Briefs

HondaJet European Service

Honda Aircraft Company of Greensboro, N.C. is planning to establish a network of three new service centers across Europe for support and sales of the HondaJet. Each of the facilities will be built as stand-alone centers under agreements with European aircraft services providers. The company will form a partnership with TAG Aviation in Farnborough, England to open a Northern Europe and U.K. center, covering countries including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. For central Europe, Honda will partner with Rheinland Air Service in Frankfurt, Germany. In southern Europe, including France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey, Honda will support its customers through an agreement with Aviastec in Madrid, Spain. Opening of the centers is scheduled to coincide with the first HondaJet deliveries in Europe in late 2012.

Kinch Taps MRO Software

Component Control’s Quantum Control enterprise resource planning (ERP) software has been chosen to support the MRO system for Kinch Aviation, a Cessna authorized service center located at Gamston Airport in England. San Diego, Calif.-based Component Control’s Quantum combines aircraft maintenance, e-commerce, inventory management, invoicing, shop floor control, sales and business functions into a single software suite. Kinch points out that with a recent expansion to a seven-days/week maintenance operation that provides 24-hour AOG support for all Cessna Citation types, Quantum will allow the company to continue its growth while maintaining a high service level. Kinch, which also performs work on King Airs, expects to receive FAA repair station approval in mid-2008.

West Star Expansion Opens

West Star Aviation has opened a 33,000 sq. ft. addition to its existing 42,000 sq. ft. maintenance and avionics facility at Love Field in Dallas, Texas. The new portion of the facility includes expanded shop space for sheet metal, avionics, interior refurbishment and maintenance services. Intended for large and mid-size business jets, the facility also has the capacity to support larger business jets, including the Bombardier Global Express, Cessna Citation 850, Dassault Falcon 900, Embraer Legacy and Gulfstream G550. West Star says that the new facility is currently specializing in a variety of Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft airplanes, including the Cessna Conquest, Citation Excel and Sovereign, Hawker 800XP and King Air 350.

Finmeccanica To Purchase DRS

Finmeccanica has reached a definitive merger agreement to acquire 100 percent of the stock in DRS Technologies of Parsippany, N.J. for $5.2 billion (3.4 billion euros). DRS, which provides electronics equipment for defense companies, will allow Finmeccanica to "boost its existing position as a top-tier competitor" in the U.S. Finmeccanica Chairman & CEO Pier Francesco Guarguaglini notes that the two companies are "a perfect fit. The complementary technologies and platforms will establish a new competitive player in the defense and security markets in the U.S. and around the world." Finmeccanica’s platforms include helicopters, defense systems and electronics, security, aerospace, energy and transportation. DRS specializes in command, control, communications and computer intelligence (C4I), reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition (RTSA), sustainment systems and technical services. Both companies have signed off on the transaction, which is subject to DRS stockholder and regulatory approvals. Completion of the deal is anticipated by the fourth quarter of 2008.

DAS Wilmington Recognized

Dassault Aircraft Services in Wilmington, Del. has received the AMT Diamond Certificate of Excellence from the FAA. The designation — the highest of five awards an organization can achieve — signifies that the company has met performance criteria based on the percentage of the total number of eligible employees who received AMT awards during a one-year period. All of the technicians and maintenance personnel are required to pass tests on training targets and FAA rules and regulations to be considered for the Diamond Certificate. "It was a collective effort from all of our employees to achieve this level of proficiency," says Jacques Blondeau, general manager of DAS Wilmington.

Bell Achieves ODA Status

FAA has granted Bell Helicopter of Fort Worth, Texas Organizational Designation Authorization (ODA). The authorization — which allows the company to function as a certification and production/airworthiness office, and carry out approvals on behalf of the FAA — comes after two years of working with the government agency, according to Roy Battles, senior VP and chief technology officer in charge of product safety and integrity. Battles led the effort to obtain ODA status, with assistance from Bell’s Civil Certification, Engineering, Flight Test and Quality Assurance divisions.

Sikorsky Malaysian Support

Sikorsky Aerospace Services, an aftermarket provider for the Stratford, Conn.-based helicopter manufacturer, has opened a regional spare parts stocking facility in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Run in partnership with DHL, the facility will receive, stock and ship spare parts for S-61, S-76 and S-92 operators in Asia. It will also serve as a parts depot for Derco Aerospace customers, who fly fixed-wing aircraft in the region. Derco is a unit of Sikorsky Aerospace Services.

Eurocopter Adds MROs

EADS subsidiary Eurocopter Deutschland has agreed to acquire Motorflug of Baden-Baden, Germany. According to the terms of the deal, Eurocopter will incorporate Motorflug’s MRO bases in Baden-Baden, Rheinmünster and Schönhagen into its network of helicopter service and support facilities.

Mid-Continent Recognized

Aircraft instrument manufacturer and installer Mid-Continent Instruments has received the 2008 Intl Business Excellence Award from the World Trade Council of Wichita. A selection committee from the council’s Executive Board chose Mid-Continent from a group of companies that exhibited growth in international business development. Presentation of the award took place at the 32nd annual World Trade Week Banquet in May. The yearly award honors companies whose global successes contribute to increasing international business in greater Wichita, Kan. The council noted Mid-Continent for broadening international marketing efforts, as well as providing international customers with quality products and outstanding service.

