
maintenance costs by about 15 per cent
which has directly benefited our
customers. And for the older version
the -3A1 model, which powered the CRJ-
100s we have also implemented a -3A1
to -3B1 upgrade kit which several
operators have incorporated to standardise
the configuration across their fleets.
As well as that, Moore adds, we are
now focused on optimised LLP lives,
whereby we identify used material which
has the right amount of LLP part times
left on it, so you are not overbuilding the
engine. We have been aggressive with GE
Aviation Materials (GEAM) to go out and
get used material and make it available.
We also just recently acquired the
Memphis Group and we will be
integrating with them as well because
they tear down the airplanes a
mechanism for us to access more used
material.
We are looking into ways operators
can reduce -3 shop visits by
synchronising a major LLP shop visit at
18,000 cycles [e.g. bringing it forward
from 24,000 cycles Ed.] and then
targeting the next LLP visit at 36,000
cycles. This concept would potentially
eliminate shop visits in the 22,000 to
30,000 cycle range, thus helping to reduce
the overall long-term -3 cost of
ownership, says Moore.
In addition, we have also been
increasing the proportion of the engine

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The Fine Art of MRO Services

Aircraft_Technology.indd 1 08.02.2007 16:16:34 Uhr

Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007 65

A86Regional:A86REGN 13/3/07 12:34 pm
REGIONAL
which can be repaired, Moore explains.
The exception to that on the CF34-3 is
our HPT stage 1 & 2 blade which is a bit
unusual. Normally that would be
repaired, but the type of distress it sees
makes it uneconomical to repair, so
instead we came up with a commercial
offering which kept the customer neutral
in terms of cost, and priced it differently
so that they can get their same value. I
think 75-80 per cent of our customers
have committed to this programme, so it
has been a successful approach. Again, we
usually like to do a repair, but the type of
distress didnt make it economical.
We have also introduced the B-sump
repair, and an LPT casing repair which I
reckon is one third the cost of a new part,
so that will reduce it significantly. The
name of the game is to keep the cost of
ownership down for the customer. Of
course we would love to sell new parts,
but if that is not an economical solution
for operators, we will develop a repair. In
short then, we are working to better
integrate the used, repaired, and new
parts so as to give customers a choice
depending on their particular ownership
horizons and objectives.
Time-on-wing
Whilst the reliability of the CF34-8C1
variant on the CRJ-700 has been poor,
says Lironi, GE is now offering a
programme to update the engines to the
CF34-8C5B1 version, and the CF34-8C1
variant is no longer manufactured as
new. We feel that the engine reliability
of the rest of CF34-8 family and CF34-10
engine models is reaching the design
target, with shop visit rates, IFSD and
mean-time-between-shop-visit within
the industry average.
IASG forecasts that the series -8
engines will typically remain on-wing
for 9,000 to 11,000 hours, [GE estimates
approximately 14,000 hours for this]
while the -10 should be able to achieve
better reliability, reaching 10,000 to
12,000 flying hours [GE estimates 18,000
hours], also considering the latter is
anticipated to have a higher flight/cycle
ratio. The cost of the first shop visit,
according to IASG ranges from $600,000
to $700,000, while the subsequent repair
cost should increase by around 20 per
cent. Thus, for overhaul, the engine
maintenance cost should be between $60
66
Page 66
and $80 per flying hour. The series -10
variant is likely to be more expensive,
almost reaching the cost of a CFM56
engine: $800,000 for the first shop visit,
to a maximum of $950,000 for the
subsequent visits. This puts the engine
cost-per-hour in the range of $70 and
$95 per hour. However, as usually occurs
on new engine models, the limits on the
life-limited components are under an
approval phase. GE is undergoing a
programme to have all the LLPs [on the -
8 and -10] certified for 25,000 cycles.
However, GEs Hutter believes that the
-10s LLP cost-per-cycle will be
improved, especially when you consider
that there are fewer LLPs for the -10
compared with the earlier engines, and
when they are all sync-ed at 25k cycles,
the actual dollar per cycle for the -10
LLPs should be lower than the -8.
Concerning the CF34-8C1 to -8C5B1
upgrade for the CRJ-700, Hutter points
out: This modification allows the -8C1
to achieve 17 degree additional EGT
margin. It also extends the LLP lives to
25,000 cycles, and you get longer time-
on-wing, fewer shop visits, which all
combines to produce a 10-15 per cent
reduction in maintenance costs over a 15
year period, relative to the -8C1 baseline.
We now have about 75 per cent of the
fleet signed-up, so it has been a very
successful upgrade introduction, with 35
upgrades completed in 2005-2006. The
main customers include: Skywest;
Comair; Lufthansa; Horizon; Brit Air;
and Mesa.
On the larger CF34-10 engine, there is
an AD and a service bulletin on which
an AD was issued:
We are looking into ways
operators can reduce CF34-3
shop visits by synchronising a
major LLP shop visit at 18,000
cycles and then targeting the
next LLP visit at 36,000 cycles.This
would eliminate shop visits in the
22,000-30,000 cycle range.
Tracy Moore,general
manager,small commercial
engines,GEAE.
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
1. CF34-10E combustor liner AD:
Through continued analysis by GE
of the CF34-10E, the company
determined that the life limit on the
engines combustor liner should be
reduced from five years to about 4.5
years. This notice was communicated
to operators and is expected to be
formally endorsed by the FAA
shortly. There have been no failures
and incidents related to the
combustor liner;
2. CF34-10E fuel pump Service
Bulletin: This service bulletin was
issued by GE to its CF34-10E
operators (FAA issues an AD on this
to ensure mandatory compliance of
the service bulletin). GE has
redesigned the fuel pump filter on
the engine and is already in the
process of retrofitting all of the 108
CF34-10Es in the field. The retrofit
will be completed by early March
2007, before the FAA issues the so
called final rule.
Regarding the fleet in general, GE
paints an upbeat picture: Essentially
the standard of the engine fleet right
now is such that an aircraft departure
reliability of about 99.98 per cent is
typical which is world class,
especially when one looks to the CFM56
as the benchmark for the industry
which attains about 99.97 to 99.98 per
cent. So the CF34 fleet is operating at
world class levels of reliability.
Engine values
Overall on the -3As and -3Bs, we
are encountering a distressed
market, says GA Telesis Moabery.
Indeed, we see the -3A variant
good serviceable engines trading for
only $1.5m, and for the most part, we
also see the same for the -3Bs with
better than half time lives remaining.
As for recent -8C1 transactions lately,
some engines are trading in the mid-to-
high ones, which is surprising for
that engine, which should be
somewhere over the $2m mark. And
the -8C5s or -10s are really not trading
at all presently. Granted, every now
and then there are sale & leaseback
opportunities, but we are finding those
engines are trading at a premium for
the opportunity to finance. I think the
value is artificial.
check42:check 78 15/3/06 10:33 am Page 3

