The future of USS Milwaukee

  It takes teamwork to make a SPLASH like this happen! See how we helped launch the U.S. Navy’s fifth Littoral Combat Ship, the future USS Milwaukee, today: http://ow.ly/rTIjQ

Brazilian Government Agreement with Gripen NG

  The Brazilian government today announced the selection of Gripen NG. The announcement today will be followed by negotiations with the Brazilian Air Force aiming at a procurement of 36 Gripen NG. 

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(Photo: Katsuhiko Tokunaga) 

Electric taxiing Solution from HONEYWELL

  BIG NEWS: Airbus signed an agreement with Honeywell and Safran to develop an electric taxiing solution for A320 family. Read more: http://hwll.co/vrqk 

A nice Shot of GE

  A gas turbine service manual can sometimes be over 1,000 pages long. Thanks to the Industrial Internet, the reading just got a whole lot lighter. 

Aircraft Check Letter Stuff

Let's now examine how they are grouped into efficient work packages.Packages are constructed by dividing the maintenance tasks into convenient, bite-size chunks to minimize the time the airplane is out of service, to keep the maintenance workload level, and to maximize the use of maintenance facilities.Scheduled maintenance tasks are grouped into work packages known as blocks. The complete package is sometimes referred to as a complete overhaul cycle. The concept is called block maintenance or sometimes progressive maintenance.The following groupings typically illustrate the concept, and Figure 1 shows how they all interact.
Daily check
 This check travels under several common names and post-flight, maintenance pre-flight, service check, and overnight to name a few. It is the lowest scheduled check. Walk around inspection by flight crew is not normally a part of a maintenance program. A daily check is a cursory inspection of the aircraft to look for obvious damage and deterioration. It checks for "general condition and security" and reviews the aircraft log for discrepancies and corrective action. The accomplishment of the daily check requires little in the way of specific equipment, tools, or facilities.A basic requirement is that the airplane remains airworthy. Usually, a daily check is accomplished every 24 to 60 hours of accumulated flight time.
Examples of daily check items include:
• Visually inspect ta il skid shock strut pop-up indicator
• Check fluid levels
• Check general security and cleanliness of the flight deck
• Check that emergency equipment is installed
'A' check
This is the next higher level of scheduled maintenance. It is normally accomplished at a designated maintenance station in the route structure and includes the opening of access panels to check and service certain items. Some limited special tooling, servicing, and test equipment is required. The 'A' check includes the lower check, i.e. Daily check.
Examples of 'A' check items include:
• General external visual inspection of aircraft structure for evidence of damage, deformation, corrosion, missing parts 
• Check crew oxygen system pressure 
• Operationally check emergency lights
• Lubricate nose gear retract actuator
• Check parking brake accumulator pressure
• Perform Built-in Test Equipment (BITE) test of Flap/Slat Electronics Unit'B' checkThis is a slightly more detailed check of components and systems. Special equipment and tests may be required. It does not involve, however, detailed disassembly or removal of components.Contemporary maintenance programs do not use the 'B' check interval. For a number of reasons, the tasks formerly defined for this interval have, for many airplanes, been distributed between the 'A' and 'C' check.
Heavy checks
The following two checks are traditionally known as heavy checks. They are normally accomplished at the main maintenance base of the airline where specialized manpower, materials, tooling, and hangar facilities are available.'C' check: This is an extensive check of individual systems and components for serviceability and function. It requires a thorough visual inspection of specified areas, components and systems as well as operational or functional checks. It is a high-level check that involves extensive tooling, test equipment, and special skill levels. 'C' checks remove the airplane from the revenue schedule for 3 to 5 days. The 'C' check includes the lower checks, i.e. 