The airline recently completed the evaluation of the first Electronic Logbook (ELB) that is part of Boeing's Class 3 Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) on Singapore Airlines' entire fleet of new and existing 777s. Using the ELB means that the airline can log in a fault and the system automatically identifies the appropriate maintenance actions required to resolve the problem. The ELB, which consists of both a technical logbook and a cabin logbook, supports Singapore Airlines' continuous improvements in aircraft efficiency, reliability and availability.

In addition, Singapore Airlines is the first customer to use Airplane Health Management (AHM) Service Monitoring, which is a new module of Boeing's AHM. The module provides a better way of managing airplane data related to systems which require regular servicing or replenishment, such as tire pressure, oxygen pressure and hydraulic oil. AHM tracks consumption trends of these systems to facilitate maintenance planning and calculate optimal servicing intervals.

Fujitsu has announced the development of a 64KB ultra-high frequency RFID tag with high capacity FRAM, featuring memory capacity sufficient to store large volumes of aircraft part and maintenance history data, while supporting a number of different radio frequencies to enable traceability worldwide.

The semiconductor manufacturer claims the tag’s 64KB FRAM memory is the world’s highest capacity to date. It adds the tag will enable highly efficient global aircraft maintenance operations by ensuring precise and rapid management of each aircraft part. The tag complies with the EPCglobal Class 1 Generation 2 standard supporting a variety of radio frequencies, which vary by region, and thus provides for global traceability.

By Barb Zuehlke
Managing Editor Aircraft Maintenance Technology

Second summit devoted to training and educational games kicks off in D.C.--attendees pay rapt attention to the basics of what goes into the craft of game making; trimming costs the key to driving interest.

Excerpt:

The problems that Anark's customers have solved using their tools make it clear that beyond offering high performance, serious games are also extremely cost-effective solutions to complex problems. Describing an airline maintenance simulator based on their technology, they note that providing a sample engine for a mechanic to practice repairs on is cost-prohibitive.

Even a simple repair like fixing the in-flight entertainment system, if not carried out quickly and correctly, can ground an aircraft, resulting in an opportunity cost of $100,000 or more per day. But if he has access to a simulator that one customer has built using Anark's software, a mechanic can practice a given repair a dozen times before the plane to be repaired arrives at his hangar. By then, the mechanic is prepared to send it on its way with a minimum of downtime, resulting in, well, "serious" savings over the life of the plane.

Full Story at Gamespot.com

The Maintenance Toolbox comprises five different tools that will help Ryanair manage a wide variety of activities, including technical publications, structural repairs, maintenance and engineering.

Technical publications departments use the Maintenance Toolbox to create customized airline documents, modify original equipment manufacturer manuals, and create task cards. Built-in workflow tracking ensures that the document audit trail is complete and approved before release to users. The Maintenance Toolbox gives mechanics on the flight line, in the hangar, and at the maintenance operations center fast and efficient access to the information they need.

Lawrence Livermore scientists were key in changing the way

By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER

LIVERMORE -- Just over 50 years ago, the job of hardening metals began shifting from metal-smiths and their hammers to streams of tiny, hard beads that pounded metal faster and more consistently than any human could.

Now the job of peening is going to light.

Five times a second inside an office warehouse here, an invisible beam lances through a curtain of water and blasts a piece of aerospace alloy.

Its aluminum skin explodes in a white cloud three times hotter than the surface of the sun, the explosion reflected by the water to hammer the metal again and again. A half an hour of this battering by light leaves a compressed metal skin that is tougher and several times longer lasting than any pounded by hand or metal shot.