Aviation Sourcing Solutions Blog

This spring will mark the first of the new Kaman Aerosystems external-left helicopters to begin delivery. The K-Max K-1200 will begin rolling out in April, with the second batch of helicopters set to fly in April of this year. The fleet of helicopters are to be used for the China Department of Forestry. They will arrive in both months at Lectern Aviation in China prior to being distributed to the Department of Forestry. K-Max has been out of production for ten plus years. This will mark the first return for this helicopter since it halted production in 2003.

US carrier Delta Air Lines will be joining a bid to save Japan's bankrupt carrier Skymark, possibly providing the North American carrier an exceptional entrance point into the domestic Japanese market. Delta would become a minority shareholder in Skymark Airlines Inc. as it plans to buy as much as 20 percent of the company’s shares. This would give the US airline access to domestic landing slots at Tokyo's Haneda airport.

Launched in February of 2014, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Core Satellite’s Microwave Imager manufactured by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation has proved to be the most accurately calibrated radiometer in the GPM project’s history. Carried out by NASA’s Precipitation Measurement X-Cal working group, the project serves to measure and record precipitation data from low and medium Earth orbits.

For the first time in the industry, additive manufacturing will be used to produce jet engine parts. Pratt & Whitney has been working with additive manufacturing since the 1980s. More than 100,000 prototype parts have already been produced using additive manufacturing over the past 25 years. Pratt & Whitney will use additive manufacturing to produce compressor stators and synch ring brackets for its production engines. Also called three-dimensional printing, additive manufacturing builds parts one layer at a time. Successive layers of material are laid down under computer control. The objects produced can be almost any size, shape or geometry.

Since when the Boeing 777 made its debut in June of 1995, its performance has been unmatched. The airplane has flown just under five million flights and has accumulated over 18 million flight hours. The 777 is the biggest breadwinner of Boeing’s fleet, easily making the most sales. It is the most popular and commercially successful twin aisle aircraft of all time.

The first of these engines is the GE90-115B, manufactured by GE Aviation. This engine generates up to 115,300 pounds of thrust at sea level which makes it the world’s most powerful commercial jet engine. At a GE testing facility in 2002, the engine generated 127,900 pounds of thrust which secured it a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. The GE90-115B engine was specifically developed for the Boeing 777 series and over 1,000 engines are currently in service with Boeing. The engine is 135 inches in diameter and 287 inches long. Its aerodynamic design allows the light blades to minimize the engine weight while also drawing large amounts of air into the engine.

UTC Aerospace Systems, one of the largest suppliers in the world of aerospace and defense materials, put their newest innovations on display this year at the National Business Aviation Association’s (NBAA) 2014 Annual Meeting and Convention. Their newest products are primarily for business jet cabin interiors, including but not limited to seating, interior and exterior aircraft lighting, life rafts, rescue laser flares, and veneers.

Growing impressively to Reach Heights: Bell Aerospace and Technologies Corporation, or more commonly known as Bell Aerospace, manufactures spacecraft and other components for the defense, civil aircraft, and commercial space markets. Bell Aerospace, headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, was founded in 1956, when it began building pointing controls and other components for military rockets. One of its first notable accomplishments was being awarded a contract to build one of NASA's spacecraft, the Orbiting Solar Observatory, which was a space program that involved nine American science satellites that were built to study the Sun between 1962 and 1975. Over the next several decades, Bell Aerospace also spearheaded several technological and scientific projects that continue to provide aerospace technology and components to NASA as well as other industries. Their scope of services for the aerospace industry also includes: