Asset Managed Parts help our environment by saving energy and natural resources.
17 Dec 08. Airbus has started flight-testing of Blended Winglet devices on an Airbus A320. The Blended Winglet technology, developed by Aviation Partners Inc. (API), has been specially adapted for these tests on the A320 Family. The objective of these tests and the subsequent evaluation is to identify both the performance and economic benefits that these devices could offer for Airbus aircraft. In conjunction with follow-up analyses, they will provide data on the overall viability of the devices and help to determine whether API’s technology could be considered for an integrated Airbus programme. Furthermore, this evaluation is being carried out as part of our wider goal of extending the market-leading eco-efficient credentials of Airbus aircraft. Research flight testing of two different winglet designs was performed two years ago and valuable experience was gained. Since that time, Airbus has been working to absorb and build on these lessons.
17 Dec 08. Boeing announced that its Space and Intelligence Systems facilities in El Segundo, Seal Beach and Sylmar, Calif., have received International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certification, a global benchmark of an organization’s commitment to understand and continuously improve its environmental performance. Boeing is working to have all of its major manufacturing sites certified to the ISO 14001 standard by the end of 2008.
Independent auditors from Det Norske Veritas, an accredited certification body of quality, environmental and safety management systems, performed the audits in October to ensure an established environmental management system exists and that employees understand their roles in protecting the environment.
17 Dec 08. A Japanese commercial airliner is scheduled to take a test flight next month using jet fuel derived in part from camelina — an emerging biofuels crop that has received strong backing from Montana officials. Camelina is a seed-oil crop that at least two Northern Plains companies are pursuing as a potential source of alternative fuels. Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Montana’s U.S. senators, Max Baucus and Jon Tester, have promoted camelina as a way to lessen U.S. reliance on foreign oil. Camelina companies have been struggling to reach their goal of converting millions of acres of the region’s farmland to production of the crop. Competition with high prices for wheat made attracting farmers difficult. Representatives of Bozeman-based Sustainable Oils say they hope the upcoming test flight will show farmers that a market for the crop will exist. Japan Airlines plans a one-hour flight out of Tokyo on Jan. 30, using a jet fuel blend made from Sustainable Oils camelina, said Scott Johnson, general manager of the company built on a partnership between Targeted Growth of Seattle and Green Earth Fuels of Houston. (Source: AP)