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AT86Reg:AT86Reg 13/3/07 1:02 pm Page 68
REGULARS
GKN Aerospace company profile
GKN Aerospace is the
aerospace operation of GKN
plc. With a global revenue of
approximately $1.5bn, it is an
independent first-tier
supplier of structures,
components, assemblies and
engineering services to
aircraft and aero-engine
manufacturers. Its
capabilities span all specialist
aerospace manufacturing
and design processes in
addition to supply chain and
logistics. Aircraft Technology
finds out more.
G KN Aerospace (GKNA)
operates 24 manufacturing
centres throughout Europe,
the Americas and Australasia with a
combined total workforce exceeding
6,000. Organised into two divisions,
Propulsion Systems & Special Products
and Aerostructures, the company
provides complex composite and
lightweight metallic integrated
structures for airframe and
propulsion system applications,
transparencies and other specialist
equipment and systems fully
supported by its integrated
engineering arm.
The Propulsion Systems and Special
Products division provides
components for each element of a
propulsion system, from a range of
engine components, pylon and mount
systems and complete nacelles, to
acoustic linings and exhaust systems.
On the Special Products side, the
division offers complete aircraft
canopy systems, windows, and ice
protection systems. The division also
supplies flotation and fuel systems
and provides the focus for the GKNAs
aftermarket business. Meanwhile, the
68
GKNs design expertise includes a wide range of tasks from major aerostructure design to
engineering support of in-service products.
Aerostructures division is focused on
the provision of major metallic and
composite aerostructure assemblies
such as metallic ribs, shroud boxes
and wing components to the major
OEMs such as Airbus and Agusta-
Westland.
Notably, GKN Aerospace
Engineering Services (GKNAES), with
worldwide offices across Australia,
Germany, India, North America and
the UK, is a prime supplier of
engineering services to OEMs such as
AgustaWestland, BAE Systems, EADS
Airbus, and Lockheed Martin,
together with many first and second
tier suppliers. Its expertise and
experience include a wide range of
engineering tasks from major
aerostructure design through to
engineering support of in-service
products. GKNAES employs
approximately 1,000 aerospace
engineers throughout Europe, the
Americas and Australasia.
Composites technological
innovation
GKNA has invested extensively in
composite technologies and automated
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
processes, establishing an advanced
composites facility (ACF). The ACF
comprises a state-of-the-art production
facility of 4,500m2 for the
manufacture of large complex
composite structures up to 15m in
length.
Major plants in the production
facility include: an 11-axis automated
tape layer, a double diaphragm
forming press, advanced NDT, an
Henri Lin five-axis and a hover
palette tool movement system. It
should be noted that GKNA produces
all the carbon main wing spars for the
A400M, the first time all composite
spars have been used in a primary
structure on an Airbus programme.
These components utilise the latest
automated tape-laying, diaphragm
forming techniques.
Other applications include fan
blades, fan blade spacers, fan
containment case (such as the new
GEnx composite fan case) and fan
inlet case, as well as a range of wing
components. The groups advanced
composite aerostructures include the
trailing edge package on the A380
(utilising resin film infusion (RFI)
AT86Reg:AT86Reg 13/3/07 1:09 pm Page 69

