Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) received Transport Canada Civil Aviation approval for its PW812GA engine that will power the Gulfstream G400, the Montreal-based company said today. The G400, launched by Gulfstream Aerospace in October, is slated to begin flight testing early next year.
“We worked closely with Transport Canada to create an efficient and thorough certification process that successfully led us to this point,” said P&WC president Maria Della Posta. “When it enters into service [in early 2025], the G400 will be the third Gulfstream model to rely on our PW800 engine family. We are gratified by the steady progress the PW800 engine family has achieved based on its ability to deliver a new level of performance and efficiency to the large-cabin business aircraft class.”
According to P&WC, the PW812GA showed “exceptional performance” during more than 3,400 hours of engine testing, including 260 hours of flight testing. Overall, the PW800 family—which includes the PW814GA and PW815GA that respectively power the G500 and G600—has logged more than 144,000 hours since service entry, in addition to some 30,000 hours of ground and flight testing.
The company also said the PW800 family requires 40 percent less scheduled maintenance and 20 percent fewer inspections than other engines in its class.
ExecuJet MRO Services Malaysia is set to break ground on a new MRO facility at Subang Airport in Kuala Lumpur. Featuring a dedicated apron, construction on the 149,500-sq-ft facility is expected to begin in about a month, according to the Dassault Aviation-owned company.
Once complete, the facility’s hangar will accommodate the largest Dassault business jets in development, including the Falcon 6X and 10X. In addition, it will have offices, customer spaces, and back shops that will expand the site’s capabilities.
“The number of business jets in Asia, especially Southeast Asia, has continued to grow, despite the pandemic,” said ExecuJet MRO regional v-p for Asia Ivan Lim. “Businesspeople have been turning to business aviation to meet their flying needs because it is time-efficient with far fewer touch points as compared to commercial aviation. ExecuJet MRO Services Malaysia has been expanding its capability and workforce to meet the continued growth in the market.”
In addition to Dassault, ExecuJet Malaysia serves Bombardier and Gulfstream operators from across Asia. The site is certified by the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, FAA, EASA, and other international aviation authorities.
Parker-Hannifin has substantially expanded its footprint in the aerospace supply chain with the completion of its £6.3 billion ($7.24 billion) acquisition of UK-based Meggitt. Announced on Tuesday, the closing comes a little more than a year after the two companies announced plans for the merger and two weeks after they had noted that they had cleared regulatory requirements.
The acquisition brings into the Parker fold a company that employs more than 9,000, operates 40 manufacturing sites around the world, and has a diverse aerospace and defense portfolio with products on most aircraft platforms.
Parker-Hannifin—a company that had $16 billion in annual sales in fiscal 2022, employs 55,000, and has 350 manufacturing facilities globally—is placing Meggitt under its Parker Aerospace division.
Parker executives said the combination will strengthen its abilities to build a more-electric portfolio and provide more innovative approaches to advanced air mobility and clean technologies. Noting that the companies have common cultures, the executives also said the combination will enable the companies to be better able to bring solutions to customers. “We are going to be able to do more for them than we’ve ever done in the past,” said Parker chairman and CEO Tom Williams.
While both have a significant presence in the aerospace arena, Parker stressed the complementary nature of their airframe and engine product lines.
Constant Aviation has established AOG teams in Philadelphia and Salt Lake City in response to a growing need for services in those areas, the Cleveland-based MRO and Directional Aviation-owned company announced yesterday. Constant’s total AOG teams nationally number 28, a 30 percent increase from last year.
“In my 25 years in the private aviation industry, this continues to be one of the most robust periods we have seen and that has generated record demand for our services,” said Constant CEO David Davies. “The increase in AOG service locations is intended to help meet current demand, but mobile AOG services have proven sustainable in all market conditions as aircraft always need on-demand service at the hundreds of smaller airports that lack substantial maintenance capabilities.”
Supporting 86 aircraft models from 14 OEMs, Constant’s AOG teams provide service at the customer’s location using specially equipped vehicles that are strategically placed and supplemented with expanded tools. The company also operates full-service MROs at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and Orlando Sanford International Airport in Florida.
SmartSky demonstrates the power of its nationwide network to customers, network density and patented technology shine
July 28, SmartSky announced its network is live nationwide. Coast-to-coast availability of its enhanced air-to-ground solution for the entire aircraft makes connecting to what’s most important as effortless at 35,000 ft in the air as it is on the ground. Read more to see what enables SmartSky's unprecedented performance in the sky.
Dutch advanced air mobility (AAM) innovator PAL-V International has opened a base in the UK dedicated to selling and promoting its Liberty “flying car.” The facility at London Oxford Airport—situated around 100 km (62 miles) northwest of the UK capital—will also house a simulator of the two-seat gyrocopter to enable prospective customers to “familiarize [themselves] with the vehicle’s unique characteristics.”
