Yingling Continues Growth with Rising MRO Demand

As it marks 75 years in business, Yingling Aviation is growing by another 50,000 sq ft following the acquisition of three hangars and office space near its existing 200,000 sq ft of facilities on the east side of Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (KICT). Yingling president Andrew Nichols told AIN that half of the new space will accommodate a growing MRO business, while the other half will serve corporate operators that base their aircraft at Yingling’s FBO.

Nichols explained that at the beginning and “worst stages” of the Covid-19 pandemic, Yingling’s MRO operations stayed “fairly” busy. But that left him uncertain about how demand would be for his company’s maintenance, avionics, interiors, and paint business post-pandemic. As it is, “we just simply don’t have the space right now to take on the customers that are calling us, looking for us to provide them with these services,” he said. “So, these facilities that we’ve acquired will allow us to support the demands that we are seeing on the MRO side.”

Additionally, KICT’s largest FBO is looking to hire additional airframe and powerplant and avionics technicians to support the MRO demand, Nichols noted. Even with 145 employees, he hopes to add about 25 more by year-end. “That is our biggest challenge right now—finding the talent and getting them here,” Nichols said.

Calhoun: Aerion Investment Outpaced Benefit to Boeing

Boeing president and CEO Dave Calhoun recently shed more light on his company’s decision to support urban air mobility (UAM) emerging technologies such as Wisk rather than supersonic designer Aerion, which recently shuttered over a lack of funding. Boeing was a primary partner in Aerion, but Calhoun said at the Alliance Bernstein 37th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference last week that investments are based on whether projects are “big enough and meaningful enough."

If a project doesn’t meet that criterion, then it has to stand on its own, he said. “And our decision on supersonic was that [it didn’t]. We couldn’t get there with respect to the market, with the respect to the needed investment.” The company evaluated its Aerion investment yearly, and “we got to a decision where, yes, we jus­t…didn’t believe in it quite as much as we thought we could.”

Instead, Calhoun said, Boeing made a decision to stick with investing in the all-electric Cora eVTOL under development by Wisk, a joint venture between Boeing and Kitty Hawk. “We love it. It’s an incredible airplane,” he said. The aircraft has accumulated 1,500 “perfect flights."

Calhoun was also encouraged that a significant urban market will benefit from sustainable aircraft, such as electric models, and advancements in autonomy. Importantly, these technologies have “lots of tentacles back into bigger Boeing,” he said.

West Star Offers Corridor Comm Portal for Mx Customers

West Star Aviation is now offering ServiceEdge, a web-based communications portal for its maintenance customers that was developed with Camp Systems’ Corridor aviation service software. The portal enables customers to communicate directly with West Star service teams that are working on their aircraft.

Through ServiceEdge, customers will have access to work order quotes, job status updates, and additional job approvals. While notifications are sent by email, chat options for both desktop and mobile applications are available as well. Additional enhancements will include a direct connection from the mobile app.

Corridor sales and marketing director Chris Kubinski said the portal eliminates the “tedious back-and-forth communication” and misinterpretation that can occur with change orders and approvals. “Servicing business aircraft involves discerning customers, high-end assets, and a vast array of options for components, services, and alterations,” he noted.

Matt Vogel, manager of information technology for West Star’s Grand Junction, Colorado operation, said the portal will lead to decreased maintenance downtimes and improve the customer experience. “Customers will have direct access to maintenance status, along with aircraft photos for immediate service decisions,” Vogel added.

Garmin Enhances Risk/hazard Reporting in FltPlan SMS

Updates to Garmin’s FltPlan safety management system (SMS) include a modernized user interface that provides a simpler process to collect essential information and gives safety managers a structured means of safety risk management reporting and decision making. The more in-depth reporting structure allows flight departments to further improve their safety culture initiatives, Garmin said.

FltPlan SMS now offers six categories of risk/hazard reports, including cabin, dispatch, flight crew, ground, maintenance, and other reports in an easy-to-use format. This provides flight department managers with a systematic way to review a reported risk or hazard, identify the cause, and determine corrective actions to avoid a future occurrence. In addition, an improved dashboard allows safety managers to more easily search and filter historical risk/hazard reports to better identify trends.

FltPlan's SMS also seamlessly integrates with the company's online flight-planning system to transfer information such as tail number, departure airport, scheduled arrival airport, landing airport, passenger count, and more to a risk/hazard report. According to Garmin, there is also an option within FltFlan SMS to directly submit risk/hazard reports to the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS). For flight departments that operate internationally, FltPlan SMS helps meet compliance requirements in countries where an SMS is required.

