January 28, 2019  -  No. 008


In This Issue 

Aviation safety workers hold 'informational picket' outside Bradley as shutdown continues 

AAR and Lake Superior College Expand Partnership to Enhance Aviation Maintenance Program 

Integrated Systems, AI On The Table For Maintenance Planning 

In Shutdown's Wake, FAA Inspectors Face Backlog of Safety and Maintenance Issues 

West Star Opens New Hangar at East Alton Location 

Magnetic MRO Expands in Scandinavia With New Line Maintenance Station in Norway 

Airbus, Thai firm to collaborate on MRO and pilot training 

Aviation Connectivity Is Catching Up To Consumer Levels 

Dassault Aviation to acquire ExecuJet MRO operations 

SpaceX enjoys three whole seconds of fire and fury on Pad 39A 


Aviation safety workers hold 'informational picket' outside Bradley as shutdown continues

WINDSOR LOCKS - Aviation safety workers that are furloughed or working without pay held an informational picket at Bradley International Airport Thursday night to raise awareness about possible safety issues caused by the ongoing partial federal government shutdown.

Picketers gathered - 10 at a time, per airport rules - on the sidewalks outside the airport, and inside the terminal on both levels from 5 to 7 p.m., holding signs and passing out leaflets to travelers.

According to David Dal Zin, of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, the picketers, who are members of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists unit, hoped to educate members of the public about the importance of their jobs, and encourage them to call their congressional representatives and demand an end to the shutdown.

According to Dal Zin, PASS members work as airway transportation systems specialists, aviation safety inspectors, manufacturing inspectors, aeronautical information specialists, flight inspection pilots, and in aircraft maintenance and safety support.

Dal Zin said that the workers ensure the highest standard of safety for the flying public and play a part in every aspect of air travel.

Because of the government shutdown, which has lasted for over a month, those workers are either furloughed, or working without pay, and are set to miss a second paycheck this week, Dal Zin said.
To make ends meet, some workers have had to take up second jobs, or take out loans, he added.
According to Dal Zin, nearly 11,000 PASS members around the country are furloughed or working without pay and similar pickets have been held at airports in other cities, like Detroit, New York, Miami, Newark, Seattle, and Phoenix.

https://www.journalinquirer.com/connecticut_and_region/aviation-safety-workers-hold-informational-picket-outside-bradley-as-shutdown/article_ab1c9d76-20c8-11e9-84d3-f727c4c184ca.html

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AAR and Lake Superior College Expand Partnership to Enhance Aviation Maintenance Program and Offer Clear Career Pathway for Students

DULUTH, Minn., Jan. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AAR (NYSE: AIR), a global, independent provider of aviation services, and Lake Superior College (LSC) announce expansion of their partnership to further enhance instruction and career prospects for students enrolled in the aviation maintenance technician program at the college's Center for Advanced Aviation.

The new AAR EAGLE Career Pathway program will expand LSC's aviation maintenance technician (AMT) program to include job shadowing and mentoring opportunities, as well as academic support and monitoring. Students who pursue the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aircraft mechanic's certificate are eligible for up to $15,000 in tuition reimbursements.

LSC President Patrick Johns and leaders from the community and technical college joined AAR's Ryan Goertzen, Vice President of Aviation Workforce Development, on Thursday for the official announcement at the Center for Advanced Aviation. AAR and LSC have collaborated since 2013 on marketing and recruiting, and to extend apprenticeship opportunities.  

"Lake Superior College and AAR already have been working closely together to serve our students and help prepare a highly-skilled workforce. This new EAGLE Career Pathway program will make our connection even stronger and offer increased opportunity for our students," said Dr. Patrick Johns, President of Lake Superior College. "EAGLE will provide additional marketing and recruiting opportunities and should result in more students enrolled in our program, give them a clear career path and provide additional resources to support their success." 

AAR is introducing EAGLE Career Pathway at schools near its five U.S. aircraft repair stations. EAGLE demonstrates how students can earn portable, stackable skills credentials to earn a two-year associate degree or enter a management track. The stackable skills enable students who are interested to pursue the coveted position of FAA-certificated airframe and powerplant (A&P) mechanic. There is a predicted shortage of 189,000 new AMTs in North America through 2037, according to a Boeing study.

