Author: neilw

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) Reserve has selected Universal Avionics MFD-640 Multi-Function Display for their fleet of KC-130T aircraft. The contract was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland. Aero Dynamix will modify the displays for Night Vision Imaging System (NVIS) compatibility and deliver to the customer in support of their aircraft modification program.

The MFD-640 supports the display of weather radar, Flight Management System (FMS) data, Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS), synthetic vision, traffic, lightning and video.

“Our ability to leverage COTS products and technology in support of DoD/Military aircraft avionics upgrades continues to be one of the key capabilities that we provide with our products,” said Bob Sanchez, Universal Avionics Military and Government Program Development manager – USA and Latin America. “The KC-130T is a high-value asset for the USMC Reserves and we, along with our industry partner, Aero Dynamix Inc., are extremely fortunate to provide this safety and situational awareness enhancement to their airlift/tanker fleet,” he added.

“The contract is further evidence of our continued partnership with Universal Avionics and our unwavering support of our U. S. military forces,” said Tonka Hufford, COO for Aero Dynamix. “We are always proud to upgrade great products with our latest technology NVIS modifications, greatly increasing the operators overall operational safety and awareness.”

Thomas Global Systems welcomed the Australian Minister for Defense, Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, to their Sydney Headquarters on  March 4. Minister Payne officially opened the company’s new Electronic and Embedded Systems Innovation Hub [EESI-Hub], a new Center of Excellence. This center will be the focus of Thomas Global’s internal R&D and New Product Development initiatives. The new EESI-Hub facility is designed to optimize the conceptualization, development of concepts and integration of innovative applications in commercial aerospace and defense sectors, the company says.

During the site visit, the Minister met with members of the Thomas Global Systems’ Advisory Board and employees and discussed the role of innovation within the company. “We are pleased to welcome Minister Payne to Thomas Global Systems at such an exciting time in the growth of the defense area of our business,” Angus Hutchinson, CEO, said. “Her visit highlights the strength of our position as a leading national player in the defense industry. This new facility underscores that innovation and research are at the forefront of our business.”

The Company’s Chairman, William Hutchinson, added: “We are delighted to have Minister Payne’s visit today to open the new EESI-Hub facility which is important to our future as a world-class, innovative technology solutions business. To have her visit Thomas Global Systems so soon after the release of the Defense White Paper demonstrates her genuine interest in the contribution Australian SMEs make to our defense capability. Industry views the new white paper as an excellent framework for Australia’s defense posture over the next 20 years. Thomas Global has been proud to support the ADF for more than 40 years and looks forward to providing specialist capability to support the high technology future platforms the ADF plans to acquire.”

Dallas Airmotive has been recognized by Rolls-Royce for the investments and advancements the company has made to reduce turn times and enhanced customer support for its M250 maintenance, repair, and overhaul services.

During the annual Rolls-Royce M250 FIRST network award reception and recognition event at Heli- Expo, Rolls-Royce presented Dallas Airmotive with the Most Improved award. The award is given to the M250 FIRST network member that exhibited the most significant improvement during the year resulting in improved customer support.

“We are very happy to be recognized by Rolls-Royce for the improvements we made last year,” said Peg Billson, President and CEO of BBA Aviation Global Engine Services. “This award certainly reflects the focus and investment we have made to improve processes in order to deliver faster turn times to customers.”

Billson explained that Dallas Airmotive has put in a tremendous amount of work over the last year to increase the speed and the throughput of all the company’s MRO lines and processes. “In 2015, we reduced turn times by 42% across all of our product lines,” she stated.

Aircraft Technical Publishers (ATP) announced that CEO Charles Picasso has selected Mark Culpepper as chief product officer.

“Our new vision will create tremendous value across the entire general aviation maintenance lifecycle through an integrated suite of ‘smart content’ services,” said Charles Picasso, who took the helm as ATP’s new CEO in 2015. “This unified process management will enable maintenance providers to drive dramatic improvements in productivity, cost savings, and aircraft utilizations, while also preventing costly regulatory lapses. Mark’s deep expertise in designing and executing leading edge, cloud-based SaaS implementations will be extremely valuable in supporting this vision of optimized information management.”

Culpepper is responsible for leading all aspects of ATP’s product development process, including architecting and executing the company’s new product vision and strategy. As chief product officer, he oversees the product and technology development teams to ensure they are working in alignment as ATP transforms into a services-oriented company that will enable customers to seamlessly manage all of their end-to-end maintenance processes—ranging from compliance tracking to inventory management to maintenance forecasting.