ExecuJet MRO Africa Gains FAA Part 145 Approval

ExecuJet MRO Services at Lanseria International Airport near Johannesburg, South Africa, has received an FAA Part 145 repair station certificate, enabling it to inspect, maintain, and modify U.S.-registered aircraft and their engines, avionics, flight instruments, and other accessories. The company provides 24-hour line, base, and mobile maintenance for numerous business aircraft makes and models. It also holds airworthiness approvals from civil aviation authorities across sub-Saharan Africa.

“Our operations have always complied with the required standards for FAR Part 145 certification and we’re delighted it has been formally recognized to this effect,” said ExecuJet MRO Services v-p for Africa Vince Goncalves. “The aviation industry relies on sound maintenance and we, as a provider, have a responsibility to ensure we do this to the highest standards.”

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Dassault Aviation, ExecuJet MRO Services also operates MRO facilities in Asia, Australasia, Europe, and the Middle East. Its technicians are factory trained and certified on a variety of airframes, including those from Bombardier, Dassault Falcon, Embraer Executive Jets, Gulfstream, and Hawker.

Safran Arrano Helicopter Engine Gets FAA Nod

The FAA has granted type certification validation for Safran’s Arrano 1A turboshaft with Fadec, the powerplant in the new Airbus H160 medium-twin helicopter. The approval is a significant milestone in obtaining overall FAA certification approval for the helicopter, which is expected later this year. EASA certified the H160 last June, but travel restrictions triggered by the global pandemic had delayed FAA validation. 

Spawned from the European Commission’s Clean Sky program and Tech 800 technology demonstration engine, the Arrano turboshaft was first bench-tested in 2013. The Arrano 1A, which produces up to 1,280 shp, first flew on the H160 in 2016. According to Safran, the engine delivers 10 to 15 percent better specific fuel consumption than comparable legacy powerplants.

Design features of the Arrano 1A include an annular air inlet, integrating inlet guide vanes, a two-stage centrifugal compressor driven by a single-stage high-pressure turbine, a reverse flow combustion chamber, and a single-stage low-pressure turbine driving a reduction gearbox. The high-pressure shaft drives the accessory gearbox. Key components of the engine use additive manufacturing—for example, lasers are used to fuse compounds to produce the combustion chamber injectors—reducing the part count and speeding production.

Airbus Helicopters To Acquire German MRO, Supplier

Airbus Helicopters has agreed to acquire ZF Luftfahrttechnik from ZF Friedrichshafen in a deal that will broaden its range of MRO capabilities and add competencies in dynamic systems for the rotorcraft OEM. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close sometime this year following regulatory approvals, were not disclosed.

With 2020 revenue of €85.3 million ($101.7 million) and 370 employees, ZF Luftfahrttechnik is an MRO provider for the majority of the German Bundeswehr (armed forces) helicopter fleet. As a manufacturer of dynamic components for light and medium helicopters, the German company has also delivered more than 10,000 gearboxes globally and is a supplier of the H135 main gearbox and the tail gearbox of the Tiger helicopter.

“With ZF Luftfahrttechnik, we will be able to improve our service offering for our customers, including key partners like the German Bundeswehr, thus addressing their MRO needs faster with an increased level of integration,” said Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even. “ZF Luftfahrttechnik’s balanced and global business model fits very well into our approach to the worldwide helicopter market.”

Safety Auditor Offers Vaccination Prize

To promote Covid-19 vaccination participation among business aviation operators and hasten the reopening of international borders, Hong Kong-based business aviation consultancy and safety auditor Aviation Safety Asia is offering operators a chance to win an audit incentive worth $15,000.

To enter, private jet operators registered under IBAC's IS-BAO program as of June 1—including those who participate in special missions or aeromedical operations—must present proof by August 1 that all of their permanent staff are vaccinated for Covid-19. After that date, one company will be randomly selected to receive a complimentary renewal accreditation audit for IS-BAO Stage 1, 2, or 3, depending on what level they have achieved. The audit, which is typically conducted over two or three days, must be completed before Dec. 15, 2021.

“Increasing the vaccination rates of aviation staff is a key element to ensure the safety of all in our industry and those we serve,” said company director Dane Williams, adding that Aviation Safety Asia sees increased vaccination as being fundamental protection against the pandemic. “We want nothing more than for the international borders to reopen safely, for economies to be rebuilt, and jobs protected.”

AIN Product Support Survey Now Open

Tell us about the product support you receive from business aviation OEMs. The 2021 AIN Product Support Survey is now open, ready for selected readers to rate aircraft, engine, and avionics support. AIN readers who have been picked to participate in this year’s Product Support Survey should have received their password and link to the online survey by e-mail. The survey needs to be completed by midnight on June 11.