"We are proud to extend our current partnership with Lake Superior College to now include the EAGLE Career Pathway program. EAGLE partner schools like Lake Superior College provide additional training beyond the FAA minimums," said AAR's Goertzen. "The specific coursework developed by AAR with Lake Superior College focuses on repair station and air carrier operations, which allow for a smooth transition into AAR's workforce. Students will be guided through a five-year career path showcasing job opportunities beyond a technician, including roles in management and quality control." 

https://www.aviationpros.com/news/12441081/aar-and-lake-superior-college-expand-partnership-to-enhance-aviation-maintenance-program-and-offer-clear-career-pathway-for-students

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Integrated Systems, AI On The Table For Maintenance Planning

In an industry where fleet utilization is critical to keeping airline revenues healthy, scheduling maintenance effectively to minimize asset downtime is essential. With greater volumes of data being extracted from aircraft, along with an influx of new tools and technologies for using this information, methods of carrying out maintenance planning have also become more sophisticated.

However, some in the industry are finding that maintenance planning techniques have not developed as quickly as anticipated. Mark Martin, director for the commercial operator product line in the aerospace and defense business unit at software specialist IFS, says carriers typically spend more on maintenance than on fuel or crew, and this reality makes MRO costs a prime target for any reductions. "Yet as the next generation of aircraft enter service and with fleet sizes growing larger than ever before, typically maintenance scheduling, planning and execution strategies have not advanced at the same pace," he says, highlighting that many operators are still using manual processes such as spreadsheets.

Martin says there are some key fundamentals required to ensure any fleet maintenance plan works effectively. "Building an executable long-range plan often depends largely on the tribal knowledge built up in the planning organization over many years," he says. "At the highest level, fleet maintenance planning must span all aircraft across a sprawling network of routes. Any changes to the plan can have huge knock-on effects further down the line-with schedules being torn apart in minutes when an aircraft becomes unavailable at short notice, or when parts and labor availability change."

American Airlines, the world's largest commercial operator, relies heavily on planning strategies across its maintenance operation that focus solely on servicing its in-house fleet. The scale of the fleet, along with the variety of aircraft types it operates on 6,700 daily flights across 350 domestic and international routes, makes scheduling MRO a major challenge.

Craig Barton, vice president of technical services at the Dallas-based carrier, says American is still finalizing parts of the operational integration with US Airways, a merger that was completed in 2013, with the integration process commencing the following year. "One of the final areas is in the technical operation core maintenance systems," he says. As part of an ongoing process, American is also integrating its maintenance network so that all work, tooling, materials and other maintenance needs can be completed on any aircraft at any of its maintenance locations.

Operating the world's largest commercial fleet presents some planning hurdles. "Workload balancing can be challenging in a large maintenance network that can have high numbers of overnight-maintenance aircraft, especially in peak seasons," Barton says. Further complications are presented by the complex alignment of dual-maintenance software programs American operates. "Working in two maintenance planning systems (even with a common user interface) and three inventory systems can complicate that work as we work toward our tech ops integration," Barton says.

Many carriers prefer a single maintenance software system. Southwest Airlines implemented IFS's Maintenix software across its Boeing 737 fleet in 2018, with the aim of consolidating its maintenance systems by 2019. It had previously used two maintenance systems: the first is a legacy Wizard system, a version of Maxi-Merlin, along with a Trax system that was inherited when Southwest acquired and integrated the operations of low-cost carrier AirTran Airways in 2010.

The MRO software market, valued at more than $4 billion by research consultancy Marketsandmarkets, has become an increasingly competitive segment, with multiple vendors offering software packages encompassing maintenance planning modules. Among the players is UK-based Commsoft, which provides its OASES software to more than 130 aviation companies globally.

According to its managing director, Nick Godwin, developments in Commsoft's MRO IT systems over the past decade have been paced by growing improvements in mobile technologies, faster access to the cloud and comprehensive database technologies. "In essence, this has meant that more accurate data can be generated and validated at the source, and the speed of processing has allowed a transformation in the way that data can be used, allowing faster prediction and economic optimization and streamlining of aircraft maintenance operations," he says. Typically, the timescale for a fleet of 10 Airbus A320 or 737-800 aircraft will take around 10-12 weeks, with two Commsoft team members working "hand in glove" with the airlines' own specialists.

It is also common for carriers to build their own systems and use them in alignment with another software program. For its line maintenance planning, American uses tools designed in-house in the form of its Aircraft Maintenance Planning System (AMPS) which ties into the airline's record-keeping, along with other systems. For base maintenance, it uses a customized Mxi planning module. For the AMPS system, Barton says the common planning module was built to sit on top of two maintenance systems, "so that we can account for workload, plan and assign workload, and forecast it across all aircraft regardless of the core maintenance system they reside in."