Described by PAL-V as “a disruptive game-changer in the general and light aviation sector,” the Liberty can transition from road to air transport mode in under six minutes with its rotors secured into the vehicle. In its road configuration, the piston-twin boasts a top speed of 160 km/h (99 mph) and a maximum range of 1,315 km. In flight mode, the Liberty can reach speeds of 180 km/h, and fly journeys of up to 500 km with fuel reserves.
Launched in 2007, PAL-V (which stands for Personal Air and Land Vehicle) is an early mover in the AAM arena. The Raamsdonksveer-headquartered company said compliance demonstrations began recently, and it is hoping to secure certification for the Rotax 912iS-powered Liberty under EASA’s CS-27 regulations in the third quarter of 2023. Customer deliveries are scheduled to follow at the end of that year.
The Liberty prototype will be on display at London Oxford from September 20 to 22.
A new airworthiness bulletin from Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) clarifies that a “no technical objection” (NTO) is not an approval. According to CASA, an NTO provided to an operator by the type design manufacturer to make maintenance or other changes that would affect the continued airworthiness of an aircraft or product does not constitute automatic approval for variation to approved maintenance or technical data.
The advice or recommendation in an NTO usually includes a statement such as “the manufacturer has no technical objection to the operator’s request,” CASA said. “There is an incorrect assumption that an aircraft or aeronautical product can continue to operate with changes based solely on an NTO.” CASA emphasized that NTO documents “do not constitute approved data for continued operation of the aircraft.”
According to the bulletin, “It remains the operator’s responsibility to ensure that local regulatory approval is obtained before using manufacturer’s advice, recommendations, alterations, repairs, etc., prescribed in an NTO.” A CASA delegate or other authorized person asked to approve a change to maintenance or technical data may take an NTO into account. However, even with an NTO in hand, additional documentation “must include substantiating data to support an approval.”
The FAA is undertaking its largest solar project yet with the installation of enough panels at its Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City, to produce 2,600 megawatt hours annually.
Anticipated to reduce the FAA center’s bill by an estimated $170,000 to $200,000 per year, the solar farm will produce enough energy to power about 260 average homes, the agency said. “This project captures the area’s abundant sunshine, will save valuable taxpayer dollars, and will help build a more sustainable aviation system,” said acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen.
The project is among several at the FAA’s Oklahoma City campus, the agency said, noting that 16 of its 24 certified sustainable buildings are located there.
In addition, the center has participated in two pilot programs involving electric vehicle charging stations, and it is collaborating with local university students on a study on means to better track energy use and reporting.
Along with Oklahoma City, the FAA has installed a 1,600-panel solar farm next to its Tucson, Arizona air traffic control tower.
XL Aerospace has developed a portable fuel nozzle test stand (FNTS) that it said will offer MROs a faster, easier, and more accurate way to test fuel nozzles. The FNTS’s configuration supports a range of Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C/T, PW206, and PW207 turboshaft engines.
The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company’s offering includes a portable test stand, test fixtures, and training for regulatory approval. The movable system requires standard electrical and shop air connections for operation but no water for system cooling. Other features include in-situ mass flow calibration, built-in specific gravity test function, quick disconnect fixtures for more timely interchange of fuel nozzles, and incorporation of a digital protractor for accuracy of spray and skew angles.
XL Aero president Tim Blaskovich explained that the FNTS launch customer reported a user-friendly setup and operation and that “it increased productivity and throughput to the point whereby [the customer] was able to recover the total FNTS purchase cost in less than one year of shop deployment.”
Model(s): Global Express, XRS, 5000, 5500, 6000, 6500
Published: September 8, 2022
Effective: September 22, 2022
Requires replacement of certain brake control units with a new part number that grounds the residual current if there is a 5-volt power supply failure. Prompted by an in-service event where a main landing gear tire burst upon landing. The investigation into this event found that with the loss of a 5-volt power supply in the brake control unit wheel control card, a residual current may build within the brake control valve driver circuit. This residual current may result in uncommanded brake pressure during landing. If not corrected, this can cause one or more tires to burst due to a dragging brake or a locked brake, unexpected deceleration, degraded braking performance, directional difficulties, and/or brake(s) overheating.
Requires recalculating the torque cycles of certain parts and updating log cards, removing certain other parts from service, and applying an operational restriction on certain parts. Prompted by review of maintenance instructions that showed conflicting methods of recording torque cycles for certain parts.
Requires revising the existing airplane flight manual to provide the flight crew with a new limitation and procedure for operation during certain flight modes. Prompted by reports that, during certain operating modes, the flight guidance/autopilot does not account for engine failure while capturing an altitude.
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