Culpepper boasts two and a half decades of experience as a senior technology executive with global infrastructure businesses—working in sectors ranging from data communications and wireless technology to network security and distributed energy. A published technical author with deep domain knowledge of infrastructure systems, Culpepper has been quoted in national media, in addition to providing sworn testimony in front of the U.S. Senate.

Culpepper’s experience includes roles as chief technology officer and GM of Global Services at SunEdison, where he led the development of the world’s first global service operations infrastructure for distributed solar energy systems.

Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) will offer an introductory course designed to give technicians, engineers, analysts and inspector’s hands-on experience in advanced composite material manufacturing, nondestructive inspection techniques, damage surveys and other composite handling techniques.

The course is designed to expose attendees to various aspects of composite manufacturing, inspections, repair and testing. Designed as a supplemental course for composite theory classes, the class time is maximized for attendees to get hands-on experience. Specifically, the course will introduce trainees to: fabrication of monolithic and sandwich parts, composite repair, joining of composite structures and mechanical testing and failure analysis.

The course will take place April 5-8 at the National Center for Aviation Training. The registration deadline is Monday, March 28. The course is based on a successful series of courses developed specifically for industry. For more information, download the document at www.niar.wichita.edu/mediacenter/pdf/Composite-HandsOn-Course2.pdf.

Donaldson Aerospace & Defense has received FAA for their Universal Filter Module (UFM) for installation and use on Sikorsky Aircraft S-61 and H-3 helicopters.

The FAA issued the Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for an Inlet Barrier Filter System (IBF) to The Coulson Group of Companies, which co-developed the S-61/H-3 installation along with Donaldson. The UFM is a subsystem of the IBF, which will protect engines on those helicopters from 99 percent of airborne contaminants with minimal loss in hover performance. A Port Alberni, British Columbia-headquartered business, Coulson operates S-61s in Azerbaijan, British Columbia and Australia’s state of Victoria. The Coulson Group obtained a Canadian STC for the system from Transport Canada in mid-2015.

Upon receiving FAA certification, Donaldson and Coulson announced that AAR Airlift had ordered four systems and plans to purchase five more units plus sparing in the coming months. AAR plans to use the IBFs on its nine S-61N helicopters currently operating in Africa.

In addition to the S-61/H-3, the UFM can be adapted to a wide range of heavy, twin-engine helicopters, including the Mil Mi8/17 series and Airbus Helicopters Super Puma series.

“As part of the first Inlet Barrier Filter available for the S-61 and H-3, the UFM will protect the safety, reliability and efficiency of these and other workhorse helicopters,” said Matt Fortuna, general manager of Donaldson Aerospace & Defense. “We were proud to team with Coulson to add critical capabilities needed by helicopter fleet operators around the world who perform essential missions for civilian, governmental and military customers.”

Donaldson developed the UFM’s filter modules to prevent dirt, dust, sand and foreign objects from damaging helicopters’ engines and degrading their performance. Coulson developed the aircraft interface (or “A kit”) for installation on the Sikorsky helicopters. S-61s and H-3s perform missions around the world ranging from firefighting, logging and VIP transport to anti-submarine warfare, maritime patrol and search and rescue, often flying in extremely challenging conditions.

The UFM system includes a low-drag filtration solution that is mounted forward of the engine inlets, and three filter elements that are easily accessible and removable for service (with a 4,500-hour service life). It also includes a translating, forward-facing dome for emergency bypass – an important feature absent in most traditional sand filters and particle separators.

A simple and compact cockpit switch, common with existing Donaldson certified Inlet Barrier Filter systems, allows indication and activation of the bypass system. An Integral Filter Maintenance Aid also allows for on-condition inspections pre- and post-flight to assist in mission planning and visual inspection of filter condition.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) today proposed a rule that overhauls the airworthiness standards for small general aviation airplanes. The FAA’s proposal, which is based on industry recommendations, would reduce the time it takes to get safety enhancing technologies for small airplanes into the marketplace while also reducing cost.

“This proposal would improve safety, reduce costs, and leverage innovation to ensure the highest level of safety is designed and built into small airplanes,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “General aviation is vital to the U.S. economy, and this proposal would benefit manufacturers, pilots, and the general aviation community as a whole.”

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking restructures the existing certification standards and replaces the current prescriptive design requirements in Part 23 with performance-based standards that maintain the same level of safety. It would add new certification standards to address general aviation loss of control accidents and in-flight icing conditions. The proposal establishes performance- and risk-based divisions for airplanes with a maximum seating capacity of 19 passengers or less and a maximum takeoff weight of 19,000 pounds or less.

