Quality Engineering Career News by UQSI

WASHINGTON, June 10 (UPI) — The U.S. space agency has awarded a $200 million contract to Jacobs Technology Inc. of Tullahoma, Tenn., for aerospace testing at the Ames Research Center.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration two-year contract has three one-year options and begins July 1. The company will provide support for aerospace tests and facilities maintenance and operations at the Moffett Field, Calif., NASA facility.

The Ames center supports a wide variety of testing requirements for NASA and other government agencies, including the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and Department of Homeland Security. Ames researchers also provide testing services for industry and other non-government entities, NASA said.

Read more…

By –Stuart Burns

Aircraft production rates are forecast to drop across the board this year and next, hitting a trough some time around 2012 due to slowing production rates according to an article in Aviation Today. Even though producers and distributors are still reporting strong market demand as we go to press. But to dispel a well circulated myth, the drop in demand will not be because metals will be widely displaced by composites. In fact, overall metal demand for aerospace is set to increase during the next decade once the current trough is past.

The fall in aircraft production volumes has been widely predicted with mention frequently made of both canceled and delayed orders at the principal aircraft makers, Boeing and Airbus. But another popular misconception outside the industry at least is that military is a large percentage of total aircraft numbers. The reality is that although military aircraft production is anticipated to be more stable, out of 4446 aircraft produced in 2008 only 446 were fixed wing military, just 10%, according to a presentation by AeroStrategyto an AMM conference last month. Military spend is set to be more stable and build programs are unlikely to be significantly affected by the general aviation downturn in spite of tight government budgets.

Read more…