REGULARS

technology developed by GKNA), and

engine components on the Lockheed
Martin F-35 (JSF) manufactured using
resin transfer moulding (RTM).
Meanwhile, GKNAs composite
research centre (CRC) is already
involved in at least five aerospace
related research programmes and is
investigating areas including acoustic
technologies, the application of
composites into aero-engines and the
further development of manufacturing
processes which will enable large,
highly complex, and curved
assemblies to be produced swiftly, to
high levels of tolerance.
Specialist processes
Within its portfolio of special
processes, GKNA has the capability to
undertake hot forming, superplastic
forming, stretch forming, electron
beam welding, fluid cell forming and
longeron forming. These processes
have been used in the production of a
number of components including
titanium sine wave wing spars,
airframe and wing skin assemblies,
leading edges and environmentally civil programmes such as the B787 windows and passenger windows for a
challenged structures. and B777 and in defence has a strong wide range of aircraft in the
The machining centre in St Louis position on the F-35. commercial, regional and business
with over 150 machines has the GKNA is also a leader in design-for- aviation markets, including Airbus,
capability to machine large up to manufacture-and-assembly (DFMA) Boeing widebody civil aircraft and
100ft long complex monolithic integration. Components produced leading regional and business jet
parts from a range of materials within range from simple assemblies through manufacturers including Embraer,
exacting aerospace tolerances. The key to large metallic and composite Bombardier and Cessna. Examples
processes are milling, reaming and integrated structures. include B747 front windscreens, A320
boring. Hard metal machining of The company also produces cockpit & cabin windows, and wingtip
titanium alloys & high speed complete airframe assemblies and sub- lenses.
machining of aluminium are a strong assemblies for a range of aircraft and In the military market, it supplies
competency with significant helicopters, including the complete canopies and cockpit windows for
investment in new machines. fuselage of the Agusta-Westland Lynx fighter/attack, military transport and
Notably, the recent acquisition of helicopter, which is the largest special mission aircraft, trainers and
Stellex Aerostructures, based in the integrated assembly produced by helicopters. Its military aircraft
US, has extended GKNAs capabilities GKNA. applications include the F-35, F/A-22,
in complex metal machined parts and Prior to GKNAs involvement, F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, F-15C, F-16
structural sub-assemblies Agusta-Westland, received over 40,000 Falcon, Eurofighter Typhoon, the C-17
production. This has balanced its parts from 80 suppliers. GKNA then Globemaster III and the Saab JAS 39
expertise in composite assembly became responsible for the redesign, Gripen.
manufacture with a similar expertise component manufacture, supply chain Notably, in March 2006 GKNA was
in titanium assembly production management and the final integration selected by Airbus, under a
particularly as a producer of of the complete airframe, delivering cooperation agreement, as the
monolithic structures. only two part numbers to the preferred vendor of passenger cabin
Approximately 65 per cent of customer. windows for the A330 and A340. The
Stellex revenues are on civil aircraft cooperative agreement extends until
thus increasing GKNAs exposure to Transparency systems 2010 and is estimated to be worth
this sector. Stellex has secured GKNA Transparency Systems some $1.5 million per annum to the
strong positions on market leading supplies cockpit windshields, side company.

Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007 69

AT86Reg:AT86Reg 13/3/07 1:12 pm Page 70
REGULARS
The windows selected by Airbus are
GKNAs CrystalVue II. Their
proprietary coating offers high levels
of craze and abrasion resistance,
improved water repelling, greater stain
resistance and enhanced light
transmission through the window to
the passenger. As a result,
maintenance and replacement costs are
reduced and passenger appeal is
improved. As part of this agreement
with Airbus, GKNA will provide
vendor managed inventory, ensuring
Airbus has quick and immediate
access to window supplies for each
aircraft. Today, more than 400,000
CrystalVue II windows are in service
worldwide. GKNA windows are also
the OE fit for the entire fleet of Boeing
commercial aircraft.
Advanced Systems
Advanced systems designed,
developed, manufactured and
supported by GKNA include flight
70
and safety critical product lines, from
helicopter fuel systems and
emergency flotation systems through
to advanced ice-protection systems
for the next generation airliners and
military aircraft. For example, GKNA
has developed electro-thermal ice
protection systems which can be
incorporated into many flight critical
surfaces including wing ice
protection systems (WIPS) for
advanced civil applications such as
the new B787, and engine ice-
protection systems (EIPS) on
advanced military engine platforms,
including the F-135 JSF engine,
providing anti-ice protection in some
of the harshest environments.
GKNA fuel systems can collect fuel
without interruption during extreme
movement through pick-up systems
and deliver the fuel, conditioned by
filters, coolers, heaters or water
separators to the engine at the
optimum rate and temperature for the
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
application. The GKNA in-house
chemists and engineers specialise in
the development of materials for
harsh environments.
Aftermarket
Working in partnership with the
OEMs and supported by its
engineering and manufacturing
capabilities, GKNA provides
worldwide support available as an
integral part of related services or on
an individual basis. This includes
maintenance, repair and overhaul, 24
hour AOG support, logistic support,
supply chain management, reliability
and maintainability analysis and
technical publications. In particular,
GKNAs experience in materials
technology enables it to offer solutions
to its customers, working to reduce
customer operating costs. It can also
prepare repair schemes, substantiated
and approved by either DER or COA,
has access to OEM technical manuals
and has a full range of quality
approvals. The following areas are
covered:
Repair and overhaul of composite
and bonded metallic primary and
secondary aircraft structures
including doors, rudders, floor
panels and flaps and full radome
capability including full FAA
approved transmissivity test
range.
Aftermarket support for
composite structures and nacelle
components for all types of
aircraft. Services encompass
repair and overhaul, field
services, spares, technical
publications and training.
Full strip and survey nacelle
capabilities, structural nacelle
repairs, design, test and
certification of component
improvements, and has full
certification capability.
Repairs of fan blades, fan
components and engine cases for
most commercial jet engines in
service. This includes protective
tungsten carbide HVOF coating to
the fan blades, improving
durability and lifespan. It is
worth noting that GKNAs Chem-
AT86Reg:AT86Reg 13/3/07 1:12 pm
tronics subsidiary is a major
repair and overhaul source for fan
blades, particularly now in the
Asian region. The division repairs
blades on most commercial
aircraft, supporting all jet engine
manufacturers and many major air
carriers in the region Chem-
tronics recently won a contract to
support fan blade repair for the
entire CFM range.
Repair and overhaul of aircraft
exhaust systems. GKNA also offers
replacement exhaust ducts and
engine components which offer
weight and/or acoustic
performance improvements.
Service and support for military
and civil replacement windows
and transparencies, and overhaul
services to the latest OE
specifications. Support includes
24 hour AOG service and a wide
network of spares stock
distributors reducing OEM
inventory holdings and bringing
critical cost and efficiency
benefits.
Repair, overhaul and manufacture
electro-thermal de-icing systems.
Repair solutions for all
elastomeric fuel bladders and
emergency flotation systems using
proprietary GKNA manufactured
materials and processes.
Aftermarket grows globally
In April 2006 at MRO USA, held in
Phoenix, Arizona, GKNA announced it
had moved further towards becoming a
global MRO provider with the
addition of two vital new services to
its portfolio and strong growth
achieved across its aero-engine
support, aircraft transparencies repair
and replacement, and composite and
metallic component repair businesses.
Two major new services have
resulted from the companys
investment programme in its MRO
activity: Centralised, global customer
service centres for the maintenance
and repair of transparencies; and a
new, comprehensive radome test
facility.
Frank Bamford, senior vice president
of business development and strategy,
of GKNA comments: We have
Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007
Page 71
worldwide sales today of over $1bn of
which 15 per cent is derived from our
aftermarket business. We continue to
see this growing and are actively
building upon this solid base
aiming to reach 30 per cent of global
sales. We are working with both our
OEM and airline customers to ensure
the highest level of service provision
and the addition of the transparency
service centres, along with our
investment in radome repair, make
clear statements concerning our long-
term intent in this market. We are now
looking at how we bring our structural
composite expertise to the aftermarket
environment.
The new Transparency Service
Centres have already secured increased
long-term airline business by offering
customers a single point of contact and
by providing strategic parts stocking
to support both airlines and MRO
demand. The first long-term contracts,
covering flight deck windows, have
been awarded by Northwest Airlines
and American Airlines. Strategic
stocking of parts has enabled GKNA to
supply parts on demand, enabling
internal airline inventories to be
reduced and bring critical cost and
efficiency benefits.
The new radome test range, at Fort
Worth, TX, provides customers with a
comprehensive service which includes
testing each radome for radar
transmission efficiency after
manufacture or repair. The facility is
able to test every type of aircraft
120, Canadair RJ, BAe146/RJ, Shorts,
We have worldwide sales today
of over $1bn,15 per cent of which
is derived from our aftermarket
business.We continue to see this
growing,and are actively
building upon this solid base,
aiming to reach 30 per cent of
global sales.
Frank Bamford,senior vice
president of business
development and strategy
REGULARS
radome, from corporate and regional to
large commercial and military aircraft
and is already approved by the FAA to
test an array of regional and
commercial aircraft radomes. By the
end of the second quarter of 2006, the
facility added the B737 series radome
repairs and testing to its operations
specification.
In aero-engine support, the company
has recently scored a number of
contract wins including an award from
Lufthansa Technik to supply
assemblies for the CFM56-5A engine;
an announcement of growing work
with Snecma Services on the CFM56-
5B engine; a fifth contract award in
less than two years from the US Air
Force to support the F100 engine
which equips the F15 and F16 aircraft;
and an award with a potential value of
$100m, to supply titanium inlet cases
for the Pratt and Whitney TF33 engine
for the B-52 and KC-135E aircraft.
GKNA also achieved notable growth
in the maintenance and repair of
composite and metallic assemblies: The
latest additions to this growing
business includes component repairs
for the Airbus A300, A310, A300-600,
A318, A319, A320, A321, A330 and
A340 These repairs include flight
control surfaces, radomes, gear doors,
access covers and doors, interior
components, slats and other non-
structural components. The company
already offers overhaul and primary
and secondary structure composite
repair for the V-22, ATR 42/72, Saab
340/2000 ERJ 145/135 and Embraer
Learjets, Hawker, Dash-8 and Jetstream
among others.
We are investing time and money
into our customer service and
support operation globally and the
growth and success we are already
seeing is exciting for our team,
Bamford explains. We have an
extensive worldwide support
network from which our customers
benefit, and strong long-term
partnerships both with our suppliers
and our customers. We continuously
examine our offering to the market to
ensure we provide the service and
capability our customers require for
the future.
71
AT86Reg:AT86Reg 13/3/07 1:12 pm Page 72