'A,' 'B,' and Daily checks.Examples of 'C' check items:• Visually check flight compartment escape ropes for condition and security • Check operation of DC bus tie control unit• Visually check the condition of entry door seals• Operationally check flap asymmetry system • Pressure decay check APU fuel line shroud • Inspect engine inlet TAI ducting for cracks• Operationally check RAT deployment and system 'D' check: This can also be referred to as the Structural check. It includes detailed visual and other non-destructive test inspections of the aircraft structure. It is an intense inspection of the structure for evidence of corrosion, structural deformation, cracking, and other signs of deterioration or distress and involves extensive disassembly to gain access for inspection. Special equipment and techniques are used. Structural checks are man-hour and calendar-time intensive. The 'D' check includes the lower checks, i.e. 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and Daily checks. This check removes the airplane from service for 20 or more days. Examples of 'D' check items include:• Inspect stabilizer attach bolts• Inspect floor beams• Detailed inspection of wing box structureVariationsThere are variations of block maintenance. One of those variations is called a phase check — don't be confused by the variety of names. The number of scheduled maintenance tasks for a large airplane like the 747 are extensive, and this is particularly true for the higher 'C' and 'D' checks. Their accomplishment can remove the airplane from service for several weeks. This is considered unacceptable as it defeats the concept of removing the airplane from service in small, manageable blocks. One solution is to divide these higher checks into segmented blocks or phases.A typical phase check provides for a thorough visual inspection of specified areas, components, and systems as well as operational or functional checks of specified components and systems. Each check includes the requirements of traditional lower check work items and portions of 'C' and 'D' checks at the required task intervals.Phase checks are typically accomplished at 200 to 800 flight-hour intervals, depending upon the work packaging plan and other airline operating variables.Block maintenance is further modified when examining the special requirements of high-time/high-cycle airplanes. Older airplanes have increased maintenance tasks defined. This includes supplemental structural inspections, corrosion control programs, and aging system checks.Executive and VIP airplanes have low utilization and represent another variation of block concepts. Task, intervals and blocks defined by the MRB are based upon the higher utilization levels of air carrier operations. They don't work for VIP airplanes. Consequently, separate packages are developed for VIP airplanes that are predominantly based upon calendar time.Contemporary practice removes the packaging of maintenance tasks from the MRB process. When a MSG analysis is conducted only the tasks and intervals are identified. The packaging into manageable blocks is left to the operator of the airplane.Check packages The final item is to prepare a check package that bundles mandatory and discretionary maintenance tasks.
Mandatory tasks include:
• The scheduled check (example and 'C' check)
 • AD Note accomplishment
 • Certification Maintenance Requirement (CMR) inspections 
• Clearance of deferred maintenance (MEL) items
• Hard time changes including such items as time/cycle-controlled or life-limited parts
 • Ad Hoc maintenance such as corrosion control, structural repair, system repairs, component removal and replacement
• Special operator or manufacturer initiated inspectionsDiscretionary tasks include:
 • Service Bulletin accomplishment to improve departure reliability
 • Installing passenger acceptance, appearance, and convenience items or cost reduction items 
• Sampling inspections to gather data for check escalations etc. 
• Component replacement for convenience
• Replacement of Configuration Deviation List (CDL) itemsReturn to service The completed check package is gathered together and all the task cards, reference materials, and parts are shipped out to the hangar. The mechanics do their checks and repairs, and the airplane is returned to service.Packaging is detailed, and there are many variations of the concept. Understanding is further complicated by the fact that packaging concepts have evolved over the past 50 years. Once an airplane uses a given packaging scheme, it is rarely changed to a more advanced technique.Remember that blocks have numerous other names within the maintenance community, so don't let this confuse you. The exact nomenclature, composition, and number of blocks vary between operators. Thus, the maintenance packaging program for an A-340 or 777 is different from that followed by a 727/DC-8 generation airplane.That's all there is to this 'A' check, 'C' check stuff.

