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July 1, 2009
Those of us who love baseball use an expression called "The Mendoza Line," a reference to when a player’s batting average falls below .200. If a hitter’s performance sinks beneath this threshold, he’s considered unworthy of the Major Leagues. The term is named for former shortstop Mario Mendoza, who hit .198 in the 1979 season. My point, as it relates to the MRO industry, is...June 1, 2009
The adoption of composites represents a revolution in aircraft manufacturing — a change as significant as the switch from wood to aluminum in the 1920s. However, the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) sector is still grappling with how this historic trend will change conventional ways of doing business. What do composites mean for mechanics and MRO procedures? These issues were discussed in my...May 1, 2009
Competition is heating up among airline shops, OEMs and independent providers to give customers faster turnaround times for MRO. At the same time, the supply chain is spreading to increasingly remote regions around the globe. To meet these twin challenges while keeping a tight rein on costs, MRO managers are turning to radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. The commercial aviation sector now uses more...April 1, 2009
While I was glad-handing at February’s Heli-Expo 2009 in Anaheim, the incessant need for helicopters to undergo intensive maintenance emerged as a major topic of discussion at the show. As one wag said to me: "Helicopters don’t so much fly, as beat the air into submission." Every time the maintenance issue is broached at Heli-Expo, it stimulates a flurry of promises and plans of...March 1, 2009
Predictions tend to be the pastime of fools. As Wilbur Wright admitted in 1908: "I confess that in 1901, I said to my brother Orville that man would not fly for 50 years. Ever since, I have distrusted myself and avoided all predictions." Nonetheless, here’s a prediction that you can take to the bank (that is, if you still have any faith in banks): The transition in the aviation sector from...February 1, 2009
The Chattering Class Gets Nervous I recently ran into one of my counterparts at an aviation industry gathering, and his remarks to me were profoundly disturbing (well, what passes for profound among publishing’s "chattering class", anyway). Because I don’t particularly enjoy the company of lawyers, I won’t print this person’s name. Upon entering this crowded, noisy soiree...December 1, 2008
Despite all of the talk about reducing our dependency on oil, we are unavoidably compelled to live in the "Hydrocarbon Age," well into the foreseeable future. Even though oil prices have dramatically declined from their highs this year, they still pose a severe, long-term burden on the global economy and aviation. To save money on fuel, more and more operators are cutting back on flight hours...November 1, 2008
That whooshing sound you hear is the air escaping from our punctured bubble economy — and with it, everyone’s expectations for business jets. Until recently, most analysts were predicting that the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market for bizjets would grow substantially into the foreseeable future. What a difference a financial collapse makes. Optimistic forecasts for bizjet MRO...October 1, 2008
Pass me the aspirin — I just got my 10th unsolicited press release of the day and it’s not even noon yet. I tend to get inundated with releases all year long, but the sudden surge in their generation is directly linked to the approach of the NBAA Convention in October. I should let you PR apparatchiks in on a harsh fact of journalistic life: a recent survey of editors found that less than 25...September 1, 2008
Most journalists I know would prefer to skip the Farnborough Air Show, but it’s such an important event, we’re compelled to go. This biennial show is run by the Brits, so it’s no surprise that it’s plagued by disorganization of legendary proportions. Indeed, Farnborough’s organizers make the fictional hotelier Basil Fawlty seem like an exemplar of organizational acumen by...August 1, 2008
Record oil prices are pushing the cost of jet fuel to nosebleed heights, forcing many operators and their suppliers into retrenchment and decline — even bankruptcy. In the matter of a few months, the aviation industry has slipped from prosperity into red ink, uncertainty and doubt. As already lean operators desperately look for new ways to cut costs, one of the first casualties is maintenance, repair...July 1, 2008
The use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags for highly precise tracking in supply chains is crossing over from the consumer world to emerge as a mainstream technology in the aviation maintenance sector. Propelled by new mandates at major retailers such as Wal-Mart, and by initiatives at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), growing numbers of aviation companies are adopting RFID, a...June 1, 2008
Beyond Mass Production Remember when America feared that its once-mighty manufacturing base was getting "hollowed out" and its assembly line workers were being transformed into a mindless horde of minimum-wage hamburger flippers? Not too long ago, economic pundits warned that our country was saddled with a low-skilled, poorly educated workforce on the verge of becoming indentured wage slaves to...May 1, 2008
Igor Sikorsky, the godfather of the modern helicopter, perhaps summed it up best: "Aeronautics was neither an industry nor a science. It was a miracle." When I served as editor-in-chief of Rotor & Wing magazine during the 1990s, I was always struck by the sheer passion of the people in the helicopter market. Their devotion to rotorcraft made editing Rotor & Wing a joy and a privilege. My...April 1, 2008
Preconceived notions are the bane of any profession, but they’re particularly insidious in a strategic industry like aviation. There’s nothing worse than self-appointed "experts" who regurgitate the same old conventional wisdom, from the safety of their desks. That’s why I try to personally meet as many aviation insiders as possible, to get the straight dope from the real...March 6, 2008
Mark Twain once said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” Well, the latest statistics about the aviation industry are not only truthful; they’re reassuring. According to the Teal Group and G2 Solutions, two influential aerospace consulting firms, the good times in aviation will continue to roll this year, despite the recessionary storm clouds now on the...December 1, 2007
Back in medieval times, when I was a college student in my native Boston, I typed all of my term papers on a battered manual typewriter, the personal computer was only a gleam in Steve Jobs’ eye, and my local baseball team was a perennial loser. Since then, the Internet has revolutionized society, I’ve become the publisher of a Web site, and the Red Sox have won two World Series championships...November 1, 2007
Composites represent the most important improvement in aircraft construction since the introduction of aluminum in the 1920s. The adoption of these "miracle materials" is sweeping all sectors of aviation, but the industry is still grappling with how this historic trend will transform traditional ways of doing business. All-composite aircraft such as Boeing’s next-generation 787 Dreamliner...October 1, 2007
Jack Northrop. Leroy Grumman. Donald Douglas. Glenn Martin. Howard Hughes. There was a time when the logos of aviation firms boasted a single last name. These individuals were visionaries, typically engineers or pilots, who exerted God-like control over their enterprises. Sure, they were capitalists and they were out to make money — a lot of money — but their true passion was to create aircraft...September 1, 2007
"Greed is good." During the go-go 1980s, the infamous financier Ivan Boesky imparted that inspirational homily in a speech to college kids. Boesky’s sentiment (echoed by his cinematic alter ego, Gordon Gekko of Wall Street fame) comes to mind whenever I ponder the rapid pace of globalization in the MRO sector. The aviation industry, particularly the MRO sector, is in the midst of...
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