“This proposal would streamline how we approve new technologies for small piston-powered airplanes all the way to complex high-performance executive jets,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. “The FAA’s collaboration with industry and international partners reflects a performance-based, flexible approach which would accommodate today’s rapidly changing aviation industry and technological advances now and in the future.”

The proposal responds to the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 and the Small Airplane Revitalization Act of 2013, which directed the FAA to streamline the approval of safety advancements for small general aviation aircraft. It also addresses recommendations from the FAA’s 2013 Part 23 Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee.

The FAA estimates that the overall economic impact would be cost beneficial.  This proposal would affect airplane manufacturers, engine manufacturers, and operators of affected equipment.  A video highlights the benefits of the proposed rule.

The comment period is 60 days from publication in the Federal Register.

Bell Helicopter has appointed Eagle Copters Australasia as a Bell Helicopter Authorized CSF in Eastern Australia.

“Bringing on Eagle Copters Australasia as an Authorized CSF reinforces our commitment to enhancing the regional support customers need to continue their operations,” said Sameer Rehman, Bell Helicopter’s vice president of sales for the Asia Pacific region.

“Eagle Copters is a long-time Bell aircraft solutions provider and Bell Authorized CSF in Canada and Chile. They have a long history of providing exceptional customer service and are a perfect fit to join the Bell Helicopter CSF network in Australia.”

Eagle Copters Australia is a joint-venture between Canada’s Eagle Copters Ltd. and locally-based Aero Assist. Since opening their doors in 2013, Eagle Copters Australasia’s commitment to service has proven tremendously successful. Operating from a brand-new facility in Coffs Harbour, their offerings include an avionics department.

Bell Helicopter announced multiple new additions to its customer service network at the Heli-Expo event this month. “At Bell Helicopter we understand the importance of maintaining the readiness of our customer’s aircraft. That is why we’ve established an industry leading aftermarket support network. As we continue to grow we will listen to our customers and ensure their aircraft are mission ready anywhere on the globe,” said Neil Jones, manager of Bell Helicopter’s Customer Service Facility Network.

Through May 31, 2016, aircraft owners and operators who purchase a Blackhawk XP New Engine Upgrade for the Beechcraft King Air 200 or 90 series, Cessna Caravan, Cessna Conquest I, or Piper Cheyenne series aircraft will receive up to a $65,000 rebate from Pratt & Whitney Canada. The installation of the new engines can be delayed through the end of July, which allows more time to schedule the upgrade along with other maintenance items to reduce downtime. Details of the New Engine Rebate program and specific amounts by engine model can be found at www.blackhawk.aero/pwc-rebate.

Aside from the substantial performance boost new and more powerful engines deliver, another advantage of the New Engine Rebate program is a relaxed core engine exchange condition. There are no extra charges for corrosion, sulphidation, expired life-limited parts, non-genuine P&WC parts, FOD or missing logs. Any core engine will be accepted as long as it was not removed for unscheduled reasons. Resetting the engine logs back to zero time and cycles will restart the pedigree of your engines which increases resale value and peace of mind.

“In the conversations I have with aircraft owners, it’s not a question of if but when will they decide to upgrade with Blackhawk’s XP New Engine program. The Pratt & Whitney New Engine Rebate has opened wide a window of opportunity to make the upgrade decision sooner,” said Edwin Black, senior vice president of Sales and Marketing, Blackhawk Modifications. “With the reliability of new Pratt & Whitney PT6A engines coupled with Blackhawk and Pratt’s dedication to the aftermarket upgrade community, it is easy to see why we have upgraded over 600 aircraft to date and continue to grow.”

Kontron announced its integrated IoT (Internet of Things)-ready hardware and software platform and the addition of the first security and real-time analytics solutions incorporating its growing IoT partner ecosystem. The new Kontron IoT security offering includes encryption across every layer of the network. In addition, real-time analytics software is deployed for alerting users to any potentially suspect or unauthorized devices attempting access or being connected to the network. In order to implement a comprehensive end to end IoT security capability, Kontron is forming partnerships on a global basis with a number of leading hardware, software and communications security providers. These partnerships will complement Kontron’s middleware architecture with major IoT technology providers and ensure out of the box product compatibility.

“With Kontron’s new IoT ready and deeply integrated middleware software stacks on all our products, we fulfill our vision of being the most trusted embedded computer technology partner.” Rolf Schwirz, Kontron’s CEO says. “The partnerships with Wibu and SQLstream reinforce and complement our end to end IoT solution and together we can ensure security and remove complexity for our customers in this new exciting and technologically challenging IoT world.”

By expanding the partner ecosystem, Kontron says it will be able to quickly develop different functionality modules and continually enhance the usability of its IoT solution.