He adds that the tool allows a workload planner visibility into all upcoming maintenance needs, both programmatic and non-routine. "It then feeds the core systems to deliver those work packages to maintenance and the supply chain," he says. American has also developed an all-new tool called Aircraft Production Control, which "is the dynamic front end that line maintenance uses to assign and account for workload," Barton says. It also ties into the supply chain and other tools to provide status from the support teams. All of this sits around our system-agnostic front end, which provides a common view of all maintenance-related items for all team members, while the more detailed core programs are working in the background."

While the MRO software market is mature-having been evolving in different guises for decades-new technologies are increasingly being applied in MRO operations to enhance scheduling effectiveness. Using big data as a tool for turning unscheduled events into scheduled ones is also becoming increasingly integral to the maintenance planning operation. Recently, some of these advancements have centered on artificial intelligence (AI).

In November 2017, British low-cost carrier EasyJet integrated an AI-based simulation tool to run in conjunction with operational data extracted from its existing AMOS management software system. For the project, the carrier teamed up with UK logistics software startup Aerogility. Its planning tool integrates EasyJet's operational data to aid the day-to-day scheduling of its entire fleet of more than 160 aircraft including Airbus A319-100s, A320-200s, A320neos and, as of summer 2018, the A321neo. Planners can then forecast when heavy maintenance needs to be scheduled, factoring in existing plans with third-party suppliers while incorporating other fleet upgrades and modifications programs.

In the latter part of 2018, EasyJet also transferred its engine and landing gear data into the planning tool. Siwan Sidhu, head of fleet technical management, says this has resulted in "significant" savings to EasyJet's landing overhaul program. Further collaboration is also underway to include equalized maintenance checks, which typically combine A and C checks into a schedule of work packages performed overnight rather than the more common block maintenance workload.

 "The aim is to ensure we are able to have a good visual view of the plan using Aerogility. In the current state with the high number of checks and the frequency, the tool shows a very condensed view. We are working to ensure that all the correct assumptions and constraints are used in the software to give us an optimal visual display of the equalized maintenance plan," he says. Looking ahead, EasyJet also has its eye on extending the application after it has completed the equalized maintenance work. "Fleet planning is an area that is being considered, as this tool could be a good fit for it," Sidhu adds.
 
While EasyJet has a track record of embracing innovative maintenance tools and techniques, Nick Godwin finds that some other MRO providers remain constrained. "Digitalization is a growing trend in MROs, but we see that most organizations have limited capacity to adopt newer technologies, often having to balance the adoption of new technologies with the regulators' oversight pace and management's willingness to enforce changes in workflows and processes with an often reluctant workforce," he says.

Software vendors will continue to develop their offerings, and in the evolution of software modules, Godwin expects further cloud deployments, web-enablement and more extensive use of mobile applications in most areas of engineering functionality. He adds that to meet these changes, Commsoft is reorganizing its structure in an attempt to become more agile.

American's Barton expects more automated assignment and decision-making to be a possibility. "With data across multiple systems being shared and used, that means planning, material, capabilities and more can be aligned and managed in a more automated fashion to optimize workload balancing," he says. America's exploration of this process has also gathered a bit of momentum. "We've tested this little bit, but we mostly have it on hold due to our current full tech-ops system integration effort," he says.

https://www.mro-network.com/big-data/integrated-systems-ai-table-maintenance-planning

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In Shutdown's Wake, FAA Inspectors Face Backlog of Safety and Maintenance Issues

Aviation experts and federal inspectors warn that five weeks of severe staffing shortages from the longest U.S. government shutdown in history might already have compromised passenger safety, even if all workers return to jobs on Monday, according to a Consumer Reports investigation.
On Friday, congressional leaders and President Donald Trump announced a deal to temporarily reopen the government for three weeks while they continue negotiations over border-wall funding.

Earlier in the day, flights were temporarily delayed at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, Philadelphia International Airport, and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, because of air traffic control staffing shortages, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Despite the planned return to work, FAA inspectors and other airline industry workers told CR they're worried about a backlog of inspection work and its impact on safety. They stress that flying currently remains safe.

Those interviewed cited deferred maintenance on aircraft and the shutdown of an anonymous tips system that FAA inspectors rely on to uncover hidden safety concerns.

Perhaps most telling is a dramatic decrease since the shutdown of FAA Airworthiness Directives, which the agency describes as "legally enforceable regulations" to correct unsafe conditions in aircraft, engines, and propellers. These are the orders that can ground planes and force repairs.
Since Jan. 1, the FAA has published just two directives, compared with 19 during the same stretch last year.

That decrease worries Rich Wyeroski, a former FAA operations inspector and whistleblower interviewed by CR for this report. "That could be very dangerous," he says.

These directives, in normal times, are generated from the daily work of FAA inspectors in partnership with airlines and their maintenance supervisors. But for much of the shutdown, the flying public has had to rely mostly on airlines policing themselves, flagging problems, and making appropriate safety decisions.

