ASAP Parts 360 Blog

australia’s new investment into 10 uh-60s

Sikorsky Aircraft manufactured the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk which is a four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-life utility helicopter. It was named after the war leader Black Hawk and it entered service in the U.S. Army in 1978, to replace the Army’s tactical transport helicopter. It needs two pilots and two crew chiefs in order to operate and its max load is 2640 lbs or 11 combat-equipped troops.

Two Australian companies and Sikorsky made a deal to transfigure the utility helicopters to execute aerial firefighting and disaster relief missions. Lockheed Martin unit Sikorsky mentioned that the deal is worth up to A$63 million and contains choices for 10 additional aircraft.

Inaugurated in 2000, in Europe, Kaan Air has remarkable ties to two of the world’s leading helicopter manufacturers, Agusta Westland and Russian Helicopters Kamov. On the other hand, its partners Starflight Australia provides logistic and emergency rotary wing solutions. StarFlight is a joint venture between Kaan and LifeFlight Australia. LifeFlight is a world leader in aeromedical care and Australia's most diversified service with both a fixed and rotary wing fleet.

“The purchase of 10 plus 10 optioned Black Hawks represents a significant milestone for the firebombing and disaster relief helicopter industry in Australia, particularly in terms of efficient rotary wing attack to reduce loss of life and property during bushfire events,”

said Kaan Air Australia and StarFlight Australia chief executive John Skeen in a statement.

In early 2018, 10 prior US military Black Hawks will be redesigned and repurposed for aerial firebombing. After the purchase, they will be sent to Australia, where the work will be done.

The upgraded work will involve positioning new GE Aviation T700-701D engines and upgraded gear boxes, plus the installation of a helicopter terrain awareness and warning system. This entire project will take three months per helicopter.

Kaan Air Australia, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company and Starflight Australia, a company that provides turn key solutions for all. Operations requiring a rotary-wing platform, signed a deal to bring 10 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters into Australia. The deal, which will close for around sixty-three million dollars, also has options for ten aircrafts. This purchase will be the world’s first refurbishment program and will take place in Brisbane.

The refurbishment will include ten ex-military black hawks, to Australia and New Zealand. They will be used for year-round emergency services and disaster relief work. This process will be great for Sikorsky Australia because it will boost the number of aviation jobs, creating more than 50 pilot and technical jobs, even including apprenticeships. This agreement will allow assists with emergency services, filling a significant gap in Australia’s firefighting disaster relief resources.

This is a significant milestone for the firebombing disaster relief industry in Australia, particularly in terms of ways to reduce loss of life. Sikorsky being the original manufacturer of the Blackhawk claims that there is no better company to take part in the refurbishment.

The Blackhawks will be restored with only the best military aircraft parts, ensuring that they are running to their best ability. Kaan air is one of Europe’s renowned helicopter manufacturer distributor. They have significant operational experience in firefighting with helicopters, and air medical services. Kaan air is excited to eventually expand their cooperation beyond Australia into other parts of the world.

The Black Hawks will undergo three months of excessive refurbishment which will include, new engine parts, gear boxes and an installation of Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning System. This is a very exciting step towards better aviation in Australia.

International Aircraft Manufacturer Airbus has become an industry leader when it comes to sustainable jet fuel used to power passenger flights. Biofuel powered flights were approved for commercial use in July 2011, and airlines have slowly been incorporating biofuel as a drop-in fuel alternative in commercial flights. NASA has estimated that just a 50% incorporation of biofuel in aviation can reduce overall emissions by 50 to 80%. Use of biofuel as an alternative fuel source requires some reformatting of an aircraft’s components and additional care for the fuel, since it can gel over at colder temperatures and has the tendency to shrink rubber components. Cathay Pacific has been flying reconfigured A350-900’s since May of last year.

While the newly configured A350’s are only flying with a 10% blend of sustainable fuel, it demonstrates that such flights are economically feasible and can be used to reduce CO2 emissions. Currently the aviation industry is estimated to account for 2-3 percent of global emissions. The goal is to keep that percentage below three percent. Since aircraft require such a high power to weight ratio, the industry is not expected to make a switch to hybrid electric power any time soon, therefore, liquid biofuels are the most logical way to reduce emissions in the foreseeable future.

Leading Aircraft Manufacturer Boeing is also participating in the effort to reduce aviation emissions. A partnership between the US Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing has formed with stakeholder support to gain approval for a biofuel called HF-HEFA. This fuel known as “green diesel” is already used in ground transport and produced globally more than 1 billion gallons. HF-HEFA has been demonstrated to be a price-competitive sustainable biofuel that replace approximately 1% of fuel consumption in the industry.

ASAP Parts 360 has a dedicated and expansive array of aviation components —serving customers as a one-stop shop and primary destination for product sourcing. ASAP will ensure that your needs are addressed in the most expeditious and transparent manner, all the while offering cost-effective component solutions. If you are interested in a quote, please contact our friendly sales staff at sales@asapparts360.com or call 708-387-7800.

There is exciting news breaking within Bombardier’s facilities as they are welcoming a new airline operator to their CRJ1000 aircrafts. The Bombardier CRJ1000 will be used by Binter, an airline based in Spain. This airline serves the regional and inter-island areas within the Canary Islands. They will be leasing these Bombardier CRJ1000s from Air Nostrum and has arranged an agreement.

Carlos Bertomeu, CEO and President of Air Nostrum, mentioned that he believes that the CRJ1000 is the best 100-seater jet in the market. This was a very intelligent agreement between the two organizations, as they will be able to provide a high-quality service to its passengers who are flying over the beautiful Islands and regional areas of Spain.

The CRJ aircraft is one of the world’s most efficacious jet programs and has truly developed the aviation industry with their efficiency, dependability, and success. With the CRJ1000, this jet has the highest passenger capacity for all CRJ jets and is extremely cost efficient in terms of fuel usage. The CRJ series from Bombardier boasts over 45 million flight hours worldwide and is serviced by operators in 49 countries.

This aircraft is definitely plays a huge role in the aviation industry and continues to impress all onlookers. One key reason these CRJ aircrafts is so successful and popular is due to its flexible and use in distinct markets. This will allow each operator to choose between each CRJ model and find an aircraft that best fits their business model and operations.

SKF is designing new Seal designs that uses a new dual-lip technology which provides additional technology for protection in certain environments and a larger range of SKF Explorer groove ball bearings. For users this is a technology that allows their bearing to last longer and function better especially when the environment is not perfectly conditioned to keep bearings in a good condition. For example if the outside environment is wet, dry or even dusty can cause operating conditions to change bearing quite frequently, but with the new Seals the ball bearings can be protected to last longer and operate better.

This second lip technology even though it sounds simple but when it comes to operations it creates a huge difference, for example the seal can now withstand more pressure which allows cleaning to happen more frequently reduces the amount of dust and contaminants to go through the seal.

There are certain conditions in which the seal’s maximum performance can be achieved, in the case of the new RSH seal it initially was designed to operate from a range of -35 to +105 degrees Celsius, it is also very resistant to lubricating oils such as mineral oil based lubricant and petroleum products. This was the initial product, eventually the design was modified to withstand higher temperatures and available to a wider range of ball bearings with larger bore diameters.

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