Like everyone else, Air Canada is coming off a terrible year. It lost $280.7 million in 2002, and prospects for a Middle Eastern conflict aren't helping sales in 2003.

As a result, Canada's major carrier is actively seeking new money. It has announced that it is willing to sell up to 49 percent of Air Canada Technical Services (ACTS), the in-house MRO. Also on the block is an unspecified share of Air Canada's Airport Ground Handling Services, and possibly Air Canada Jazz, its group of regional airline affiliates.

"There are tremendous opportunities for profitable growth in certain Air Canada operations which, while related to our traditional airline business, can best grow into global industry leaders as stand-alone units," said Calin Rovinescu, the airline's executive vice president of corporate development and strategy. The airline recently sold a 35% stake in its Aeroplan customer loyalty program to Onex Corporation,which had tried to buy the airline outright for $163 million in January 2003.

With the North American MRO business in a slump, it's hard to imagine anyone buying into ACTS.

A case in point: even though Lufthansa Technik and Air Canada are partners (along with United Airlines) in AirLiance Materials–a source of pre-owned aircraft parts and supplies–"we are currently not in specific talks with Air Canada about buying an interest in ACTS," said Aage Dünhaupt, Lufthansa Technik's manager of international communications. Lufthansa Technik considers the North American market to be "very interesting," Dünhaupt said, but "people here aren't sitting on big wallets of money, waiting to go and invest in new ventures." He added that "even if there is not a chance to gain a controlling interest, investments could be interesting"

One well-placed U.S. MRO official told Aviation Maintenance Air Canada's plan to sell shares in its technical division was "absolutely not viable, given the current international economic climate." One problem is that cash-strapped carriers such as Air Canada are delaying maintenance as much as possible in order to cut costs, thus depressing the MRO sector, this official said. "It's like living in purgatory."–James Careless

Testing the Wrights’ Handiwork

Crews hoist an authentic, airworthy reproduction of the 1903 Wright Flyer onto test stands in the Langley Full Scale Tunnel at NASA's Langley Research Center. Engineers spent two weeks there in February testing the flight and control characteristics of the aircraft, which was built through reverse engineering by The Wright Experience of Warrenton, Virginia, with help from The Ford Motor Company and the Experimental Aircraft Association (see AM, October 2002, page 46). The tests will help engineers build the first accurate flight simulator to teach pilots how to fly the aircraft, which is to be flown December 17 at Kill Devil Hill near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina during ceremonies marking the centennial of Wilbur and Orville's first successful flight of a powered aircraft controlled by a human. Two different engines were used on the Wright Flyer reproduction during the tests: a gasoline-powered reproduction of the engine designed and built by the Wright brothers and their mechanic, Charlie Taylor, in 1903, and an electric motor donated by Teco Westinghouse Corporation that could be controlled precisely during wind tunnel testing.

Pratt Canada Wins Again

On the heels of being selected to power Cessna’s new Mustang light jet, Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PW600 won another major new-airplane program, the Eclipse 500 light jet.

Eclipse selected the PW610F version of the new PW600, which is flat-rated to 900 pounds of takeoff thrust at sea level to ISA +10 degrees Celsius. The PW610F features dual-channel FADEC engine controls. Certification of the new engine should take place in early 2006.

Eclipse Aviation started designing the Eclipse 500 with two Williams EJ22 turbofan engines, but rejected those engines due to undisclosed performance problems. Selection of new engines has caused a delay in Eclipse 500 certification plans and some design changes, which include moving the engines 9.5 inches forward, strengthening the wing spar, modifying the flaps, adding tip tanks to the wings, and moving the vapor-cycle system to the nose area from the wing root fairing.

The larger PW610F engines will push the Eclipse 500 to a faster maximum cruise speed of 375 knots, compared to the formerly project 355 knots. Stall speed goes up by four knots, and range with four passengers and NBAA IFR reserves drops to 1,280 nautical miles. Useful load does climb to 2,250 pounds, up from 2,000 pounds.

Extec Offers Model 250 Compressor Wheels

New CNC-machined PMA Rolls-Royce 250 compressor wheels are available from Extex. Price lower than the original Rolls-Royce parts, the wheels offer improved performance, according to Extex, and produce 4.2 percent more horsepower at the same turbine outlet temperature. Specific fuel consumption was 1.5 percent lower at the same horsepower. Turbine outlet temperature was 22 degrees lower at cruise power.

Frontier Honors Techs

At a February 7 ceremony, Frontier Airlines president Jeff Potter congratulated mechanics and engineers for helping the the airline win an FAA Diamond Award for the fourth year in a row.

To qualify for the award, a company must give additional training to 25 percent of its maintenance employees. At Frontier, all 400 maintenance and engineering employees got extra training.

"Mechanics are the cornerstone of our operation," said Potter. "In a year in the industry where there’s not been a lot of good news, this is good news. What you do is most critical. We’ve got to be safe, and we’ve got to be reliable."

Frontier training director Tom Hendershot made sure maintenance services vendors for the airline’s remote locations also received FAA awards for participating in Frontier training last year.

FAA national resource specialist Bill O’Brien congratulated the employees. "To win this award, the maintenance and engineering employees of Frontier Airlines have invested more than 30,000 hours in maintenance training," he said. "That is an impressive amount of time and investment that Frontier has assigned to training, especially in these tough economic times."

China RJ Nacelle Win

GE Aircraft Engines has tapped Middle River Aircraft Systems to design and develop the nacelle for the CF34-10A engine that will power the 78- to 99-passenger ARJ21 regional jet being developed by AVIC I Commercial Aircraft Co. Ltd. of China.

The contract is valued at $750 million over the planned life of the program. Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, MRAS is currently developing the thrust reverser for the CF34-10E, targeted for the Embraer 190 airliners.

PAMA Raffling Snap-On Roll Cabinet Tool Boxes

To promote and fund the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association Olympics contest, PAMA is again holding a raffle.

This year’s prizes are even better, with four Snap-On KRL773 roll cabinet tool boxes, valued at $5,853 each, to be given away on May 14.

Raffle tickets will be available for the first two days of the Aviation Services & Suppliers SuperShow May 13 and 14. They also can be purchased through PAMA chapters, on the PAMA website (www.pama.org), and by calling PAMA at 703-417-8800. Tickets are $5 each or five for $20, and only 12,000 tickets will be sold.

Avexus has named Robert Thibodeau to lead its product development and technology strategy as the new vice president of engineering. Thibodeau has 25 years of experience in software development, engineering management, and research and development. Most recently, he was senior director of product management for software applications at QAD.