Inspection Catch-Ups 
By Friday, the 35th day of the shutdown, about 1,700 FAA inspectors had been called back to work, less than half of the total of 3,500.

The backlog of inspection work that must now be completed, and the prioritizing of immediate problems over the daily and weekly cadence of inspections, worries experts and FAA and airline employees interviewed by CR.

"The further we get away from our standards the more we're holding the system at risk," says Michael Gonzales, regional vice president at Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, which represents FAA inspectors.

During this inspection catch-up time, aircraft or personnel problems could go unnoticed and/or unaddressed. A return to full staffing next week could mitigate this inspection backlog, but there's no guarantee that workers will stay on past Feb. 15 if legislative leaders and the president can't come to an agreement.

Front-line inspectors, speaking anonymously, also told CR that while they've needed to focus on investigating known problems over the past month, they've been unable to engage in two other primary tasks: checking up on mechanics, pilots, and dispatchers; and certifying airplanes, repair facilities, airline operations, and aviation personnel.

John Goglia, the only FAA-licensed aircraft mechanic to have served as a National Transportation Safety Board member, said, "Inspectors haven't been able to touch anything but safety issues, with no routine office work."

In addition to industry experts and former FAA employees quoted in this report, CR also spoke to five FAA inspectors and three airline employees currently in jobs critical to flight safety and with the expertise and knowledge to assess the potential risks from the shutdown. These workers did not want their identities revealed because they're not authorized to speak publicly about these problems and they fear being reprimanded or fired.

On any given day, FAA inspectors double-check that maintenance "work orders" have been completed, meaning that needed repairs to aircraft were actually done. They also run down anonymous tips left on the automated system, and they respond to reports of personnel issues, such as errors by pilots, mechanics, or dispatchers, though such problems are rare.

FAA inspectors also answer questions of deferred maintenance in real time. These are concerns that might fall into operational gray areas, such as knowing whether a warning light pointing to a potential problem with landing gear requires a plane to be grounded, or if it could be allowed to fly more routes before the repair is completed. Airplanes have multiple backup systems on board, called "redundancies," for safety's sake, and sometimes questions of deferred maintenance are judgment calls, experts tell CR.

In normal times, an airline maintenance supervisor might double-check with an FAA inspector to see whether the plane should fly or to see if there are reports of similar problems at other airlines that might point to larger problems that should be addressed.

Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who last week wrote the FAA asking what steps are being taken to maintain aviation safety, told CR that the situation has been "unacceptable," adding: "As the agency entrusted to 'provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world,' it is imperative that the FAA use all of the tools and resources at its disposal to maintain the integrity and safety of our national airspace, even if this partial government shutdown is ending."
The FAA has publicly assured Americans that there is no reason for concern, and a spokesman said, "Overall, the traveling public can be assured our nation's airspace system is safe."

Air Safety Needs Paper Trails 
Agency staffing and morale have been a problem at many of the nation's large airports. These staffs include the FAA's vast air traffic control network of 14,000 controllers, who oversee 43,000 flights daily, and the Transportation Security Administration's 43,000 officers, who screen 2 million passengers daily. Screeners have been calling in sick in record numbers.

FAA inspectors are different because their work is not always confined to daily interaction with flights or the flying public, like with air traffic controllers and TSA screeners. Instead, their backlogged work-in the form of unread emails, and unreviewed work orders and other paperwork-could hold the evidence of a safety problem that should be addressed.

Effective federal oversight of the nation's fleet of planes relies on a constant review of paperwork that provides data and can point to potential safety problems, experts tell us.

"The backlog takes many forms, so it's not just inspections but data that isn't being entered," says Mary Schiavo, an aviation attorney and the former Department of Transportation inspector general who gained nationwide attention when she publicly criticized the FAA's oversight of airline safety in the 1990s.

"What I worry about is the important paperwork that must follow every aircraft and every airline and every pilot," she says. "If the right data aren't entered, some things will not be addressed. The FAA is greatly hindered in monitoring safety."

Watching the Pilots 
Schiavo and others say the FAA has broad responsibilities for overseeing not only airlines and air traffic control but also charter carriers, general aviation (private aircraft), helicopters, drones, instructors, flight schools, aircraft repair stations, and tens of thousands of licensed aviation personnel. Front-line FAA inspectors overseeing the airlines are expressing concerns about catching up on work not done, even with the partial recall.

One furloughed inspector says, "After the [16-day] shutdown in 2013, it took a couple of weeks for things to get back to normal."

