Recently in MRO Category

Courtesy of user Sharpshot on Flightglobal's Airpspace image gallery, here's a great picture of a slightly neglected Boeing 747SP. It began its life as a test aircraft for Boeing as it looked at the possibility of offering a 747SP Combi, before entering service with China Airlines in 1977. It wound up with Kinshasa in 2003 - registration 9Q-CWY - and was then acquired by Capital Asset management in 2007. It now sits waiting for oblivion at Sharjah airport in the United Arab Emirates, where it appears to have been for the past four years...

Credit: user Sharpshot on Flightglobal Airspace

Today's image of the day comes from our sister blog Flightblogger by Jon Ostrower, who says this photo (sent to him anonymously) is believed to have been taken around November 28 and shows the 747-400 LCF Dreamlifter (N780BA) sitting between Lufthansa's first A380 (D-AIMA) and Qantas's second A380 (VH-OQB) inside Lufthansa Technik's Frankfurt, Germany hangar.

Since the photo Qantas has received back its A380, although the type still requires its Trent 900 engines to be replaced after 75 full-thrust take-offs, rendering the aircraft unsuitable for flights to Los Angeles.

This photo of a GE90 engine accompanied our article on how a bustling engine remote diagnostics business at GE Aviation is fuelling a new family of prognostics health management (PHM) tools to further boost safety while cutting disruptions, maintenance costs and shop visit durations.

The article was part of our special section on MRO Americas 2010: Why airlines must comply or simply not fly, with other articles including:

• Airlines: Comply or don't fly
• Military: Upkeep u-turn
• Data: Barriers remain to getting connected

MRO Americas is currently underway in Phoenix, Arizona. You can read the daily news of day one the show here in our new interactive format. Follow the most up-to-date news at our special MRO Americas page here.