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Press Release: American Airlines and Transport Workers Union Agree

“American Airlines and the Transport Workers Union have reached two tentative agreements in principle for the Simulator Technician workgroup and the Ground School and Simulator Pilot Instructor workgroup.
“These tentative agreements provide our Simulator Technicians and Ground School and Simulator Pilot Instructors with market-based compensation, including structural increases, and enhancements to other contract items such as vacation and holidays.
“Both parties worked collaboratively during this negotiating process to reach tentative agreements that address the interests of our TWU-represented employees and the company.
“It is our understanding the TWU will provide details of the agreements and the voting process to its members in the coming days.

“American Airlines has more than 50,000 employees represented by unions, including approximately 80 simulator technicians and approximately 160 ground school and simulator pilot instructors.”

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    Continental Announces New Tentative Agreement With Flight Attendants

    CHICAGO, Jan. 4, 2011

    Continental Airlines today announced that it has reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) representing Continental flight attendants. The IAM is expected to hold a ratification vote in the coming weeks.

    “The negotiation teams were able to reach a fair agreement that is another positive step forward as we work to combine our companies,” said Sam Risoli, vice president of Inflight Service for the combined company.

    The agreement covers approximately 9,300 Continental flight attendants located throughout the United States.

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    Press Release – Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers Share Safety Data

    For Immediate Release
    September 22, 2010

    WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today announced a safety program that for the first time will integrate voluntary safety information self-reported by pilots and air traffic controllers. This data-sharing program will give the FAA a more complete picture of the national airspace system by collecting, assessing and reviewing safety events from the perspective of both pilots and air traffic controllers.

    United Airlines and its pilots have the first agreement in place to participate in a demonstration program. The FAA expects to sign similar agreements with other carriers in the future.

    “Safety is our number-one priority,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Having pilots and controllers provide information abut potential air safety problems will help us correct them before they become accidents.”

    “This revolutionary program will give us an incredible amount of data that will help us find problems, make corrections and avoid incidents,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “I applaud air traffic controllers, pilots and airlines for their dedication to keeping our aviation system as safe as possible.”

    For the first time, information from the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) and the Air Traffic Safety Action Program (ATSAP) will be merged, so input from both pilots and controllers can help guide safety decisions. The program will develop processes and policies to share and analyze relevant safety information in a non-punitive way, consistent with the basic principles of Safety Management Systems. These systems are widely used within the FAA and the aviation industry.

    ASAP encourages aviation employees to voluntarily report safety information that may help identify potential precursors to accidents. The ASAP process resolves safety issues through corrective action rather than through punishment or discipline. Each program is based on a safety partnership that includes the FAA and the aviation operator, and usually includes a third party, such as the reporting employee’s labor organization. In today’s agreement, the airline’s labor organization is the United chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). Today, 73 air carriers have 169 ASAP programs for pilots, mechanics, flight attendants, and dispatchers.

    ATSAP is an agreement between the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) that is designed to foster a voluntary, cooperative, non-punitive environment for FAA air traffic employees to openly report safety concerns As a result of ATSAP, all parties have access to valuable safety information that otherwise might never have been discovered or reported. The FAA analyzes the information to develop skill enhancements or system corrective actions that will help solve safety problems.

    Voluntary reporting programs have significantly contributed to the nation’s impressive aviation safety record, including improvements to training and enhanced operations and maintenance procedures.

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    Air Transport Association Congratulates Senate on FAA Bill Passage That Furthers NextGen and Creates Thousands of U.S. Jobs

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Air Transport Association of America (ATA), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, today congratulated Chairman Jay Rockefeller, Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison and the Senate for passage of the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act (S.223), which will help create jobs and modernize the air traffic control system. A modernized air traffic management system will improve operational efficiency, reduce fuel consumption and emissions, and lower airline operating costs.

    “This bill moves the United States toward our goal of enabling a safe, sustainable and profitable airline industry that provides good value to customers and promotes global competitiveness,” said ATA President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio. “We applaud the leadership and significant work to pass a bill that reflects a continued commitment to safety and modernization of the air traffic control system by requiring that FAA establish and track performance metrics.”

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    ICAO Press Release: Safety Conference

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    STRONG CONSENSUS REACHED AT ICAO SAFETY CONFERENCE ON WAYS TO REDUCE ACCIDENTS
    MONTREAL, 1 April 2010 – A High-Level Safety Conference which concluded today established a strong mandate for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to create a strategy to further reduce the global accident rate, through the sharing of safety-related information among Member States and the air transport industry.

    More than 600 participants at the four-day event, attended by Ministers and Directors General of Civil Aviation from 150 Member countries as well as industry representatives, recommended that ICAO create a global safety information exchange to enable analysis of key safety indicators. This will guide future strategic decisions related to the evolution of today’s air transportation system. The Conference called upon ICAO to facilitate the collection, analysis and dissemination of safety information provided by States and industry partners, throughout the international aviation community.

