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ON THE LINE
Vernon A. Taylor

From what we hear, Butler Aviation's Blue Seal warranty program for navcom installations has grown so fast in the last few months that they are beginning to refer to the equipment as "blue boxes." Carl B. Shroeppel Jr., manager of Butler's avionics sales and service group, tells us that more than 1,000 pieces of equipment have been installed so far and are covered by the new program. Carl pointed out that this includes IFR packages recently installed in 24 Twin Otters for Air Wisconsin, Trans-East and Skymark commuter airlines.

James Morrison, Boeing's senior engineer on the Boeing 747 propulsion and fuel system, told us recently that the maintainability design concept applied to the Pratt & Whitney JT9D engine includes both maintenance/overhaul functions—such as inspections, servicing, trouble-shooting, repair—and the installation of the JT9D and its accessories. Although the installation will have the same number of plumbing and electrical disconnects as the engine on today's Boeing 707-320B, Jim is predicting a complete engine change on the 747 in just half the time. Still another real plus, as we see it, is that the P&W JT9D power package is designed to permit off-the-wing trimming and rigging of the throttles and reverser controls. leaving only a leak check to be accomplished after the engine change.

We feel sure that if anyone were to come up with an award dubbed "the maintenance man's pilot," Capt. Michael A. Gitt might well be the first recipient. With more than 25,000 flight hours in everything from a DC-3 to the stretched DC-8, Captain Gitt saw the FAA's age 60 airline pilot retirement rule bring his Eastern Air Lines flying career to an end last month. Not unlike any other pilot, Mike wrote up thousands of maintenance squawks over the years, but they were always detailed and oriented in such a way as to help the line mechanic trouble-shoot the airplane and get it set up for the next trip.

There seems to be little doubt that along with the 747s, airbuses and Concordes will come an increased number of complex and costly black boxes. Some airlines already have moved toward automatic test equipment to reduce inventory-investment costs and to boost the reliability factor. Others, according to Robert Hallman of Bendix, soon will be faced with the decision to change over from a manual test procedure to an automated system. Hallman took the time recently to brief us on the new Bendix Model 200 automatic test set designed specifically for the airlines with the number one unit set for delivery to Continental Air Lines on the West Coast. From what Bob tells us, the Model 200 will be used by Continental to test the Bendix PB-20, including the CAT II boxes,the Sperry Sp-50 with CAT II, and the Sperry and Honeywell CADCs used on Boeing 727s. Growth capabilities inherent in the design of the Model 200, Bob said, also will allow for the testing of flight directors, 747 and Concorde AFCS, and RF systems.

Atlantic Aviation's computerized maintenance program, initially aimed at Grumman Gulfstream I and Hawker Siddeley DH-125 operators is, in our opinion, long overdue. Developed by Transware Inc. of Pittsburgh, the new Atlantic service will store and analyze maintenance records on a fleet-wide basis, alert the operator on coming component part changes, and forecast, in dollars, future annual budgets for inspections and parts. Lester Wolfe, Atlantic's assistant manager of maintenance, told us that Pittsburgh Plate Glass and Gulf Oil Co. were the first firms to subscribe.


AMERICAN AVIATION JUNE 10 '68