Intelligence: News

On a steamy morning when the temperature and humidity were nearly as high as the backlog for their revolutionary new VLJs, Eclipse Aviation cut the ribbon on the company’s state-of-the-art southeast Eclipse Service Center (ESC) located at the Gainesville-Alachua Country Regional Airport in northeast Florida.

"Today is a great day for Eclipse Aviation, the City of Gainesville and our customers in the southeast," said Peg Billson, chief operating officer, Eclipse Aviation. "The enthusiasm for the Eclipse 500 in this region has been incredible, and this comprehensive maintenance center will allow us to deliver exceptional service to our customers in this area."

As the ceremonial orange ribbon was cut, the 61,000-square-foot facility became operational under FAR Part 145 and is ready to handle scheduled and unscheduled maintenance for Eclipse 500 operators throughout the southeastern U.S. With 45,000 square feet of dedicated hangar space, the facility can hold up to 12 Eclipse 500 aircraft at one time.

The new facility currently has nearly 20 full-time employees and the plan is to ramp up to 70 by the end of the year. Billson also said that technicians will not only be able to perform all inspections and maintenance on the Eclipse 500 they will also provide service for the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F engines.

One of the new Gainesville ESC’s first and biggest customers will surely be aircraft operated by DayJet, a new "per-seat, on-demand" jet service. DayJet is Eclipse Aviation’s largest customer with firm orders for 239 Eclipse 500s and options for an additional 70 aircraft during the next two years.

Eclipse representatives also said that the new Gainesville ESC is the first of the company’s planned network of state-of-the-art maintenance facilities. Eclipse plans to open additional Eclipse Service Centers in Albany, N.Y. and Van Nuys, Calif. in the coming months, with further expansion into other regions planned for 2008 and beyond. — By Dale Smith

Timothy T. Archer to Head Powerplant Developments Limited

Powerplant Developments Limited selected aviation veteran Timothy T. Archer as president and CEO, where he will help guide the engine manufacturer efforts to develop and manufacture a new diesel piston engine. Archer said, "This new engine is going to completely change how pilots and manufacturers perceive piston engine performance, reliability and value." Before joining Powerplant Developments, Archer was president and CEO of Superior Air Parts. While there, he oversaw the company’s development and FAA certification of the Vantage Engine. Before working with Superior Air Parts, Archer was a long-time TCM executive. "I’m going to be part of a team that is going to do something that will truly impact the way people use private airplanes for recreation and business," Archer continued, "not just in America and Europe, but around the world."

GEIT Turns Information into Intelligence

GE Inspection Technology’s (GEIT) software solutions launched Rhythm Visuals & Archive this summer, promising to improve inspection data management, enable technicians to mine data and target high-risk inspection areas. The system consists of four key modules, acquiring the data, customized reporting, review and analysis of the data, and data storage and trending. The platform builds on the paperwork a technician must currently handle, but creates a centralized database and a standardized format. So, instead of an inspector trying to decipher the written word of multiple technicians while rifling through pages and pages of content, the Rhythm Visuals & Archive platform allows the inspector to pull up a part by its serial number or other identifier and instantaneously review a complete history of that part, including data from multiple inspection equipment vendors. "We’ve seen productivity savings up to 70 percent and an A-check going from about three hours to one hour... no matter which inspector is out in the field, they’re all labeling in a prescribed format," said Andrea Koetz, business manager for GEIT’s software solutions.

The complete software solution manages, reports and shares information across departments. The amount of information that can be stored in the system is tremendous due to the DICONDE (Digital Imaging and Communication in Non-Destructive Evaluation) platform, which compresses the data so computing systems do not lock up. DICONDE also allows users to work with existing hardware or software. GEIT leveraged DICONDE from its health care system, which includes more than 16,000 clients. Each client can define its own standard within the platform. The MRO can refer to its manuals and give GEIT guidelines based on their individual needs. Then GEIT will define the system according to that manual and will create a tailor-made system.

There are already 200 installs of Rhythm Archives in the medical arena and GEIT is working with some beta customers in the aviation maintenance business.

The platform works by first capturing the image of a particular part through the use of visual inspection equipment, in the Rhythm Acquire module. Then, within the Rhythm Reports module, that part is tagged with key information that may include part name and serial number. The system can be created to capture and store information that is pertinent to the part, the MRO or both. After information about the part is entered into the appropriate fields in an XML format, the technician has the raw image and the XML file and that creates the DICONDE file. "The connectivity piece is that you now have someone out in the field that’s just done an inspection and we’ve got someone 500 miles away that needs to look at that image and make the call to take an engine off-wing or not," said Koetz. Rhythm allows for that interface and has tools that enhance the imaging analysis capabilities, according to Koetz. This reviewing is done in the Rhythm Review module.

Information is put into the system and can then be archived for future inspections or if a technician has a question regarding a component, they can pull up the part in the system. "You have the ability to go on and say, ‘I want to query part serial number 123’ and it will pull up all the inspection data information that has been gathered on that part across time," Koetz said. The Rhythm Archives also allows a client to integrate their current software/hardware. "Rhythm Archives is really the backbone behind the data storage and trending," Koetz said. Data can be secured in the system for 50 years and, according to GEIT, will always comply with any new software as long as it is DICONDE compliant and the aviation industry does appear to be moving in that direction. Any upgrades can be imported into DICONDE and made into DICONDE files and used far into the future.

Training, hardware, and software is included in pricing, which varies due to the customization of the technology. Because the hardware and software is integrated directly into the client’s current IT infrastructure, security is not an issue as long as security measures for the company are already in place, according to GEIT.