    The Conference further recommended that ICAO develop processes to give the general public access to relevant safety information, thereby allowing them to make an informed decision about the safety of air transportation and to further ensure that such information is used solely to improve aviation safety and not for retribution or the purpose of gaining economic advantage.

    “We have traditionally focused our efforts on accident reports as a means to improve safety. This new approach will help us to better identify and deal with safety threats before they result in accidents”, said Roberto Kobeh González, President of the Council of ICAO.

    “Regulators and industry must come to manage safety-critical information in the same way that they view accidents. Both must become triggers for action in preventing accidents,” he added.

    On Tuesday, ICAO, the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States (FAA), the Commission of the European Union (EC) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) signed a Declaration of Intent on the development of a global safety information exchange agreement.

    In the months to come, the parties will establish an operational framework for the information exchange. It will address technical, confidentiality, legal and policy implications, as well as the relevance and timing of information collected.

    “ICAO has long promoted the concept of information sharing on a global scale so as to connect the various databases of regulators and industry. The recommendation from the Conference and the Declaration of Intent represent a breakthrough in achieving our objective of better utilizing data to reduce the accident rate globally and in specific regions and States around the world,” Mr. Kobeh emphasized.

    On the question of black boxes, the Conference recommended that ICAO look into technical enhancements that would improve the ability to locate and recover the units, such as longer time periods for signals, better resistance to crashes and floatability.

    “While the electronic transmission of information during flights is progressively improving, black boxes will remain absolutely indispensable for years to come as the primary source of technical data in cases of accidents or incidents,” Mr. Kobeh said.

    The Conference also called on States and industry to ensure improved communication and surveillance of flights over oceanic and remote areas through the use of all available technologies.

    Reaffirming the fundamental mission of ICAO to ensure the safety of international civil aviation, the Conference endorsed the creation of a new Annex to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, one dedicated exclusively to safety management principles.

    Recommendations from the Conference will be submitted to the Council of ICAO for consideration in the coming weeks.

    – END –

    PIO.04.10.ENGLISH PIO.04.10.FRENCH PIO.04.10.SPANISH PIO.04.10.RUSSIAN PIO.04.10.ARABIC PIO.04.10.CHINESE

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    Sharing of Information highlight of second day of Safety Conference
    March 30, 2010 — oacicomm
    On the second day of the High-level safety Conference, the more than 600 participants from some 150 ICAO Member States and industry unequivocally endorsed the twin concepts of transparency and sharing of safety-related information among States and with major stakeholders within the global aviation community, as well as with the general public.

    There was agreement that ICAO should be the body charged with coordinating the integration of the safety information provided by the international community as well as for the dissemination of safety intelligence. To that end, ICAO would convene a group of experts to define and harmonize safety metrics, associated data requirements and analysis processes.

    ICAO would also develop a code of conduct on the sharing of safety information, so as to ensure that such information is used solely to improve aviation safety and not for retribution or the purpose of gaining economic advantage.

    Processes would be developed to provide the general public with access to relevant safety information which would allow them to make an informed decision about the safety of air transportation.

    Recommendations on these and other items will be reviewed and approved on the final day of the Conference, Thursday, 1 April. Recommendations will subsequently be submitted to the ICAO Council for consideration in the coming weeks.

    Earlier in the Conference, in line with the discussions on the sharing of information as a means to improve aviation safety levels around the world, ICAO and three other State and industry parties signed a Declaration of Intent on the Development of a Global Safety Information Exchange Agreement: the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States (FAA); the Commission of the European Union (EC); and the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

    In the weeks to come, representatives of the signatories will produce a work plan incorporating the following activities and concepts: identification of the safety information gathered by the Participants that would be most relevant to the enhancement of risk reduction activities; identification of the legal or policy constraints, if any, on the ability of Participants to share this information among the parties and development of mechanisms to overcome these constraints; identification of the appropriate timing of that information sharing; development of an efficient mechanism to ensure that this information is used to generate safety intelligence and identify critical safety trends in a timely fashion; development of policies and procedures to safeguard proprietary, confidentially submitted, and/or personal information in line with relevant applicable privacy laws, data sharing policies and regulations standardization of aspects of the audit metrics, data taxonomies etc, to maximize effective utilization of the safety information gathered in this process; and determination of how to disseminate this information globally as appropriate.

    Tomorrow the conference will discuss the creation of a new Annex to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, one dedicated to safety processes.

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    HAL and GE Aviation Sign Contract for Hawk Aircraft Components

    Bengaluru, INDIA– GE Aviation and India’s premium public sector Aerospace Company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) have signed 30-year contract that covers license to carry out repairs and overhaul of various avionics, instruments and hydraulic products for the Hawk Mk132 aircraft, an Advanced Jet Trainer operated by the Indian Air Force.

    This license will provide in-house repair and overhaul capabilities to HAL for GE Aviation products and reduce turn-around-time for the repairs. HAL will build its maintenance, repair and overhaul capabilities at its Bangalore and Korwa facilities in India. The current schedule calls for the Bangalore facility to be certified for repair and overhaul of hydraulics and instruments and the Korwa facility to be certified for avionics.

    As part of the license agreement, GE will develop, supply and commission the test equipment and supply technical data. The agreement also includes training, technical support, post design services for one year, and spares services.

    “HAL has more than 70 years of providing high quality manufacturing, research and development, and repair and overhaul services in India,” said Nalin Jain, country director for GE Aviation. “Adding overhaul for avionics, instruments and hydraulic products is the perfect expansion of HAL’s capabilities.”

    Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is a Navaratna Status Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Defense. HAL has 19 Production Units and nine Research and Design Centers in seven locations in India. The Company has an impressive product track record – 15 types of aircraft manufactured with in-house R & D and 14 types produced under license. HAL’s current products with in-house R & D include Tejas, the Light Combat Aircraft, Dhruv, the Advance Light Helicopter and the Light Combat Helicopter. HAL has manufactured more than 3,640 aircraft, 4,000 engines and overhauled more than 9,400 aircraft and 29,800 engines. http://www.hal-india.com

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  • Chromalloy Announces New Thermal Barrier Coating to Enhance Aircraft Engine Efficiency

    ‘Low K’ Ceramic Coating Better Insulates Components, Allows Hotter Engine Operating Temperatures

    ORANGEBURG, N.Y., Feb. 1, 2011
    — Chromalloy announced today that its new thermal barrier coating enhances the performance of gas turbine engines.

    “Chromalloy’s new thermal barrier coating – the RT-35 Low K coating – provides lower thermal conductivity, which allows higher engine temperatures,” said Dr. Peter Howard, Vice President, Technology and Quality Assurance.

    The RT-35 Low K coating was patented by Chromalloy in 2006 and certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2010 for use on the PW4000 second stage high pressure turbine blade after a series of tests confirming its low thermal conductivity, high thermal cycle durability and other attributes.

    The coating is currently in use by a commercial airline in Asia.

    The RT-35 Low K coating provides a layer of insulation to the base metal component and underlying bond coating surface of a turbine blade from the extreme heat of the combustion gases during engine during operation.

    “The coating provides 50-percent lower thermal conductivity, allowing engines to perform at higher temperatures,” Howard said. “Engines produce greater thrust when operating at higher temperature – and they can operate on the same amount of fuel as powerplants that operate at lower temperatures.

    “Chromalloy’s RT-35 Low K coating is a critical driver for the engine to deliver greater fuel efficiency to the operator,” he said.

    In addition, the RT-35 Low K coating increases the oxidation and corrosion resistance of the underlying bond coating as it is cooler and thus extends the life of the engine components – another cost saving for the operator.

    Chromalloy has been a pioneer in the development of innovative ceramic coatings for turbine engine “gas path” or hot section components for six decades, Chromalloy developed the industry’s first Electron Beam Physical Vapor Deposition (EBPVD) coatings with ceramic materials in the 1980s. Since that time the company has continued to develop innovative coatings for aerospace, aero-derivative, marine and industrial gas turbine components.
    Chromalloy produces a variety of vacuum plasma and diffused precious metal / aluminide coatings for all hot section engine components. The company is a supplier to aircraft operators for new and repair components, as well as to the leading engine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

    With 52 sales, repair and manufacturing locations in 17 countries, Chromalloy is the world’s largest independent supplier of technologically advanced repairs, coatings, and FAA-approved replacement parts for turbine airfoils and other critical engine components for commercial airlines, the military and industrial turbine engine applications.

    The company’s engineered components and blades are subject to the same FAA requirements and scrutiny as OEM-produced equipment.

    Chromalloy’s replacement parts for aircraft engines are FAA certified to meet or exceed the performance, reliability and durability specifications of original equipment manufacturer parts. In support of marine and land-based gas turbines, the company employs identical engineering disciplines used to produce its FAA-certified parts.

    The company’s continued investment in research and development of coatings and repair and manufacturing technology has led to the development of electron beam physical vapor deposition with ceramic materials, vacuum plasma, diffused precious metal / aluminide coatings, and vision-guided interactive laser welding and drilling for most advanced turbine engine components, as well as many other advanced technologies. More information is at www.chromalloy.com.

    Chromalloy has evolved from a gas turbine parts repair business into the leading independent supplier of advanced repairs, FAA approved replacement parts and maintenance, repair and overhaul for gas turbines used in aviation and land-based applications. Chromalloy serves the airline, military, marine and industrial gas turbine segments with a broad range of services at locations in 17 countries around the globe. Chromalloy is authorized by the FAA and EASA and many other NAAs, and is qualified under ISO and NADCAP. Chromalloy is a subsidiary of Sequa Corporation.

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