Denver International Airport (DIA) Installing LED lighting in several parking garages expects the energy-efficient LED fixtures to result in substantial energy and cost savings. The new LED fixtures will also substantially reduce maintenance requirements due to the longer life of LED lighting systems. Kim Day, DIA’s manager of aviation, states that along with energy savings and maintenance savings “This project will also make the parking garages brighter and more evenly lit, increasing visibility and enhancing safety.”

The retrofit project is part of a wider effort to upgrade lights throughout Denver International Airport, including lights on taxiways and area lighting fixtures on the airfield. This summer, all the traditional lights used on runway 8/26 will be upgraded to LED light fixtures. More Parking Garage Lighting

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The Helicopter Association International (HAI) and the Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) will join forces at Quad-A’s 2014 Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit in Nashville on May 5 and 6 to help Army pilots and technicians who want to prepare their careers for the future. Representatives from helicopter operators spanning all sectors of the civilian market will be available to discuss opportunities with pilots and technicians, and meet with qualified candidates.

The job fair will be led by Stacy Sheard, a test pilot for Sikorsky Aircraft and 11-year active-duty U.S. Army helicopter pilot, and HAI deputy director of flight operations Brian Haggerty. “As the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts wind down, a lot of aviators are wrapping up their careers with the military and may not realize how many opportunities exist in the marketplace for pilots, mechanics and other aviation technicians.

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LED High Mast Lighting at Munich

High-mast outdoor lighting applications are one area-lighting technology in which LEDs have struggled to find success with fixtures mounted at 100 ft or higher. Ewo, however, has installed its LED-based F32 floodlights in such an application on the apron of the Munich Airport (FMG) after first trialing solid-state lighting (SSL) technology at the airport two years ago.

The airport installation turned to LEDs to both slash energy costs and to provide better quality lighting. The prior high-pressure sodium (HPS) lights rendered colors poorly, as is common with all HPS lights. Low CRI isn’t an issue in many outdoor applications, but the airport wanted lights that could boost safety.

“Assuring the safety of our passengers, planes and their crew, airport staff, and any other visitor is a priority at Munich Airport,” said Günther Sellmeier, planning and project manager for exterior lighting and engineering and facilities at FMG. Ewo didn’t reveal the actual CRI of the lights, but the Cree XT-E LEDs used in the fixtures have a minimum CRI of 70 and are offered at higher CRIs. HPS lights have a typical CRI in the range of 25. The higher CRI makes it far easier for equipment operators to see workers and other obstacles.

The airport projects a minimum of 50% energy savings with the new lights. That will equate to an annual reduction of 122,000 kWh and a reduction of 70 tons of carbon emissions.

The project chronology shows how LEDs are evolving and how long some SSL projects take to come to fruition. We first reported on the story in February 2012 when Ewo tested LED lights on two of the high-mast poles. Initially the lights delivered 46% energy savings. The final installation used newer Cree LEDs, and delivered better performance.

Slowly LEDs are catching on in high-mast applications. Last June we covered a freeway project in Maine in which Acuity supplied Holophane HMAO luminaires. At the time the Maine Department of Transportation said that the cost and weight of LED products had hampered the use of SSL in the application. Earlier, Cooper Lighting announced a high-mast project in Idaho. MORE HIGH MAST LIGHTING

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Google Private Jet Base, Silicon Valley

San José City Council has given the go-ahead for an $82 million 29-acre fixed base operation at San José International Airport – which will serve private jets belonging to Google chiefs and other Silicon Valley businesses.

The City Council has given the airport the green light to negotiate a 50-year lease of land west of the airport with Signature Flight Support.

The approval paves the way for Signature to construct a full-service, world-class fixed base operation (FBO) to support corporate and general aviation aircraft operations at Silicon Valley’s Airport.

Signature’s development at SJC is in partnership with Blue City Holdings, San Jose, LLC, a corporation representing the personal aircraft of the principals at Google, headquartered in Mountain View, California.

The total investment by the partnership will be approximately $82 million.

San José Mayor, Chuck Reed, said: “I am pleased that we are moving forward with development of the Airport’s West Side which will generate significant revenues to the airport, and accommodate future growth in the demand for general aviation services in Silicon Valley.

