ASAP Fasteners Blog

Embraer Is one of the leading airplane makers in the industry- competing at number three behind Airbus and Boeing company. Alcoa is another leader in lightweight metal and advanced manufacturing methods.  The two companies have recently finalized a deal that not only strengthens their relationship but also secures their positions as leaders in the market. The multiyear contract is valued at $470 million. The agreement will ensure Alcoa supplies alloys sheet for Embraer’s new E-Jet E2 family, which is scheduled to fly by 2018. This will make Alcoa the sole contractor for exclusive wing skins and fuselage sheet intended for the E-Jet E2 jet airliners.

Bombardier is introducing a new pocket door to its Learjet 75 light jet for a more comfortable and enjoyable flight. With the addition of the new door bulk head it will separate the cockpit from the gallery, decreasing the noise in the cabin by approximately 6-8 decibels ; which are used to measure intensity of sound. The first plane to Exhibit the new Cabin door was on display at the EBACE (European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition) show; held in Geneva, Switzerland.

American Airlines, the major American airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, has recently announced that the airlines will be utilizing a new design on its long haul business class cabin. The seats in the newly designed cabins will be built by B/E Aerospace, the Wellington, Florida-based company. These new seats will be equipped in the Airbus A350 as well as the Boeing 787 Dreamliners which American Airlines has on order. B/E Aerospace’s new seats will also be installed on a handful of retrofitted Boeing 777-200s.

On June 2^nd 2016, Marissa Martin wrote an article for Connector Tips talking about how TE Connectivity Ltd. and how they are increasing the range of accessibility for D sub connectors. In the article, Martin talks about how TE Connectivity as release more than 100 part numbers that will be available for purchase in the next six weeks or so. All of these 100 plus part numbers are under the AMPLIMITE D sub connector category. With this announcement, this is considered a huge benchmark for the company as TE Connectivity is planning to use this to significantly decrease the amount of lead time for standard AMPLIMITE connector parts. This decrease in time should be in effect by August 2016.

Although it is a small one, Air Austral has officially joined the ranks of many other industry giants amongst the airline carrier world by taking in its first 787 Dreamliner. The delivery marked the first of two Dreamliners schedule to be delivered to Air Autral as part of a 2015 order which coincidentally marked the first time it is done so for a French operator remarked Boeing VP for commercial sales in Latin America, Carribbean and Africa, Van Rex Gallard.

On May 2^nd 2016, Neil Hodgson wrote an article for Liverpool Echo UK talking about how Airbus is celebrating on their recent success of securing orders from four different airlines. It seems as if the US based airlines, Delta Airlines placed an order with Airbus for 37 units of their A321ceo aircraft.Here is what Ed Bastian, Delta’s upcoming chief executive has to say about this.

On April 6th 2016, RF Globalnet released an article based off of Amphenol’s announcement on how they are now offering ruggedized VITA 46 compliant connectors. The VITA 46 compliant connectors will do than just meet VITA 46 standards. These type of connectors will even exceed VITA 46 standards. These connectors are designed specifically aerospace in mind. There are many commercial and military applications for these. This includes applications for things such as ground defense, missile defense, avionics, C4ISR, and space systems with over 10 gbps data rates.

Emirates Airline has formally placed an order with Airbus for the delivery of two more A380 superjumbo aircraft, with delivery scheduled for late 2017.Each of these jumbo jets has a list price of $865.2 million. They will be powered by Rolls Royce engines, and have world-class in-flight entertainment systems installed.

Aerospace giant Bombardier Commercial Aircraft revealed that they have settled on a new Authorize Service Facility (ASF) agreement with Slovenian CRJ experts Adria Tehnika.  This new deal will expand the existing ASF arrangement between Bombardier and Adria Technika an additional five years.  Within the context of this agreement, Bombardier will allow Adria Technika to perform modification and upgrade services on all CRJ Series aircraft in Europe and CIS.   Adria Technika has already been providing these services to Bombardier for nearly 15 years, and this new deal only further solidifies their business relationship.

Alcoa, the leading manufacturer of fasteners and rings, feels they have created the strongest structural blind fastener of its kind. The Huck Magna-Lok has a 12.7mm diameter, an extremely high shear and tensile strength, has a high resistance to joint failure.

As time progresses, fasteners are becoming more and more complex with modern advancements. In order to meet the requirements of futuristic and innovative designs, fasteners are expected to save materials, weight, productivity, as well as component strength. A fastener is no longer simply about just its shape. Experts have identified a few benefits of metal forming over machining in the manufacturing process of fastening components.

Tamarack Aerospace Group, Inc. has recently announced that the European Aviation Safety Agency, or EASA, has awarded the company a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for Tamarack’s ATLAS™ brand Active Winglet system to be utilized on the Cessna model CE525 CitationJet as well as its variants, the CJ1+, CJ1, and the CJ. The European Aviation Safety Agency anticipates on following up with certification for the Cessna M2 around March in 2016. Certification in the United States by the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to take place by this summer for all four variants.

In June 2015, Airbus announced that they are going to team up with satellite internet startup OneWeb Ltd to build the world’s largest satellite constellation, consisting of 900 small internet satellites. The first ten OneWeb satellites will be carried out at Airbus Defense and Space’s facilities in Toulouse, while series production will take place at a dedicated plant located in the United States. The company said each of the satellites is expected to weigh less than 150 kg (330 lb.) at launch, with the global satellite internet constellation to start launching in 2018.

Eaton Aerospace recently signed a letter of intent with AVIC Aircraft Company Ltd. Xi’an Branch for the delivery of fuel tank inerting and fuel distribution systems for the MA700 regional turboprop airliner. Under the proposed agreement, Eaton will be responsible for designing and manufacturing customized components, as well as providing engineering, development, and support certification services for both aircraft systems. Eaton’s fuel and inverting systems expertise drives the company’s growth and presence in the Asia Pacific market.

Liebherr-Aerospace has been selected by Boeing Commercial Airplanes to provide three components of the Boeing 777X’s folding wing tip system. The contract calls for Liebherr-Aerospace to provide components for the fold subsystem, the latch pin actuator, and the secondary lock actuator. Liebherr-Aerospace will design a condensed, very dependable and powerful fold subsystem based on their knowledge in high-lift systems, gears, torque tubes, and hydraulic power drive units.

Life in outer space has been an ongoing topic of interest for countless years. NASA plans to further this research with a team of professionals from the University of Arizona. This group will carry out an analysis of Earth-like features on nearby stars. This is part of the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) program, which is comprised of a group of members from three NASA centers, ten universities, and two research institutes. Director of Planetary Science at NASA Jim Green stated, “This interdisciplinary endeavor connects top research teams and provides a synthesized approach in the search for planets with the greatest potential for signs of life. The hunt for exoplanets is not only a priority for astronomers, it's of keen interest to planetary and climate scientists as well." With the first discovery of an exoplanet in 1995, research in this field has attracted scientists and researchers across the globe.

In April 2015, the United States Air Force announced their plans to award multiple contracts worth up to USD$6 million this year for companies to demonstrate their abilities to build the next batch of GPS 3 positioning, navigation and timing satellites. This low number might come as a surprise to many, as last year’s contract figures fell between USD$100 and 200 million. Lieutenant General Ellen Pawlikowski, military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, explained the strategy in an interview at the 31^st Space Symposium.