OEMs Shine in NBAA Mx Conference Breakout Sessions

This week at the 2018 NBAA Maintenance Conference in Albuquerque, manufacturers and service providers alike had the opportunity to showcase their products and discuss hot topics in the aviation industry. In a series of breakout sessions, conference attendees heard directly from companies such as Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC), Bombardier, and Dassault Falcon.

In Honeywell’s session, senior tech support engineer James Lee and spoke about the company’s products, services, and software solutions. Lee focused on connectivity products such as the Aspire 300, Aspire 350, and its newest addition, Aspire 400. Additionally, team lead for the HTF series engine Mark Paquette highlighted the approximately 2,000 HTF700 family lineage engines in service today that have accumulated four million hours of operation and 2.3 million cycles.

P&WC’s Francis de Gruchy, who provides frontline support for all PW300 models, said the engine family has flown more than 18.5 million hours, including those powerplants on the Dornier 328Jet. He also stressed the importance of engine health monitoring. Gruchy focused on P&WC’s remote collaboration software, OnSight, which connects a mechanic to remote technical specialists who can inspect the engines using an interactive audio-visual platform on a mobile device.

Rockwell Collins, Bombardier, Gulfstream, Dassault Falcon, and Satcom Direct also held breakout sessions for attendees. Chuck Wade, principal marketing manager from Rockwell Collins, discussed avionics and airspace modernization, touching how airspace modernization impacts avionics, including ADS-B. Bombardier’s Billy Molloy, v-p of aftermarket sales and commercial strategy, covered connectivity and Smart Parts.

Meanwhile, Randy Corey and Woody Saland, Dassault’s manager of customer service administration/operator advisory board coordinator and director of avionics programs and pilot training, discussed the wealth of information available through its customer service program Falcon Portal. Gulfstream’s director of customer support Glen Howard and aircraft systems training senior manager Luke Solomon gave an overview of aircraft systems training advancements and impending mandate deadlines. Lastly, Satcom Direct’s business development director Rob Hill covered cabin bandwidth management and advancements in cybersecurity.