Meggitt of the UK has won a series of contracts for its airliner engine vibration-monitoring technology, firmly cementing its market-leading position in the field.
Its Swiss subsidiary Vibro-Meter has finally secured Airbus as a customer for a system related to the product it developed for the CFM International CFM56 engine on Boeing 737s.
The 737 system has also won its first airline orders following an in-service trial, and in another key victory Vibro-Meter is to provide the engine monitoring on the General Electric GEnx for the Boeing 787.
With the manufacturer's system for the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 on the Airbus A380 recently certificated, Vibro-Meter president Richard Greaves is hopeful of similarly equipping the Trent 1000 eventually destined for the 787.
The company also has its first production orders to outfit the General Electric/Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance GP7200 on the A380, giving it overwhelming dominance on new large aircraft types despite growing competition from players such as Ametek Aerospace, Goodrich, Hamilton Sundstrand, Honeywell and General Electric itself.
Vibro-Meter's Advanced Aircraft Vibration Monitor (AAVM) was developed partly with the urging of CFMI to warn in advance of degradation to the CFM56 number four bearing following a series of expensive bearing-failures.
A trial began on aircraft flying with Aloha Airlines, Continental Airlines, El Al, Lufthansa and Qantas in mid-2004. Several of those airlines are at various stages of committing to the system.
KIERAN DALY LONDON
Source: Flight International