Gonzales now estimates the current shutdown has doubled that time frame, even with the deal struck Friday. He says such a backlog "just builds tenfold" as the weeks pass.

Among the many functions not addressed have been "check rides" by the FAA to certify and recertify pilots, which Schiavo says could eventually lead to crew scheduling shortages, even for the largest airlines.

She's echoed by Bob Mann, an industry analyst and head of R.W. Mann & Co., who explains how long-term effects have piled up. He says the lack of FAA approval is hampering Southwest's launch of service to Hawaii, Delta's introduction of the new Airbus A220, and Alaska Airlines' inaugural flights to Paine Field in Seattle. But Mann also says airlines are coping with delays in training and certification of pilots and mechanics, which could affect crew shortages: "This can already take weeks, [but] now it may take months to work through the backlog, just as pilot retirement starts to peak."

Schiavo says all previous violations brought by the FAA against airlines or other aviation companies that are pending in federal courts have been suspended.

"A month of work is not something they will be able to catch up with easily or ever," says Loretta Alkalay, an instructor at Vaughn College of Aeronautics in East Elmhurst, N.Y. "My understanding is that investigations are not universally being followed up on now. And few, if any, FAA attorneys are working on cases resulting from new or prior investigations. So if the attorneys aren't prosecuting the most serious cases, there's not much point in inspectors investigating. But in any event, surveillance of air carriers, repair stations, etc., is one way inspectors discover safety problems. So it is a tremendous safety concern if the inspectors are not doing surveillance."

https://www.consumerreports.org/airline-safety/faa-inspectors-safety-maintenance-backlog-government-shutdown/

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West Star Opens New Hangar at East Alton Location

West Star Aviation opened a new 60,000-sq-ft hangar at its East Alton, Illinois facility this week, allowing the company to expand existing business aircraft maintenance programs. Two-thirds of the recently completed structure is for hangar space, with the remainder containing back shops and offices. In addition, West Star will initially employ 28 technicians to support the expansion.

"With the new hangar completion, we occupy over 380,000 square feet of space at the St. Louis Regional Airport," said West Star East Alton general manager Scott Sweeney. "Having a new hangar provides us the added capacity to continue offering world-class service to our customers and ensure we meet requested deadlines."

West Star specializes in the repair and maintenance of airframes, windows, and engines, as well as major modifications, avionics installation and repair, interior refurbishment, surplus avionics sales, accessory services, paint, and parts. Besides its primary MRO facilities in East Alton; Grand Junction, Colorado; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Perryville, Missouri, the company maintains eight satellite facilities throughout the U.S. Midwest and Southwest. It also offers FBO services at its newly remodeled East Alton and Grand Junction facilities.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2019-01-25/west-star-opens-new-hangar-east-alton-location

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Magnetic MRO Expands in Scandinavia With New Line Maintenance Station in Norway

Magnetic MRO, a global provider of Total Technical Care for aircraft operators and lessors, announced the launch of a new line maintenance station at Ørland International Airport (OLA), Norway. The new station will support Saab 340 aircraft, operated by a Scandinavian airline Air Leap.

"We are delighted to re-start our Saab 340 line maintenance support on a daily basis. With a new airline-customer on the board, we look forward to expanding our cooperation with Scandinavian carriers, both in line maintenance and other MRO segments," shared Andrei Tsurikov, Magnetic MRO's Line Maintenance Manager.

The new line maintenance station at Ørland Airport was opened on the 1th of January, 2019. The scope of provided support includes, but not limits to transit, daily and weekly checks, defect rectification and engineering support for Air Leap's twin-engine turboprop Saab 340s.

With 7 line stations on its operational map, Magnetic MRO runs one of TOP3 line maintenance networks in Europe. The MRO's capabilities cover narrow-body Boeing 737CL/NG, E170/190, CRJ900/1000 and Airbus A320FAM. In 2019, the company expects to add up to 5 new stations to its network.

https://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/12441036/magnetic-mro-expands-in-scandinavia-new-line-maintenance-station-in-norway

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Airbus, Thai firm to collaborate on MRO and pilot training

Airbus and Thailand's Civil Aviation Training Centre (CATC) have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate in developing and implementing aircraft maintenance training and pilot training courses.

The aircraft manufacturer says it has started work with CATC on basic aircraft maintenance training courses, as well as ab initio flight training courses for pilots.

The goal is to support Thailand's aviation industry with a steady supply of pilots, engineers and mechanics for Thai carriers and MRO facilities.

In its 2018 Global Services Forecast, Airbus predicts that Asia-Pacific will have a demand for 220,000 new pilots and 260,000 new technicians over the next 20 years.