Turkish Airlines planned to Fly Sydney soon

Despite Qantas’s long-cherished ambition to become the first airline to operate the world’s longest non-stop air route between Australia and Europe, it is expected to be beaten to the prize in the next three years by the world’s fastest-growing carrier, Turkish Airlines.From its base in Istanbul – the eastern-most point of the European continent* – Turkish will launch its first service to Sydney in 2014, according to its current plans. But the service will initially have a stop in Asia before later becoming non-stop as the airline acquires aircraft designed to do such ultra-long-haul services.It would be the longest commercial air service in the world – although that honour is currently held by Singapore Airlines’ six-days-a-week service from Singapore to New York Newark airport 8285 nautical miles (15, 544 kilometres) away, which takes just under 19 hours.AdvertisementWith rising fuel prices and falling “yields” (average fares), that all-business-class service with just 100 seats in an Airbus A340-500 airliner that normally seats up to 300 people will be discontinued later this yearmaking Qantas' Sydney-Dallas flights the world's longest haul. Airbus no longer builds the A340.By comparison, Istanbul-Sydney is 8076 nautical miles (14,956 kilometres). The only current-production airliner that can do the trip is the 250-300-seat Boeing 777-200LR (LR for long range) – the plane that Qatar Airways currently uses for its daily services from Melbourne and Perth to Doha. Turkish has a shorter-range, larger version of the same plane, the 777-300ER (used by Virgin Australia for services to the US), which is expected to be used for the initial service to Sydney via a stop in Asia.The advantage for Australians heading to Europe is that Turkish Airlines’ base in Istanbul is within easy Boeing 737/Airbus A320 range of every European city. The carrier has around 50 cities in its European network, which would put even more Euro destinations within one stop of Sydney when the non-stop goes online in two or three years.That’s many more fast connections from Sydney than the rapidly expanding Arabian Gulf airlines currently have because they are forced to use bigger planes to Europe, which means diminished frequencies.Turkish Airlines chief executive Temel Kotil said last week the carrier’s fast growth rate is expected to continue for several years. “By 2020, we are going to transport 100 million passengers, offering 2,000 flights per day,” he toldAir Transport World.“We receive a new aircraft nearly every day,” Kotil said, adding the airline is expecting a 30% passenger growth rate this year.He said the airline’s first flights to Australia, beginning in 2014, couldn’t start earlier due to a shortage of aircraft.In 1989, as the government-owned Australian national carrier, Qantas operated a demonstration flight from London’s Heathrow airport to Sydney, using a new Boeing 747-400 being delivered via Europe from the factory in Seattle, USA.The flight took 20 hours and 10 minutes using special fuel and slower-than-normal air speed to get the ultra-long-journey of 9188 nautical miles (17,016 kilometres), although the flight covered an extra 1000 kilometres for operational reasons.Qantas is still working with Boeing to develop a version of the 777 that can fly an economical payload of passengers on the route in a regular commercial service taking as little as 19 hours from Heathrow to Sydney.In the meantime, Qantas operate the world’s longest Boeing 747-400 non-stop service daily from Sydney to Dallas, USA, 7454 nautical miles (13,804 kilometres) away, although the return service operates via Brisbane because westerly headwinds put Sydney beyond the plane’s range.Would you opt for Turkish Airlines in order to reach European destinations faster? Have you flown Turkish Airlines? What is your assessment of the in-flight standards and seating comfort? Would you sit in a plane for 18 hours or more to get to Europe non-stop? Would you rather break the journey in Asia or the Middle East? Post your comments below.* The Bosphorus - the strait that connects the Black Sea with the Mediterranean just east of Istanbul - is thought of as the easternmost point of the European continent, though, by some accounts, it may be Russia's Ural Mountains. But please don't get sidetracked by debating this point in the comments - stick to the main topic as outlined above.UPDATE 04/06/13: Turkish Airlines says its European network now has 85 destinations with the addition of six cities in June - Marseille (France), Constanta (Romania), Tallinn (Estonia), Vilnius (Lithuania) and Luxembourg,following the addition of Al-Qassim (Saudi Arabia).

New Route for Etihad Airways

(UAE) national airline Etihad Airways India Rajasthani capital of the state of the "Pink City" is getting ready to perform daily flights to Caypur.

The Aircraft that leaved the Runway

Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767-300 type aircraft comes to a malfunction, the plane landed at the airport with a runway length of 1,600 meters had to. Output can not be stopped at the end of the runway the plane lands on the floor.

El-Al Starts New Flight to Turkey After 5 Years

Director General of Civil Aviation Israel Giora Romm, El Al's flights could start next summer from Turkey expressed. The time for Israel to airlines not put any limitations.

Biggest Aviation Agreement in the World

The world's largest aircraft leasing company title ILFC bought by AERCAP.Aercal Holding, American International Group within the aircraft leasing company ılfc's 100 percent of the purchased.41 billion dollar assets reaching AERCAP in its fleet thousand 300 aircraft found to have ordered the 385. Merger between two giant groups will be completed in the second quarter of 2014.