By Mary Kirby in Dallas
US regional carriers JetBlue Airways and Republic Airways Holdings are expected to begin testing a new Embraer programme for monitoring the health of their E-Jet fleets that could lead to a full health and usage monitoring system for the regional jet family.
Dubbed AHeAD (aircraft, health analysis and diagnosis), the programme will initially send aircraft data via aircraft communications addressing and reporting system (Acars) - to an operations base for examination.
The programme will eventually develop into a system that can “start monitoring the life of components” and structures to become a complete “health monitoring system”, said the manufacturer’s executive vice president, airline market Frederico Fleury Curado today at the US Regional Airline Association’s 2006 annual convention in Dallas. This latter application, however, “is a few years down the road”, he adds.
E-190 operator JetBlue, and Republic Airways - which has two subsidiaries currently flying the E-170 - will test AHeAD “very very soon”.
Embraer would also like to see JetBlue and E-175/-190 operator Air Canada become customers of its new maintenance facility in Nashville, Tennessee. The center recently completed its first E-170 ‘C’ check for Republic.
Source: Flight International