REGULARS

A318 family industry data

Fleet status report:
Ordered: 216
Delivered: 34
Cancelled: 124
Backlog: 58
Options 38
No. destroyed: 0
No. retired: 0
No operated: 35
No. parked: 0
No. operators: 6
No. leased: 12
No. owned (by operators): 23
Ave daily utilisation hrs
(in last 12 mths): 7.1
Ave fleet age: 2.1
Total fleet size: 35
(aircraft operated)
Source: AvSoft, ACAS

Worldwide industry average inspection intervals

Typical maintenance check intervals:

A-check: every 600 flight hours (varies according to operator)

B-check: N/A
C-check: 18 months/3,000-6,000hrs (varies according to operator)
8C-check 120-144 months
N.B. This is general information only. For actual recommendations, operators should consult the manufacturer directly and/or the aircraft maintenance
manual.
Source: airlines, via FlightGlobal, ACAS database

Operator fleet listing with engine

Operator Model Engine Reg. Operator Model Engine Reg.
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGA MEXICANA A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P XA-UBT
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGB MEXICANA A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P XA-UBU
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGC MEXICANA A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P XA-UBV
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGD MEXICANA A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P XA-UBW
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGE MEXICANA A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P XA-UBX
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGF MEXICANA A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P XA-UBY
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGG MEXICANA A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P XA-UBZ
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGH TAROM A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P YR-ASA
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGI Total A318: 35
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGJ
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGK
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGL
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGM
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGN
AIR FRANCE A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P F-GUGO
AIRBUS A318-122 PW6124A F-WWIA
COMLUX AVIATION AG A318-112ELITE CFM56-5B9/P D-AIJA
FRONTIER AIRLINES A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P N805FR
FRONTIER AIRLINES A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P N801FR
FRONTIER AIRLINES A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P N802FR
FRONTIER AIRLINES A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P N803FR
FRONTIER AIRLINES A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P N804FR
FRONTIER AIRLINES A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P N806FR
FRONTIER AIRLINES A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P N807FR
MEXICANA A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P XA-UBQ
MEXICANA A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P XA-UBR
MEXICANA A318-111 CFM56-5B8/P XA-UBS