“Signature Flight Support’s development proposal will help the City of San José accomplish both of these goals. I thank Signature for its confidence in San José, its significant investments at SJC, and for the new jobs and revenues that this project will generate.”

In addition, Signature will relocate its West Coast headquarters to San José, bringing additional jobs to the community.

The total investment by the partnership is approximately $82 million in developing over 270,000 square feet of LEED Gold-certified facilities on approximately 29 acres with facility and service components containing: 

• an executive terminal

• hangars

• ramp space accommodating large business jets

• aircraft servicing facilities

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The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) is asking repair station operators to participate in a survey about the impact that complying with the FAA’s Part 145 repair station NPRM will have on their business. NATA is reviewing an FAA proposal for broad changes to regulations governing repair stations (14 CFR 145), including major changes to the ratings and the process by which a repair station is certified.

All existing repair stations would be required to update their manuals, make other applicable changes to their business and apply for recertification as a repair station. The association’s review of the economic analysis indicates a “significant number of areas” where the FAA has understated the cost of compliance because it lacks accurate data or makes flawed assumptions about repair station processes.

Input from repair station operators will allow NATA to show the true cost to repair stations. “The FAA’s purpose [in introducing] this rulemaking is to adapt the regulations to the way repair stations operate and to the current state of aircraft technology.

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Fractional provider Avantair of Clearwater, Fla., has installed LED lighting in its maintenance hangar. “We currently have metal halide lights throughout our hangar,” said Kevin McKamey, executive vice president. “They are costly to run and don’t react quickly when there’s a power outage. The new LED lights provide 120 percent more lighting, are 50 percent more efficient to run and react more quickly to power interruptions,” he explained.

McDonald expects the LEDs to reduce the company’s current annual light usage of 103,680 kilowatts to only 15,500 kilowatts and save the company $47,000 per year. McDonald added, “LED lights reduce carbon emissions. There should be 116 metric tons fewer carbon emissions per year by using them.”

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“The ban on new foreign repair station certificates is having a detrimental impact on U.S.-based aerospace companies looking to tap into rapidly expanding overseas markets. The longer the prohibition is in effect, the more damage it will cause our nation’s competitiveness in aviation and exports,” the groups told Napolitano. 

In 2003, Congress enacted VISION-100 – Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act, which required the TSA to issue security rules for all aviation repair stations by August 2004. When TSA failed to meet that deadline, lawmakers (in the 9/11 Recommendation Implementation Act) demanded the security regulations be completed by August 2008. The penalty for failure to comply: the FAA was barred from issuing new foreign repair station certifications.

ARSA has long decried the punishment of an entire industry due to a delayed rulemaking and has led the charge to end the prohibition. Rather than encourage the agency to act, the ban has only punished the aviation industry and weakened U.S. leadership in aviation maintenance services. MORE AIRCRAFT WARNING LIGHTS

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Francisca Diaz, former employee of Aircraft Transparencies Repair (ATR) and Transparencies Engineering Group (TEG), has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to mail fraud in conjunction with a scheme involving the false representation that aircraft windows had been overhauled properly when they had not. It is the continuation of a March 22 multi-count indictment filed against 16 employees of ATR and TEG for conspiracy to sell and falsely certify to commercial aviation customers the airworthiness of aircraft cockpit windows. Diaz was a bookkeeper for ATR at the time. Knowing that the operation had lost its FAA certification, she created a separate accounting system that allowed employees to be paid in cash instead of by check. The shadow system created the illusion that ATR was no longer operating as a repair station.

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Aviation Consultancy & Engineering Services (ACE Services) has added a new aircraft maintenance management (AMM) department and obtained UK CAA continuing airworthiness management (Camo), airworthiness review certificate and permit to fly approvals. ACE Services provides project, engineering, maintenance, continuing airworthiness and technical records; quality assurance and control; aircraft maintenance planning and forecasting; and audit safety systems.

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Baker Aviation’s maintenance facility at Addison Airport (KADS) has been named a certified repair station by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) CRS# 5BVR011C. Baker Aviation is currently the only certified repair station at KADS.

“We are excited about the certification and what it means for our customers,” said Marty Dryer, Director of Operations, Baker Aviation. “This was the next big step in our expansion with our plans to offer full-service maintenance operations to our current customers, as well as any aircraft owners or operators who choose Baker Aviation for their aircraft needs.”

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