Tag Archives: MRO

741 Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance

We look at how the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance advances an aerospace cluster. In the news, the American Airlines flight attendant union asks for compensation increases, the last year for the air races at Reno, and the first Boeing Dreamliners to leave service are being parted out. Also, an Australia News Desk report, the State of NASA, hydrogen fuel, Rolls Royce F130 engine testing, an Aerospace Media Awards call for nominations, and Boeing 747-400 N401PW.

Guest

Nikki Malcom photo. Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance CEO and Executive Director.
Nikki Malcom

Nikki Malcom is the CEO and Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance (PNAA), a non-profit trade association that promotes the growth and global competitiveness of the Pacific Northwest aerospace cluster.  The PNAA holds conferences and educational events, provides market intelligence, conducts B2B meetings, and provides networking opportunities.

The region is attractive for aerospace companies because it has a built-in “ecosystem” and offers sustainability advantages for the industry. The workforce is skilled but Nikki feels that diversity needs to be taken more seriously by the industry. She also comments on the conservative and risk-averse reputation that aerospace holds, and the ongoing supply chain challenges.

Nikki encourages others to join the aerospace industry, and volunteers on multiple trade school advisory boards and STEM education programs in an effort to promote the message that “Aerospace is for Everyone.” To support the effort of encouraging more women and girls to join the aerospace industry, she registered National Women in Aerospace Day for May 20th and is continuing that campaign to celebrate all of the cutting-edge work being done by women to advance the industry past, present, and future. 

Nikki has spent the past 23 years dedicated to the aerospace industry. She has had roles in supply chain, business development, and executive leadership in companies ranging from materials to manufacturing and testing. She’s obsessed with all things aviation and aerospace, including manufacturing, and is also president of NFM Enterprises, LLC. Nikki is looking forward to chasing her dream of pursuing her private pilot’s license this year!

See: Washington state aerospace companies take off for AVALON airshow and exposition in Australia this week.

From the Washington State Dept. of Commerce: Aerospace & Aviation.

Aviation News

American Airlines Flight Attendants Demand 35% Hike in Hourly Pay Rates and Boarding Pay in Latest Contract Proposals

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) represents about 23,000 members at American Airlines. They are demanding a 35 percent hike in hourly pay rates, boarding pay of 50% of the standard hourly rate (the same as Delta), pay increases for galley work and night shifts, increased per diem allowance rates, a “me too” clause that would automatically increase allowances if pilots won a higher rate, and an hourly pay rate increase of 6 percent in each of the three contract years.

Related: American Airlines CEO Offers Pilots Up To $590K In Pay.

Reno Stead Airport to Hold its Final National Championship Air Races Event in 2023

The Reno Air Racing Association issued a statement saying, “While we knew this day might come, we had hoped it wouldn’t come so soon. Citing the region’s significant growth amongst other concerns, the Reno Tahoe Airport Authority has made the decision to sunset the event. However, we are confident the event will continue. In fact, we are currently exploring several other possible locations to host the event in the future.” The National Championship Air Races have been taking place outside Reno since 1964. See To Our Loyal Fans and Passionate Community.

Two 10-year-old Boeing 787 Dreamliners are already being scrapped

Two former Norwegian Air Shuttle Boeing 787-8s are being parted out at Prestwick Airport near Glasgow, Scotland. These were delivered in June and August 2013 and are the first Dreamliners to be retired. The Dublin-based EirTrade Aviation is managing the disassembly. The planes were coming up to their 12-year heavy maintenance check.

Australia News Desk

ATSB releases preliminary report from on-going Gold Coast helicopter mid-air collision investigation

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) this week released a preliminary report into the collision of two EC130 helicopters on January 2nd, at the Gold Coast in Queensland, resulting in the loss of four lives. It is important to note that this is not the full finding of the investigation – only a preliminary, high-level overview.  The full findings will be many months away, or longer.

Straddie ‘brewairy’ flight takes beer tasting to new heights

Grant’s found a new air-charter operation further north in Queensland which combines his love of flying with his other great passion….beer!   The company is called Brewairy and allows tourists to climb on board a Cessna and sample a few local ales while making the short hop to Stradbroke Island.  At last news, Grant was hightailing his way north to file a first-hand report…

More flying coffees forecast as Google to expand drone tech

Switching from beer to coffee, Australians could see many more of them flying around the suburbs after Google announced plans to test technology designed to load its drones and boost the number of airborne deliveries.