CJ4 to Feature iPod Docking

In an effort to expand the entertainment options on the Citation CJ4, Cessna is incorporating Rockwell Collins’ iPod docking station into the Venue cabin management system. Venue, Rockwell Collins’ high definition cabin management system for business jets, will be included on the first CJ4. Cessna plans to start deliveries of the business jet line in 2010. The decision to include the docking station "opens up a whole new world of entertainment options for CJ4 passengers," says Mike Tiffany, director of business jet product lines for Rockwell Collins.

GKN Seeks Advanced Parts

Noting the increasing reliance on composite materials for construction of airframe and engine components, GKN Aerospace is exploring advances in automated processes to allow complex structures — whether flat or curved — to be manufactured quickly, consistently and more cost effectively. In contrast to traditional processes, new GKN programs, such as for the Airbus A400M primary wing spar, have already produced an opportunity to integrate some automated manufacturing processes. For the A400M wing spar, the company is using automated tape lay-up (ATL) equipment for the first time in manufacturing a primary component. ATL can lay composite tapes 150 mm or 300 mm wide at rates of about 40 lbs of tape an hour, in comparison with hand lay-up rates of between 1 and 3 lbs/hr. Although the ATL process has required significant optimization, as the spars must be constructed to an extremely high quality standard, ATL has proven successful in production, increasing tape deposition rates by a factor of 40, according to GKN. The company is also exploring the application of automated fibre placement (AFP), which is a complementary process to ATL. ATL works well in the production of large, reasonably flat structures, but can cause composite fibre buckling in components with more complex shapes. GKN continues to evaluate AFP for more demanding wing spar features, and the company notes that the process could be valuable for producing items such as hybrid engine components and acoustic liners for an engine.

VXI Tech Recapitalizes

Test instrument designer VXI Technology’s senior management has conducted a majority recapitalization with two private equity firms, Alerion Capital Group and Merit Capital Partners. Los Angeles-based B. Riley & Co. represented VXI in the transaction, which "marks a significant milestone in VXI’s long and successful history as a key player in the test and measurement industry," says CEO Paul Dhillon. B. Riley Managing Director Mike Lowell, Senior Managing Director Greg Presson and VP Dennis Alshuler represented VXI and shareholders in the deal. VXI supplies more than 200 subsystems and components for a wide range of integrated test systems, including for the aerospace industry.

Microturbo, Triumph Deal

Safran Group subsidiary Microturbo has chosen Triumph Gear Systems of Park City, Utah to supply the gearbox for the e-APU. Specifically designed and optimized for the business aircraft market, the e-APU is a step towards launching a "next-generation APU designed to meet the needs of future business jets, which require more electrical power," says Microturbo CEO Jean-Louis Chenard. Under the arrangement, Triumph is responsible for the development, production and qualification of the e-APU gearbox. First run of the APU on a testbed is set for late 2008 with certification projected for 2011.

Falcon 900LX Unveiled

Dassault has introduced the fuel-efficent Falcon 900LX, which will replace the 900EX in the Falcon line. Based on the same platform as the Falcon 900EX EASy, the 900LX will have a range of 4,800 nm — 300 more than the EX — and use Aviation Partners-designed winglets to boost efficiency. Dassault anticipates certification in the first half of 2010, with delivers projected in mid-2010.

Honeywell Zing Tests Done

Phoenix, Ariz.-based Honeywell has wrapped up field evaluation tests for its Zing Remote Diagnostics Service for the TFE731 engine. Zing, which has tallied over 1,500 flight hours on Hawker aircraft and completed more than 275 downloads of engine data at U.S. and international airports, is now available for Hawker-equipped TFE platforms through dealers and service centers. According to Honeywell, the system downloads engine data, transmits it to an interactive website and sends e-mails to maintainers of TFE731 engines, including data and analysis of engine health reports. The avionics unit that downloads the engine data is PMA certified and available through a Chippewa Aerospace STC for the Hawker 800, 800XP and 850XP. During the field evaluations, aircraft operators and service centers experienced the service and provided feedback. "Zing eliminates the manual work to download engine data, improves proactive trend monitoring that prevents failures, and reduces downtime during unscheduled engine events," explains Gregg Cohen, VP of Honeywell Business Aviation Aftermarket Services.

M7 Focuses on Rotor Market

M7 Aerospace vastly increased its manufactured parts production in 2007. The growth was primarily fueled by helicopter parts and assemblies. M7 is on track to show continued growth in its manufacturing business unit for 2008. In addition to the increased manufacturing of parts and assemblies for helicopter OEMs, M7 Aerospace’s Engineering Services division has been awarded contracts for the design and production of major airframe components for a new multi-mission medium lift helicopter. Erickson Air-Crane and M7 Aerospace entered into a program to repair and modify S-64F Aircrane center fuselage sections. The program called for structural repairs, hydraulic and fuel system work, electrical harness fabrication and replacement and assembly of manufactured parts to return the fuselages to service.