Category: BizJet

West Star Aviation is supporting recent Service Bulletins regarding Bombardier Global Express Flap drainage and corrosion issues. The Service Bulletins are relevant to inspection and potential repairs on the Inboard (I/B), Middle and Outboard (O/B) flap areas due to possible drainage and corrosion issues.  

West Star has completed 25 I/B Global flap repairs and 3 sets of Mid and O/Bs flaps to date. These Service Bulletins are not mandatory at this time but are recommended that they be addressed at the next scheduled maintenance event. When scheduled in conjunction with the 120 or 240-month inspections, these service bulletins do not increase downtime. However, if scheduled during the 60-month or 180-month inspection, downtime may be increased slightly if full access is required due to corrosion inside the flaps. If the flap Service Bulletins are addressed independently of any other scheduled maintenance event, operators should expect downtimes up to six weeks.

“In addressing these Service Bulletin concerns on the Global flaps, we inspect for any damage that may have been caused due to poor drainage.  If damage is found, the area is thoroughly cleaned, repaired and corrosion preventive is added to the area to reduce the possibility of recurrence,” stated Brian Bauwens, director of Bombardier Product Development (ALN). “Finally, additional drain holes are added to the area per manufacturer recommendations to complete the repair,” Bauwens continued.

Wings of Hope’s annual airplane raffle will open tomorrow, Thursday, April 1, 2021 at 6:00AM Central time. Tickets will sell out quickly, as they do every year. This year, the airplane being raffled off is a 1979 Piper Warrior II.

Here are the details of the grand prize aircraft according to the organization: “This four-place plane features a newly overhauled 160-HP engine, fresh annual inspection, and IFR Garmin avionics upgrade including audio panel/intercom, GPS/NAV/COM, 2nd NAV/COM, and ADS-B In-Out transponder with weather/traffic displays. With 10 extra horsepower and improved landing gear fairings, Warrior IIs have a higher cruise speed than original Warriors. Well-maintained with tons of upgrades — newer paint, interior, windows, glareshield, new propeller, custom cabin cover, added STCs for higher gross weight and Knots 2U wing tips with recognition lights. Perfect for a student, a licensed pilot or a family.”

Other prizes include:

The COVID-19 global pandemic has forced many businesses to find new ways of delivering their goods and services. For London’s Advanced Composites Training (ACT), that meant developing new digital technology to provide the top-quality instruction that has made the company a global leader in composites training since 1996.

ACT’s recently-launched augmented reality training uses the Microsoft HoloLens2 and software developed by New Brunswick’s Kognitiv Spark to offer live courses to students anywhere in the world.

ACT founder, Wilson Boynton, believes his company is the first to use augmented reality to deliver intensive composites technology training for the aerospace, aviation, automotive, marine and renewable energy industries.

“This is a huge benefit to our clients who are considered essential workers worldwide, but who may not be able to come to London due to travel and quarantine restrictions,” says Boynton. “It also allows us to increase our class sizes, since physical distancing is not a factor.”

Composites are fiber-based materials – like carbon fiber – used in the construction of things like airplanes, ships, cars, and wind turbine blades. As the only privately-owned Canadian composites training institute exceeding both Transport Canada and American Federal Aviation Administration standards, ACT works with both civilian and military technicians from more than 39 countries.

ACT offers 17 courses covering all aspects of composites manufacturing and structural repair technologies. Technicians typically travel to London for intense on-site training, which combines a mix of theory and hands-on instruction.

Demand for composites training has remained strong since the beginning of the pandemic, says Boynton, prompting the decision to explore virtual training options. “Augmented reality allows us to project holograms that the instructor sees through the HoloLens,” he says. Students tune in from their laptop or other digital device. “They see exactly what the instructor sees. It’s like having someone looking through your eyes while you are doing the work,” he explains.

Reaction to ACT’s augmented reality training has been positive. “Clients are very satisfied,” says Boynton. “Students get the experience of being here, without having to travel.”

The launch of augmented reality training is the latest in a number of exciting milestones for ACT.

This February, Boynton enjoyed the thrill of watching NASA’s Perseverance rover land on Mars. Less than two years ago, he was invited to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to provide training in the composite materials used in its construction. “Composites made the whole thing possible,” he notes.

This April, ACT celebrates 25 years in business. The company plans to celebrate with a 25th Anniversary Virtual Open House on May 11. “People can take a virtual tour of our facility through the use of the HoloLens and learn more about our training options,” Boynton says.

While augmented reality training will continue to allow technicians from around the world to strengthen their composites knowledge without the inconvenience of travel – long after the global pandemic is over – Boynton believes it will never completely replace the in-class experience.

“Technicians are tactile learners,” he says. “Augmented reality training is an effective way to deliver the vast majority of the knowledge people need to be comfortable working with composites, but it will never completely replace hands-on learning.”

Turtle rescue group, Turtles Fly Too has grown and expanded its efforts over the years. Founder Leslie Weinstein has made it a personal goal to help as many of the endangered sea turtles survive as possible. Starting years ago, Weinstein has grown a network of volunteer pilots who fly turtles to rehab centers, and then once rehabbed, on to the release sites best suited for them.

Every sea turtle in our oceans is endangered, experts say. This winter, hundreds of turtles became “cold stunned,” a term that describes the condition similar to human hypothermia, inn which the turtles bodies begin to shut down. If found soon enough, the turtles can be saved.

Turtles Fly Too coordinates these efforts organizing  flights to deliver the turtles to wildlife facilities that are experienced in the process of nursing the vulnerable animals back to health. Once the turtles have regained their strength and health, Turtles Fly Too jumps back into action to get them to the nearest and best place to release them back into the oceans.

On Feb. 26, a total of 36 juvenile Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, along with one Loggerhead/Kemp’s ridley hybrid turtle, were transported to Kennedy Space Coast aboard a PC12 aircraft from rehabilitation facilities in Massachusetts and New York. The turtles were carefully offloaded, packed into vehicles, driven to nearby Canaveral National Seashore and released into the Atlantic Ocean.

Multiple agencies and facilities quickly came together to form a cooperative partnership, and NASA expanded on its environmental support to the community.

The turtles were flown to the center by Turtles Fly Too,  an organization that provides air transportation when endangered species are threatened, either through a cold stun event, entanglement, or when an endangered animal is injured. Using Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy allowed for quick access to a nearby release site. General aviation pilots donated their expertise, aircraft, fuel, and labor to provide air transportation to shorten travel time and reduce stress on these endangered species.

Kemp’s ridleys are the smallest, rarest, and the world’s most endangered species of sea turtle. They grow to about two feet in length, and have an average lifespan of 50 years. They are found mostly in the Gulf Coast of Mexico and the United States, and the Atlantic coast of North America. Some have been found as far north as Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

The Canaveral National Seashore is part of Kennedy Space Center and the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. NASA acquired about 140,000 acres of land in 1962 and has partnerships with state and federal agencies that help care for the native wildlife and seashore. The arrival and release efforts were coordinated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC), National Park Service (Canaveral National Seashore), NOAA Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge), Space Florida, manager of the Launch and Landing Facility, and Herndon Solutions Group.

If you or your flight department would like to volunteer to transport turtles with Turtles Fly Too, contact Leslie Weinstein at leslie@turtlesflytoo.org or Bonnie Barnes at Bonnie@turtlesflytoo.org. Tell them Aviation Maintenance Magazine sent you!