72 Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007

AT86Reg:AT86Reg 14/3/07 1:07 pm Page 73

REGULARS

Present & future values 10 year forecast

A318 constant dollars

Year 2003 2004 2005 2006
2007 24.75 25.62 27.37 30.00
2008 23.48 23.98 25.61 27.95
2009 22.70 22.75 23.97 26.16
2010 21.87 22.00 22.74 24.49
2011 20.99 21.21 21.99 23.23
2012 20.07 20.38 21.20 22.46
2013 19.15 19.49 20.37 21.65
2014 18.22 18.60 19.48 20.79
2015 17.29 17.71 18.59 19.87
2016 16.35 16.82 17.70 18.96
2017 15.42 15.92 16.81 18.05
2018 14.49 15.03 15.91 17.13
2019 13.57 14.13 15.02 16.21
2020 12.65 13.24 14.13 15.29
2021 11.74 12.36 13.24 14.37
2022 10.83 11.47 12.35 13.46
2023 9.92 10.60 11.47 12.55
2024 9.02 9.72 10.59 11.65
2025 8.12 8.85 9.72 10.75
2026 7.22 7.98 8.85 9.86
2027 6.31 7.10 7.97 8.96
2028 5.38 6.21 7.10 8.07
2029 4.43 5.31 6.21 7.18
2030 3.44 4.37 5.31 6.28
2031 2.39 3.40 4.37 5.36
2032 1.25 2.37 3.40 4.41
2033 1.25 2.37 3.42
2034 1.25 2.38
2035 1.25
Source: Avmark Inc. Transport Aircraft Values

Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007 73

AT86Reg:AT86Reg 13/3/07 1:16 pm Page 74

REGULARS

FAA airworthiness directives - large aircraft

Summary of biweekly listings for the last two months
Biweekly 2006-24

2006-23-11 Rolls-Royce plc RB211 Trent 768-60, 772-60 & For specified engines, inspect and remove from
772B-60 service the HP/IP turbine oil feed tube outer heat
shield IAW SB RB211-72-AF045
2006-23-12 BAE Systems (Operations) BAe 146-100A, -200A & -300A Inspect hydraulic accumulators with P/N
AIR91666-0, -1 and -2 to determine if it has a S/N
listed in ISB.29-A046. If the unit has a listed S/N,
replace the hydraulic accumulator and perform
specified inspections
2006-23-13 BAE Systems (Operations) BAe 146-100A, -200A & -300A Inspect the three-phase circuit breakers and three-
phase circuit breaker panels IAW ISB.24-141
2006-23-15 Boeing 757-200, -200PF, -200CB & -300 For specified aircraft, install a control wheel damper
assembly at the first officers drum bracket assembly
and aileron quadrant beneath the flight deck floor in
section 41 IAW SB 757-27A0146 or 757-27A0147.
Also, for 757-200, -200PF and -200CB aircraft install
vortex generators on the leading edges of the
outboard main flap IAW SB 757-57A0058
2006-23-16 BAE Systems (Operations) BAe 146-100A, -200A & -300A; Modify the nose landing gear IAW SB
Avro 146-RJ70A, 146-RJ85A & 32-174-70676A
146-RJ100A
2006-24-01 S Cessna Aircraft Company 750 Supersedes AD 2005-09-01. Inspect the clearance of
the APU fuel tube assemblies in the tail cone area of
the airplane IAW ASL750-49-09. For specified
aircraft, replace the APU fuel tube in the cone area
IAW SB 750-49-05. This AD extends the affectivity
of AD 2005-09-01 to aircraft -0241 through -0256
2006-24-02 S Boeing 747-100, 747-100B, 747-200B, Supersedes AD 90-26-10. Inspect fuselage body
747-200C, 747-200F, 747SR, skins from BS 220 to BS 520 left and right between
747SP stringers S-6 and S-14 IAW SB 747-53A2321.
Terminating action required modification of skin
panels IAW SB 747-53A2321. For specified aircraft
perform external inspections of Area 1.
(SB 747-53A2321 Revision 7 refers)
2006-24-03 Airbus A330-201, -202, -203, -223 & -243, For pre-mod 51381 aircraft, inspect grease of the gear
A330-301, -302, -303, -321, -322, teeth of the radial variable differential transducer
-323, -341, -342 & -343; A340-211, (RVDT) driving ring and the gears of RVDT
-212 & -213; A340-311, -312 & -313 gearboxes; also inspect chrome on the bearing surface
of the nose landing gear main fitting barrel under the
NWS rotating sleeve (SBs A330-32-3134 and
A340-32-4172 refer). For aircraft modified to mod
51381, perform the latter inspection only. To
terminate, perform specified modifications