The MoU builds on Airbus's relationship with Thailand since 1977, where state-owned Thai Airways International was one of its earliest customers. Bangkok Airways and Thai AirAsia are the other Airbus operators in Thailand.

In June 2018, Airbus and Thai Airways also signed an agreement to work on an MRO joint venture to be located at U-Tapao International airport. When fully operational, the facility will offer heavy maintenance and line services for all types of widebodies, and also feature specialised repair shops and a maintenance training centre.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/airbus-thai-firm-to-collaborate-on-mro-and-pilot-tr-455320/

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Aviation Connectivity Is Catching Up To Consumer Levels

Inflight connectivity is set to be one of the most transformative technologies for airline passengers and crew alike in the next few years. As increasing numbers of carriers sign up to high-speed internet services, their customers finally can expect an online experience comparable to what they receive at home, while flight and cabin personnel will benefit from a burgeoning array of applications enabled by the plummeting price of bandwidth.

The third prong of inflight connectivey (IFC) is connecting aircraft systems to ground teams, manufacturers and maintenance companies to provide real-time updates, although the main benefits of this may take longer to realize than in the passenger and crew spaces.
Passenger Connectivity

While there are myriad potential uses for IFC, it is an enhanced passenger experience that is driving the business case for airlines. As ground-based transmitters proliferate and new high-capacity, high-throughput satellites are launched, the cost of bandwidth is falling, allowing airlines to offer affordable, improved internet service to passengers. Many carriers still charge for access, of course, although many provide it free to premium customers or for a certain period of time.
 Whatever the model, IFC is creeping up on passengers' list of priorities, with at least one survey finding passengers would rather pay for inflight Wi-Fi than food.

"We now have global high-speed Wi-Fi that works well and reliably," says Kurt Weidemeyer, vice president of Inmarsat Aviation. "Until now, a lot of airlines that have installed Wi-Fi have not gotten what they expected, but the high-throughput satellites now coming online open the door for customers to get what they thought they were getting the first time."

In the past, aircraft too distant from ground transmitters had to use satellites designed to transmit TV signals, whereas the modern, Ka-band satellites from providers such as Inmarsat and Viasat are purpose-built to deliver to mobile receivers. Inmarsat currently has three Ka-band satellites providing global coverage, with a fourth in reserve, while Viasat has Ka-band coverage of North America, the Atlantic, the Caribbean, Brazil, Europe and the Middle East and Australia.

"What we have today is good enough for what people need over the next few years, but in the future, they will need more satellite capacity," says Weidemeyer. To that end, Inmarsat is launching another satellite in 2019 and two more after that, while Viasat is planning three more satellites as it targets global coverage by 2022.

Theoretically, those providers' Ka-band satellites can deliver more bandwidth than lower-frequency Ku-band technology, although the actual speed delivered to a passenger's device depends on a host of other factors. Inflight internet provider Gogo uses a "2Ku" antenna that works with Ku-band satellites. Gogo CEO Oakleigh Thorne says its system "is capable of delivering as many hundreds of [megabytes per second] to an aircraft, but today satellite bandwidth is too expensive for the airlines, or passengers, to want to pay for that."

Assessing which satellite system provides the fastest speeds is fraught with difficulty, as measurements can vary greatly at each stage of the data delivery chain. What is probably more important is the cost per kilobyte of data, since faster speeds mean little if airlines or their customers are unwilling to pay. However, increasing satellite capacity means these costs are falling rapidly.

Modifications
"All other factors being equal, Wi-Fi availability often becomes a deciding factor for potential customers, and many airlines are prioritizing the installation of IFC," says James MacDougall, senior director of connected systems at Honeywell Aerospace.

By the end of 2019, roughly 40% of commercial aircraft will have some form of IFC. Valour Consultancy estimates that 26,000 aircraft will be so equipped by 2026.

Most business for IFC providers is retrofitting aircraft rather than installing equipment on new-build aircraft. While airlines are typically ordering connectivity for new widebodies, most narrowbodies-the bulk of the global fleet-are still delivered without IFC.

This trend is opening an important new revenue stream for MRO providers that can make connectivity modifications, with Lufthansa Technik reporting growth of 6-15% per year for this segment. The German MRO provider estimates there will be IFC installations on 1,100-1,400 aircraft annually for the next five years, after which there will be a shift to upgrades as early IFC adopters renew contracts and switch to better equipment.

IFC installations are performed on a stand-alone basis and also as part of a heavy check, with installation times varying from under three days to up to two weeks. "An experienced maintenance facility usually completes one aircraft in 4-6 days, but there are only three or four companies on the planet currently capable of that," says Lukas Bucher, head of product connectivity for Lufthansa Technik (LHT).

