As promised, here is part II of 2018’s compilation of Facts, Figures, and Forecasts (F3). The source citations are at the very end. Here are the data listings in this order: Here’s a listing of the world’s top defense contractors Level of Chinese aviation expansion revealed by CAAC statistics Number of successful ejections equating to lives saved by Martin Baker Ejection Seats Total MRO demand for ATA chapter 25 is $3.7 Billion for 2018 and 2019 Boeing: 128,500 pilots to be needed in China by 20...

A growing trend I’ve observed in my consulting and auditing activities involves Maintenance Repair and Overhaul MROs) organisations opening up affiliated aftermarket distributorships. For example, an MRO opens up a separate but affiliated firm, and gets that distributor firm to be accredited to the ASA-100. From all appearances there seems to be many benefits for the MRO with this arrangement, and these will be reviewed. This trend also extends to OEMs, Airlines, and tear-down/disassembly facili...

I love reading about facts, figures, and forecasts, or as my military friends would say, F3. I come across quite a few of these and thought you’d enjoy reading them in summary form. Each entry is properly cited. I’ll do these for you once or twice a year. Airbus forecasts nearly 37,400 new aircraft valued at US$5.8 Trillion required over 20 years.1 Fleet will more than double to 48,000 in 20 Years based on traffic growing at 4.4% per year. Growth drivers include private consumption increasing 2....

Like many of you, I’m a ‘morning person’ meaning I go to sleep early and rise early to start my day. When challenged with a big project, my preference is to wake up early and get to work to put in that long day. When it’s time to go home, I leave on time even though I may have worked extended hours by coming in very early. In discussions with persons of similar dispositions, it seems we all have one common gripe; very few people notice our extra effort. For example, we routinely may come in hour...

I’d like to add a new choice of terms to our ever evolving aviation lexicon. When an aircraft reaches the end of its life and it’s being parted out, we’re not removing the parts- we’re harvesting the parts from the legacy asset. A word that has managed to survive the trendy, revisionist makeovers is ‘cannibalize’, as in cannibalizing aircraft parts. Used interchangeably is the equally, potentially offensive word, ‘robbed’ aircraft parts. My, oh my, I’m wont to retreat to a safe place and curl in...