Biweekly 2006-25

2006-09-06 R Boeing 747-100, 747-100B, 747-100B SUD,
747-200B, 747-300, 747-400,
747-400D & 747SR
2006-24-04 Boeing 767-200, -300, -300F & -400ER
2006-24-05 Boeing 747-100, 747-100B, 747-100B SUD,
747-200B, 747-200C, 747-200F,
747-300, 747-400, 747-400,
747-400D, 747SR & 747SP
2006-24-08 Pratt & Whitney Canada PW535A
2006-25-01 S International Aero Engines V2522-A5, V2524-A5, V2527-A5,
V2527E-A5, V2527M-A5, V2530-A5
& V2533-A5 & V2533-A5
For specified aircraft inspect the lower lobe fuselage
frames from BS 1820 to BS 2100 IAW SB
747-53A2408
Inspect the forward outer chord and horizontal inner
chord at STA 1809.5 IAW SB 767-53A0131
For specified aircraft, inspect the fuselage skin in the
section 41 area IAW SB 747-53A2675
Replace fuel manifolds with P/N 3052627-01
Supersedes AD 2003-11-23. For specified engines
inspect master magnetic chip detector for the number
1, 2, 3 bearing chamber MCD. Replace specified No.
3 bearings. Replace specified HP compressor
stub-shafts

74 Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007

AT86Reg:AT86Reg 13/3/07 1:22 pm Page 75

REGULARS

FAA airworthiness directives large aircraft (cont...)

2006-25-02 Gulfstream Aerospace G-159 Inspect the skins of the elevators, ailerons, rudder and
rudder trim tab, flaps, aft lower fuselage and vertical
and horizontal stabilisers IAW Customer Bulletin
337B. Inspect lower wing plank splices IAW
CB 337B
2006-25-03 Airbus A300 B2-1A, B2-1C, B2K-3C, For specified aircraft, test the pitch trim system 2
B2-203, B4-2C, B4-103 & B4-203 IAW SB A300-22-0121
2006-25-04 S Airbus A300 Supersedes AD 90-03-08. For specified aircraft,
inspect the rear pressure bulkhead from the aft face
IAW SB A300-53-0218. Inspect sealant between the
outer attachment angle and the circumferential joint
doubler
2006-25-05 Boeing 777-200, -300 & -300ER series For specified aircraft, inspect or modify the fuselage
skin under the wing-to-body fairings IAW
SB 777-53A0044

Biweekly 2006-26

2004-26-05 C Rolls-Royce Plc RB211-524B-02, -524B2, -524B3, Correction to applicability

-524B4, -524C2 & -524D4
2006-25-06 Fokker F27 Mark 500 Inspect MLG drag stay units (DSUs) to determine the
manufacturer and P/N. Repeat inspect specified
DSUs IAW SB F27/32-171 and SB 32-82W
2006-25-07 EMBREAR EMB-135ER & -135KE; EMB-145, Inspect the fuel quantity indication system (FQIS)
-145ER, -145MR, -145MP & -145EP wire harness and the DC fuel pump wire harness IAW
SB 145-28-0025
2006-25-09 McDonnell Douglas MD-11F For specified aircraft, inspect the installation of APU
power feeder wires in relation to the auxiliary fuel
tank IAW SB MD11-24A222
2006-25-10 BAE Systems BAe 146 & Avro 146-RJ Replace lift spoiler jacks with P/N P308-45-002,
P308-45-0102 or P308-45-0202
2006-25-11 Lockheed L-1011 For specified aircraft, inspect the C112 harness clamp
and the C112 and C162 harness assemblies IAW
SB 093-24-142
2006-25-12 S Rolls-Royce Corp 501-D series turboprop Supersedes AD 2003-07-02. For specified aircraft,
place revised life limits on turbine wheels and spacers
2006-25-13 Rolls-Royce Corp AE 2100D3 turboprop Remove specified compressor cone shaft assemblies
from service IAW SB AE 2100D3-A-72-249
2006-25-15 Sicma Aero Seat Third occupant seat assemblies On specified seats, check the installation of two
headrest bushings and install Mecanindus pins to
secure the bushings IAW SB 133-25-006
2006-25-16 Bombardier CL-600-1A11 (CL-600), Perform corrosion prevention and control (CPCP)
CL-600-2A12 (CL-601) & tasks as specified in designated manuals
CL-600-2B16 (CL-601-3A &
CL-601-3R)
2006-25-17 Bombardier DHC-8-400, DHC-8-401 & Clean drain holes of pitot static probes and inspect
DHC-8-402 drain holes of all pitot static probes for blockages
IAW AMM
2006-26-01 CFM International CFM56-2, -3, -5 & -7B Replace specified fuel filters

