Rani Awad

Recommendations

Info

INTERVIEW| JIM LARWOOD Kaman Aerosystems Boeing-747-8 fi rst fl ight We can remove the hassle of managing multiple suppliers through the many stages involved in procuring outsourced manufacturing Jim Larwood Kaman Aerosystems made over 50% of the composite components for the Textron AirLand Scorpion programme company prides itself on being a world leader in composite manufacture. “We have fi ve facilities around the world dedicated to composite manufacture and research. One facility is located in the United Kingdom, one in India, and the other three in the United States,” Larwood explains. Larwood himself started out his career in composite manufacture in 1979 when it was simply termed non-metallic. “I gave a presentation back in my early aerospace days, where I said that composites would come to dominate the airframe market. Today, as we saw with the Boeing 787, which we had a part in, composites are huge. To make a 70% by-weight composite airframe, which is what the 787 is, demanded a huge amount from the supply base, but it really brought composites to the point where it is now a very stable and proven approach to airframe construction,” he comments. One of the reasons why composites are now so popular with the leading business aviation airframe OEMs is that this approach allows the OEM to leapfrog everything that they can do with metallic structures. “Our focus on the Boeing 787 has been on doors and door surrounds, where Kaman has provided significant engineering ‘industry assist’ and where we have been able to use composites to do integrally moulded structures. In addition, we do a range of other composite parts such as flight control panels and winglets. And as a helicopter company we do a lot of rotor work in composites,” he sums up. The division contributed significant carbon manufacturing process knowledge, tooling design and build expertise in support of the Bombardier Learjet 85 (LJ85) delivering a one shot cure, carbon door structure, fully assembled and shipped to the point of use, ready for installation. Kaman manufactured doors for the LJ85 until Bombardier announced that it was suspending work on the Lear 85 indefinitely. “We had an interesting role there building the main door and the emergency over-wing door. Unfortunately the announcement about the suspension of the Lear 85 programme came just after we shipped the first doors to the flight test program. We would certainly love to see that programme restarted,” Larwood says. Kaman Aerosystems also designs and builds tools, both for its own programmes and for its customers, including assembly jigs and moulding tools. The company is well abreast of developments in 3D printing as an alternative manufacturing process, but Larwood envisions that 3D printing still has a long way to go to match composites in terms of coping with loads on primary structures. “Strength in composites comes from the fibre direction and the grain pattern and we fully understand the process and how to work with it. Today, I would say that we are students of 3D printing and its applications. There are places where it will work and places where it will fail. But we are strong advocates of technological innovation. Aerosystems has a Chief of Technology on staff and we look at every new development and emerging technology. Our focus is to provide the best value for our customers and our shareholders,” he comments. In addition to its established pedigree in the military world, one of Kaman’s major customers in the commercial aviation industry for the last 30 years, has been Boeing. Kaman has also been recognised as a Boeing Supplier of the Year in 2012 for engineering expertise and services in support of Boeing programmes. For the last two years or so it has mounted a major exercise to apply its expertise in primary structure manufacturing to the business aviation market and to make itself and its capabilities known to the sector. “I am delighted to say that we are being very well received by the OEMs. They recognise that we have some solid engineering expertise to bring to the table.” Manufacture and assembly of two major sections of the Boeing wing to body fairings for the Boeing B747-8 42 International | Autumn 2015
Performance. Integrity. Reputation. Over 20 Years of Excellence.
Page 1 and 2: High Net Worth Profile: Herbert V.
Page 3 and 4: Company profiles include: AMAC, AVM
Page 6 and 7: ATLANTIC FUELEX| RANI AWAD The Atla
Page 8: ATLANTIC FUELEX| RANI AWAD We can p
Page 11 and 12: AMAC AEROSPACE| PROFILE The heavy b
Page 13 and 14: HERBERT V KOHLER, JR| PROFILE leadi
Page 15 and 16: CABIN ALTITUDE: 1,172 M* PASSENGERS
Page 17 and 18: Visit us at NBAA! Booth #N4925 Wher
Page 19 and 20: HERBERT V KOHLER, JR| PROFILE at ab
Page 21 and 22: SEE US AT NBAA 2015 Booth C7022 THE
Page 23 and 24: GainJet Aviation is a leading world
Page 25 and 26: SOPHIE LESNOFF| Q&A Q: How long hav
Page 27 and 28: Swiss Excellence in Business Aviati
Page 29 and 30: ALT You asked. We acted. 2016 is a
Page 31 and 32: STEVE JOURDENAIS| ADVENT AEROSPACE
Page 33 and 34: GLOBAL VOICE AND TEXT GlobalVT SM u
Page 35 and 36: THOMAS A TANURY| INTERVIEW Thomas A
Page 37 and 38: ABSOLUTELY ICONIC The Business Avia
Page 39 and 40: JUSTIN GIESSMAN| AVMATS In many ins
Page 42 and 43: INTERVIEW| JIM LARWOOD Thinking big
Page 46 and 47: FAI| SIEGFRIED AXTMANN Flying to th
Page 48: FAI| SIEGFRIED AXTMANN sation rate.
Page 51 and 52: RENE BANGLESDORF| CHARLIE BRAVO Cle
Page 54 and 55: CAT AIR SERVICE| ROBERT WHITEHEAD E
Page 56 and 57: PROFILE| AIR CHARTER SERVICE From a
Page 58 and 59: PROFILE| AIR CHARTER SERVICE The co
Page 60 and 61: INTERVIEW| SHAWN VICK Global Jet Ca
Page 62 and 63: FBO| CASTLE & COOKE Building a bran
Page 64 and 65: PROFILE| EMERALD VIP SERVICES Emera
Page 66 and 67: ANDREW WINCH DESIGN| JIM DIXON Bril
Page 68 and 69: ANDREW WINCH DESIGN| JIM DIXON that
Page 70 and 71: INTERVIEW| ROBERT MOLSBERGEN A conv
Page 72 and 73: INTERVIEW| JETNET A stroke of entre
Page 74 and 75: INTERVIEW| JETNET In 2011 JETNET la
Page 76 and 77: Q&A| BRETT FORRESTER Selling jets a
Page 78 and 79: SPECIAL REPORT| PAINTS BBJ’s worl
Page 80 and 81: SPECIAL REPORT| PAINTS malist yet l
Page 82 and 83: YASAVA| CHRISTOPHER MBANEFO How wou
Page 84 and 85: AFRICAN OPEN SKY| MAX O. CISSE The
Page 86 and 87: REVIEW| EBACE AFTER PARTY The EVAA
Page 88: REVIEW| EBACE AFTER PARTY EVAA will

Rani Awad

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?