Intelligence: Briefs

FAA Proposal Could Cost

AEA is continuing its analysis of the FAA’s proposed repair station changes. The proposal fixes some challenges that have surfaced during the past few years of implementing the "new" Part 145. The proposal also recommends some costly provisions for ratings and quality and reinforces the "brick and mortar" permanent facility mentality of traditional repair stations. The proposal will mandate a costly and time consuming rewrite of the repair station manual and the quality manual. This is the third in a series of section-by-section analyses that AEA has performed evaluating the proposal.

FAA Address for 337s

The Federal Register contained a change on the filing requirements for the FAA Form 337. The FAA amended Part 43 to change the location used to submit Form 337, Major Repair and Alteration from the "local Flight Standards District Office" to the FAA’s Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. However, the rule did not contain an address. The address to send the completed FAA Form 337 is: FAA Aircraft Registration Branch, PO Box 25504, Oklahoma City, OK 73125.

EPA Issues Final SPCC Rule

The final rule regarding the amendments to the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure includes: An exemption for on-airport mobile refuelers from sized containment regulations. Mobile refuelers are still required to have general containment plans for their refueling vehicles at their facility, an exemption for smaller facilities from having to have their SPCC plans certified by a professional engineer. All facilities with less than 10,000 gallons of oil meeting certain oil spill history criteria are eligible to self-certify their SPCC plans; and an exemption for motive power equipment (such as aircraft) form the SPCC rule. The EPA states in the final rule that they expect to issue additional rulemaking on the SPCC regulations in 2007. It is unclear whether the aviation industry will be affected by the additional rulemaking.

Rule Eases Burden

The final rule marks a dramatic shift in EPA policy from earlier interpretation of the SPCC rule. Under the rule, aviation-refueling vehicles are exempted from the "sized secondary containment" requirement, as proposed in previous EPA proposals. This provision removes the mandate that trucks must be parked in special containment areas when not in service. Such areas would have cost aviation fuel providers tens of thousands of dollars to construct and would have constricted airport runway space, creating safety and security hazards. The final rule also provides flexibility for small facilities that store less than 10,000 gallons of oil; they have the option of self-certifying their facilities, avoiding the tremendous cost of hiring professional engineers.

Tossing Too Much Trash

The airline industry threw out 9,000 tons of plastic in 2004 and enough newspapers and magazines to bury a football field more than 230 feet deep. Nationwide, U.S. airports generated 425,000 tons of waste in 2004 — a figure expected to increase nearly 45 percent by 2015. Seventy-five percent of this waste is recyclable or compostable, but the industry-wide recycling rate is 20 percent or less. But recycling programs work: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport said they are saving almost $180,000 annually; and BWI cut costs by approximately $15,000 a month. If airports and airlines matched the average U.S. recycling rate, it would save enough energy to power 20,000 U.S. households.

Shadin Get RVSM Nod

The FAA has approved the RVSM ADC 6000 software upgrade that provides ARINC 429 data to the Chelton Flight System’s Synthetic Vision EFIS. This installation is currently flying on the Citation 500 series aircraft. The RVSM-capable ADC 6000 Airdata system enables new capabilities by supplying data to next generation equipment.

Hawker Facility Earns DAS

The FAA certified Raytheon Aircraft Company’s Hawker Completions facility located in Little Rock, Ark., as a Designated Alteration Station. Representative from the FAA and RAC signed a Memorandum of Understanding and the DAS Operating Manual. Hawker can now act as an authorized representative of the FAA and can complete several phases of its completions and alterations processes including: issuing supplemental type certificates; issuing experimental certificates for altered aircraft; and amending standard airworthiness certificates for such aircraft.

ST Aerospace Wins Contract

Singapore Technologies Aerospace Ltd announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, ST Aerospace Supplies, was awarded an aircraft components maintenance-by-the-hour contract from AirAsia Berhad for its new fleet of A320 aircraft. The contract involves components maintenance support during 10 years for 130 Airbus A320 aircraft from AirAsia’s fleet. AirAsia recently placed a firm order for an additional 50 Airbus A320s with a further 50 A320s on option, bringing total orders for the AirAsia group to 150 aircraft, plus 50 options. This increased order would make AirAsia the second largest A320 operator in the world by 2012.

Aero Spa Opens in Fargo

Aero Spa Services opened in Fargo, North Dakota recently. Their "trip ready" interior cleaning includes: wet or dry washes; hand waxing; machine buffing; bright work; de-ice boot refurbish; and carpet shampoo and extraction. Fargo Jet Center is also a ChevronTexaco fuel dealer, aircraft dealer, MRO and charter operator.

Landmark Wins STC

Landmark received the STC approval for the installation of the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 IDS on Dassault Falcon 50 aircraft. The system provides pilots with greater situational awareness by integrating additional information, such as graphical weather and electronic charts and maps, on the flight deck in large format flat panel displays. The Pro Line 21 IDS provides increased reliability, reduced weight and can reduce the cost of ownership by allowing operators to retain existing equipment, including the autopilot, flight director computers and flight management system.

Harton Returns to Hawthorne

Landmark announced that Dean Harton, vice chairman of Landmark’s Board of Directors, returned to his investment and management company, Hawthorne Corp. Harton played a key role in guiding Landmark through its integration and re-branding following the combination, in 2004, of the three legacy companies — Garrett Aviation Services, Piedmont Hawthorne and Associated Air Center. The businesses were combined by the Carlyle Group and emerged, in 2005, as Landmark Aviation. Through Hawthorne, Harton will continue to be involved in the corporate development activities of Landmark and will act as an advisor to both Landmark and Carlyle.

Elliott Offers the G1000

Elliott was selected by Garmin International to perform aftermarket installation of its G1000 Integrated Avionics Suite in King Air C90 series aircraft. Elliot is one of a select group of distributors selected to install the retrofit package, which is expected to earn certification in the C90 in the second half of 2007.The G1000 system is an all-glass flight deck that presents flight instrumentation, location, navigation, communication and identification data on large-format, high-resolution displays.

Linux Announces TCO Performance

The LS-P Series of turnkey, production-ready systems delivers application throughout and significant reductions in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for product design application. In customer environments, the LS-P systems demonstrated a 20-plus percent reduction in TCO and improved application throughout. Each LS-P features supercomputing architecture and leverages proven computer, storage and visualization components