Biweekly 2007-01

2006-26-04 EMBRAER EMB-145XR Replace segments of the internal and external

passenger seat tracks IAW SB 145-53-0059
2006-26-05 Fokker F27 Mark 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, Revise the AFM to advise flight crew that in icing
600 & 700 conditions, continuous ignition will not reduce the
probability of power loss and to advise what action
should be taken
2006-26-06 Boeing 777-200 & -300 For aircraft with Rolls-Royce engines, inspect the
outer V-blade of the thrust reversers IAW SB
777-78-0064
2006-26-09 Boeing 737-200, -300, -400 & -500 For specified aircraft, inspect the frames and support
brackets for the air conditioning outlet between
station 360 and 907 IAW SB 737-53-1216

Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007 75

AT86Reg:AT86Reg 13/3/07 1:23 pm Page 76

REGULARS

FAA airworthiness directives large aircraft (cont...)

2006-26-11 EMBRAER ERJ 170-100LR, -100STD, -100SE, Inspect and replace smoke seals in the aft avionics
-100SU, -200LR, -200STD, -200SU, compartment IAW SB 170-21-0017, 170-21-0018 or
ERJ 190-100STD, -100LR & 190-21-0003
-100IGW
2006-26-12 S Airbus A330, A340-200 & A340-300 Supersedes 2005-06-08. For specified aircraft,
inspect the bracket which attaches the flight deck
instrument panel to the airplane structure IAW
SB A330-25-3227 and A340-25-4230. Replace
brackets IAW SB A330-25-3249 or A340-25-4245

Biweekly 2007-02

2006-17-12 C Rolls-Royce plc RB211-535E4-37, RB211-535E4-B-37 Correction to applicability and affected HP turbine
RB211-535C-37, RB211-535E4-B-75, discs listing
RB211-535E4-C-37 & RB211-22B-02
2006-20-14 EMBRAER ERJ-100LR, -100STD, -100SE, Modify the flight deck door electronic equipment
-100SU, -200STD, -200LR & -200SU; IAW SB 170-52-0029 or 190-52-0011
ERJ 190-100STD, -100LR & -100IGW
2006-26-10 Airbus A300 For specified aircraft, revise the AFM to ensure flight
crew are aware of the procedures for resetting the
trim and pitch levers after each landing to prevent
failure of the servomotors of the pitch trim systems
during flight. Replace pitch trim servomotors in the
attachment area of the horizontal and vertical
stabilisers IAW SB A300-22-0119
2006-26-13 S Boeing See AD Supersedes AD 2001-24-02 & AD 2003-20-08.
Inspect the attachment of the shoulder restraint
harness of each observer or attendant seat IAW
specified SBs
2007-01-01 BAE BAe146-100A, -200A, & -300A; Determine the P/Nos of each of the six lift spoiler
Avro 146-RJ70A, 146-RJ85A & jacks. For jacks with P/N P308-45-0002 or
146RJ100A P308-45-0102, determine the S/N and date of
manufacture and perform an inspection of the eye end
assembly, associated hardware and the thread of the
piston where the eye-end attaches IAW SB27-176
2007-01-02 S McDonnell Douglas MD-11 & -11F Supersedes AD 2004-01-17. For specified aircraft,
inspect power feed cables to the IDG and the fuel
feed lines of the engine pylons No. 1 and No. 3 IAW
SB MD11-54A011 or MD11-54A011 Rev 3
2007-01-07 S Bombardier Inc CL-600-2B19 (Regional Jet Series Supersedes AD 2004-20-09. For specified aircraft,
100 & 440) inspect the main fitting and the forward bushings of
the MLG IAW SBA601R-32-099. Replace both main
fittings of the MLG IAW SB 601R-32-093
2007-01-15 S Boeing 747-100, 747-100B, 747-100B SUD, Supersedes AD 2004-25-05. For specified aircraft
747-200B, 747-200C, 747-200F, inspect the front spar chord assembly for strut
747-300, 747SR & 747SP numbers 1 through 4 IAW SB 747-54A2224 Rev1
2007-02-01 Dassault Falcon 2000EX For specified aircraft, perform an engine fire
detection integrity check in the baggage compartment
and the engines IAW SB F2000EX-137

Note: The letter C after the AD number denotes a correction to the original AD
The letter S after the AD number indicates that the AD supersedes a previous AD
The letter R after the AD number indicates a revision to the original AD
The letter E after the AD number indicates an emergency AD
The letters FR indicate the final rule of an emergency AD

Please note that the above information is quoted for interest purposes. The latest versions of the ADs issued by the FAA must be used for reference purposes

76 Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance - Feburary/March 2007

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