Mentioned

Alyssa Carson –  Future Mars Walker, creator of the Blueberry Foundation. Find her on LinkedIn. The Spring 2023 Issue of Let’s Go Aerospace magazine has an article about Alyssa.

Inside the world of aviation, space and defense news with the team behind Hype Aviation – The GeekWire Podcast talks with Isaac Alexander and Robin Koenig of Hype: Aviation, Defense and Space News.

Video: 2023 ‘State of NASA’ Address from Administrator Bill Nelson

Hydrogen colours codes

Video: Rolls-Royce Begins F130 Dual Pod Engine Test For B52 Aircraft

The 2023 Aerospace Media Awards, Fourth Call for Nominations, closing date – 31st March.

Delta Flight Museum, Boeing 747-400

Hosts this Episode

Max Flight, Rob Mark, and Max Trescott. Contributions by Grant McHerron and Steve Visscher.

Episode 217 – Fleet Forecasting

Photo by Stephen Tornblom

Guest Nigel Howarth is Senior Fleet Analyst with Aviation Week. We talk with Nigel about fleet forecasts and Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) forecasts: who purchases fleet forecasts, how these forecasts are developed, and how they are used to help a variety of aviation companies plan their manpower, other resources, and capabilities. Nigel also talks about the linkage between the price of oil and regional jet retirements, and comments on the Embraer and CSeries outlook. Nigel gives us a taste for just how complicated MRO forecasting is, and that segment is such a large part of the market, both commercial and military.

Airplane Geeks listener John Arvin joins us as a Special Guest Co-host. John is an airline pilot and the man behind The Aviation Advocate. Find John on Twitter as @theAvAdvocate.

The week’s aviation news:

In this week’s Australia Desk report:

The hangover from the Australian Football League grand final is evident as Steve’s team, the Hawks, lost to the Sydney Swans….but in aviation news, Air New Zealand announces a share buy back while several members of its board of management are leaving, Qantas contemplates removing each of their A380s from service for up to eight weeks at a time to repair wing cracks, a study this week also finds that Qantas is losing domestic market share while Virgin remains steady and Tiger Airways increases, CASA commences a study into the use of RAAF Base Richmond as a temporary second Sydney airport, as farewell activities get into gear for the retiring RAAF C130H fleet, a website has sprung up showing what’s happening and when – any former C130H personnel are invited to attend – details at C130-H: End of an era.

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124. Australia Desk archives can be found at www.australiadesk.net.

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

Pieter is granted behind the scenes access to the Royal Navy Heritage Flight based at RNAS Yeovilton in the UK. This is the first segment of a 4 programme mini series we are producing in partnership with the RNHF to promote their work. In this episode Pieter talks to Display Manager Katie Campbell about the purpose of the RNHF and how it delivers its services. Future segments will cover behind the scenes in the hanger and a discussion with the pilot of the Fairey Swordfish. See Royal Navy Historic Flight and Fly Navy Heritage Trust.

Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on his blog Alpha Tango Papa, on Facebook at XTPMedia, and at the Aviation Xtended podcast.

Mentions:

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 86 – Airplane Spotting with Phil

NYCAviation.com spotters

Phil Derner, Jr., the founder of NYCAviation joins Max, Rob, and David as they discuss the week’s aviation news and talk about the sport of airplane spotting. NYCAviation provides airline news and resources for aviation enthusiasts, as well as spotting guides and other great information. (That’s Phil above, with the camera.)

David Vanderhoof has his This Week in Aviation segment, and Steve Visscher and Grant McHerron from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast have their Australia Desk report.

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

This episode’s opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. Visit his site at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.

Episode 31 – Maintenance with Kevin Michaels

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUBv-ph4820[/youtube]

Max and Court spend some time with Kevin Michaels of the AeroStrategy Management Consulting group talking about the week’s event’s.  Kevin lend’s his expertice on aircraft maintenance and a variety of other topics.  We always have a good amount of news to discuss, and this week was no different:

Top 5 Mainstream Travel Blogs

What Happened on Flight 1549, Inside and Out

Effort under way to remove aviation restriction from rescue package



Max’s pick of the week is http://planehook.com/.

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