Inmarsat and Viasat both say that MRO capacity has not constrained their ability to roll out IFC. "If an airline wants to get the kit installed fast, there's enough MRO capacity to get it done. What has been more of a limitation is the airline's ability to take an aircraft out of service for three days," says Don Buchman, vice president and general manager of Viasat's commercial aviation business.
Providers of connectivity hardware are also keen to talk up the speed of installations. Honeywell says its Jetwave satcom system can be installed in less than four days, while Thales, which offers a "light" satcom system for crew and pilot connectivity called Flytlink, quotes 100 hr.

However, from a maintenance provider's perspective, Bucher also notes that "hangar space is a precious good, which an MRO prefers to utilize for labor-intensive work."

He adds: "The man-hour burn rates are about one-third of base maintenance activities." Therefore, LHT has set up additional "low burn-rate production lines" at its facilities. In addition, the MRO provider offers a "Flexmod" installation that it can perform at an operator's hub.

Bucher also notes that connectivity installations typically begin 6-9 months after contracts are signed, whereas OEM lead times can stretch beyond two years. "In cases where the OEM is not able to deliver the airline's connectivity wish, those aircraft receive the installation shortly after delivery through an MRO," he says.

Beyond the Passenger
After delivering reliable, capable internet to passenger devices, the next priority for airlines installing connectivity is to improve their own operations. Examples includes applications to allow pilots to check real-time weather data or to enable cabin crew to see booking information or communicate with ground teams.

"Airlines know there is some low-hanging fruit, for instance by hooking up crew EFBs [electronic flight bags] to understand missed flight connections and trying to reroute people, and by hooking up pilot EFBs to get real-time weather," says Weidemeyer.

Buchman points out other applications such as voice chat for crew and online IT support, while also noting that cheaper satellite bandwidth can mean savings for airlines when transmitting data that would have previously gone out via pricier channels such as the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS).

Even so, Eric Huber, Thales Vice President for Avionics Services says, "The first, and still primary, data communication in the cockpit is ACARS."

"The connected aircraft is a solution of safety, convenience and efficiency and is no longer simply about Wi-Fi in the air," contends MacDougall at Honeywell, which offers flight operations and maintenance applications under its "GoDirect" service.

The big question for airlines and connectivity providers is what comes after the "low-hanging fruit" of applications such as weather data and flight tracking. Linking connected aircraft systems such as engines and APUs seems the logical next step, although the industry is divided about the current use case for inflight connectivity in this respect.

"The transmission of maintenance fault data during the flight, through a connected eTechlog EFB application, will significantly enhance airline maintenance operations," says Thales' Huber. He adds that the Iridium satellite network will enable more efficient polar routes, although it should be noted that most passenger connectivity will not be operational over the poles.

Another evangelist for connected systems is Honeywell, which manufactures connected equipment such as APUs as well as connectivity avionics. It believes most airlines will seek to invest in predictive maintenance systems over the next 12 months and that this will be linked to more spending on connected technologies, a trend the company expects will accelerate in the next five years.

"Due to the huge potential for cost savings and improved operations, predictive maintenance is the primary area in which airlines are looking to invest," says MacDougall.

On the other hand, wireless connectivity is not essential yet to the delivery of systems data, most of which still is downloaded on the ground rather than in flight. Buchman asks: "What's the value of real-time versus near-real-time [transmission]?" Weidemeyer states that Inmarsat is "struggling" to find applications for inflight systems data that add appreciable value. However, both men agree that such applications will eventually come.

"Before, airlines wouldn't even explore the idea [of system data transmission] because bandwidth was so expensive or limited. Now they realize they are only limited by their imaginations," says Buchman.

Gogo CEO Thorne reiterates that passenger connectivity is still driving the market, although he also sees potential in other areas. "We think there will be a lot of connected aircraft applications developed over the next few years that will demand access to real-time data on a large scale, so we expect more demand from the operations side of the airlines in the future," he says.

Future Milestones
Although passenger connectivity is rapidly improving in terms of speed, cost and coverage, IFC still has plenty of room to evolve. Perhaps the most immediate goal is to hook up more single-aisle aircraft. U.S. carriers have led in this respect, and European majors such as International
Airlines Group and Lufthansa are also implementing high-speed Wi-Fi on short- to medium-haul routes. Asia still offers a large untapped market, however. "China and India are a little behind because of regulatory and business-model issues, but we expect those to get resolved in the not-too-distant future," says Thorne.

As connectivity becomes ubiquitous, cybersecurity will become a pressing concern, as Huber notes: "Avoiding any mixability between crew and passenger data is vital and must be considered at the very early stages in the design of our systems."

Satellite providers are responding to IFC growth with plans for more launches, usually with satellites of incrementally increasing capacity and capability. Nonetheless, even the fastest satellites cannot overcome the latency time it takes to transmit signals to orbit and back. For the passenger, this translates to roughly a 0.50-sec. gap before a webpage loads, unless the aircraft is using closer ground-based relays, in which case the latency is almost eliminated. In the future, constellations of new low-Earth-orbit satellites could close the latency gap between ground and orbital systems while also further lowering bandwidth costs.

On the avionics side, electronically steered array (ESA) antennas promise several advantages over current systems, although the technology is still maturing. Potentially available as a flat panel with no moving parts, ESA antennas should be easier to install and maintain while offering similar or superior performance to current technology. In part, this is because they can link to different satellites' spot beams simultaneously.

Most industry observers expect software advances to keep pace with hardware improvements as a broader array of connectivity applications becomes viable for airlines. "Once the majority of aircraft are connected to Mother Earth, the connectivity work will shift to making use of the data pipeline by connecting further aircraft systems to the data pipeline and allowing further use cases for the crew," says Bucher.

Nonetheless, real-time predictive maintenance still awaits its "killer app"-one that will make connectivity a must-have from a fleet operations perspective. Even so, growing demand from the passenger side plus cheaper bandwidth mean that most airlines may have IFC by the time OEMs and MRO companies figure out what to do with the mushrooming quantities of data coming from engine, APU and other component sensors.

https://www.mro-network.com/cabin-interiors-inflight-entertainment/aviation-connectivity-catching-consumer-levels

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Dassault Aviation to acquire ExecuJet MRO operations

French private aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation has entered into an agreement with Luxaviation, a Luxembourg business aviation operator, to acquire its subsidiary ExecuJet, a maintenance service provider. The transfer of the technical center will be completed in 2019 after all administrative permits have been obtained, the parties report.

The chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, Erik Trapier, said that the purchase of ExecuJet, which specializes in servicing business jets, will strengthen the position of the aircraft manufacturer, especially in the Pacific, Oceania, the Middle East and Africa. The development of the Dassault Aviation customer support network will go along with the expansion of the Falcon business jets market.

Provider ExecuJet, certified by American and European aviation authorities, has permission, including maintenance of a number of models of the Falcon family.

ExecuJet provides maintenance support capabilities for a variety of executive aircrafts in 42 states. Its specialized fuselage, design and avionics services are certified by the FAA and / or EASA.

Graeme Duckworth, executive vice president MRO services Luxaviation Group, will continue to lead the MRO activities under the new shareholder. "ExecuJet will maintain its identity and its leadership. We will benefit from valuable synergies within the Dassault Group," he said.

https://beam.land/aviation/dassault-aviation-to-acquire-execujet-mro-operations-1929

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SpaceX enjoys three whole seconds of fire and fury on Pad 39A

SpaceX has finally fired up the engines of the Falcon 9 that is tasked with carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft on its demo flight.

The Merlin engines fired for around three seconds by our reckoning (the video is below for those bothered enough to count), which is a little shorter than usual.

The Static Test Fire took place yesterday on Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A, which is leased by SpaceX. The pad, which has its roots in NASA's Apollo heyday, saw the final launch of a Space Shuttle in 2011. Almost two years ago it supported its first SpaceX launch, CRS-10, to the International Space Station (ISS) and nearly exactly a year ago hosted the first SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch.

Much of the infrastructure required for the Space Shuttle has been removed over the years, with the famous Rotating Service Structure (RSS) used to cover Shuttles stripped out as was the crew access arm. The remaining structure has been repainted in a fetching shade of black and SpaceX has fitted its own sleek walkway for hopeful 'nauts to cover the final metres to a waiting Crew Dragon capsule.

While the test itself occurred at 2100 UTC, SpaceX didn't actually confirm it until some hours later, a clue to the scrutiny the company is under for this most critical of launches. A launch would normally follow a week or two later. For example, the Falcon Heavy had its engines fired up a year ago (on 24 January 2018) and launched just under a fortnight later on 6 February 2018.

The Crew Dragon is likely to spend a bit more time waiting for its turn. The launch date has enjoyed a relentless march to the right, with mutterings circulating that 23 February is now in the frame. That date could easily slip deep into March if the ISS partners get twitchy about SpaceX's Demo-1 mission turning up at around the same time as a Soyuz and, er, a SpaceX cargo Dragon.

SpaceX supremo Elon Musk told his devoted Twitter following that if all goes well, pad 39A might see a crewed flight once more by the summer.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/25/spacex_crew_dragon/

Curt Lewis