First Flight for Pacific Aerospace SuperPac XL501
It was an exciting day yesterday for Pacific Aerospace with the first flight of ZK-EPO - SuperPac XL501. There’s been a lot of hard work by many people to get to this point - the team at NZSkydive, the Flight Structures staff , and the CAANZ Certification and Airworthiness Group.
First Flight
ZK-EPO First landing
Design and Certification of ADS-B Out for the MOD and NZDF
Flight Structures is approaching the conclusion of a project with the Ministry of Defence and NZ Defence Force to design and certify a transponder system with ADS-B Out (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) capability for the A109LUH(NZ) Aircraft. ADS-B Out allows aircraft to broadcast their identification, position, altitude and velocity to other aircraft and Air Traffic Control.
Flight Structures were successful in their bid for the project in 2021, and the installation programme is taking place throughout 2022. The project included our engineers designing and providing all certification documents to the New Zealand Defence Authority for approval. It was the first time a CAANZ Approved, Part 146 organisation, has been used for a project of this nature.
Thank you to the following key Flight Structures staff: Duncan Wollen, Adrian Dalton, Hemi Jones, Clyde James, Ted McCullough and Brett Purchase.
Photo is sourced from: https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/nzdf/our-equipment/aircraft/a109-light-utility-helicopter
BNZ Corporate Challenge 2022
Flight Structures bravely entered two teams in the BNZ Corporate Challenge in 2022 at the Grassroots Velodrome - doing any event and committing to it in the age of Covid takes courage. We entered an experienced team in the Cambridge Pursuit, and a team of new velodrome riders in the Italian Pursuit. Flight Structures were joined by three staff from Pacific Aerospace in this team event.
In the end we did have a couple of staff unable to ride due to sickness, so our reserve rider was busy, and another rider had to double up and race in both teams.
In the end we ended up with a 5th and a 6th placing, and to my eye, we had the best looking team in the sharpest most 2022 uniforms.
Well done to all the team - Hemi, Adam, Jon, Lucas, Scott, Steve, Clyde and Ray.
Pacific Aerospace Gain Part 146 Certificate
Yesterday Flight Structures were delighted to receive the Pacific Aerospace Part 146, Design Organisation Certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand. Pacific Aerospace, Flight Structures and the CAANZ have been working on this through the last few months, including through lockdowns in the Waikato region.
Jon Kerr is the Chief Designer for Pacific Aerospace, Kyle Knight is the Programme Manager , and they are supported by a team from Flight Structures including Murray McGregor, Dave Roberts, Daniel Mossman, Basil Eldo, Hemi Jones and Adam Jones.
Regaining the Certificate is a major milestone in the progress by the new owners towards completing the Super PAC aircraft which the team are working on.
Merlin Labs Certification Milestone.
There has been an exciting announcement from Merlin Labs today, with a key step towards certification achieved with CAANZ (the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand). Flight Structures has been partnering with Merlin Labs as their Part 146 Organisation, with Daniel Mossman and Jon Kerr taking the lead for the Flight Structures part. Flight Structures has enjoyed working at the leading edge of certification on an autonomous flight project and we look forward to future stages.
Please read the linked article below for more information.
Flight Structures has Safety Management System approved....
Flight Structures is proud to announce that our system for Safety Management was approved last week. We were scheduled to have our on-site audit in April 2020 but that was delayed one year to April 2021 due to the Covid19 pandemic. We were pleased to gain this acceptance with no findings.
The advantage of the delay meant that the SMS has become embedded in our operation and culture. We are also pleased that Matthew Tighe was accepted as a Senior Person within our organisation, with responsibility for Quality and Safety matters across the organisation.
It is an important year for us, with our CAANZ 146 and 148 Certificates being up for renewal in 2021. We have passed stage one of this renewal (onsite audits of our facility and work packages), with no findings in either the design or manufacturing organisation.
Kudos needs to go to the whole team who have worked very hard to ensure we passed these important milestones, but in particular to our three Senior Persons under CAANZ, CEO and Delegate Jon Kerr, Delegate Duncan Wollen, Prototype and Manufacturing Manager Brett Purchase, and Quality and Safety Manager Matthew Tighe, who pulled it all together.
Flight Structures announces ongoing relationship with Pacific Aerospace.
Flight Structures has been selected to manage Pacific Aerospace’s Design Organisation. Flight Structures’ CEO Jon Kerr said “This is a fantastic opportunity to support and represent Pacific Aerospace (PAL) to CAANZ as they embark upon a rebuilding phase. Operators of and maintainers of PAL aircraft will be able to go to FSL for repairs and modifications and receive OEM level support. “
Flight Structures Ltd is a CAANZ Certificated Part 146 Design and Part 148 Manufacturing Organisation that started in 2003. With 17 staff including two delegates we have extensive experience working across agricultural, utility, aeromedical and General Aviation in NZ. We specialise in aircraft design, certification and manufacturing projects.
PAL has a proud history in the Waikato dating back to 1949 with aircraft operating across the world in agricultural, skydiving, utility and training roles. Their aircraft include the 750XL, E-350, Cresco, Fletcher and CT-4.
STC Approval for Super Air Cresco Air Conditioning System
Super Air STC for Air Conditioning System on Cresco
Flight Structures is extremely pleased to achieve a Supplemental Type Certificate approval for Super Air in 2020. STC 21/21E/1 allows for the installation air conditioning systems into Cresco aircraft. This design change improves pilot safety by enhancing the cockpit environment.
Duncan Wollen was the Design Delegation Holder and Flight Structures’ Project Manager who worked with the Civil Aviation Authority on this project. In addition, close collaboration with Robbie Williams, Maintenance Controller at Super Air ensured the project was completed prior to the upcoming summer. Hamilton is an excellent place for these types of certification and installation projects with Hamilton Aero Maintenance and Central Aero being close neighbours, enabling testing and installation to proceed smoothly.
Canadian STC for Flight Structures Crew Seat
Whilst much of our business is local, Flight Structures products and services are exported to Europe, Australia, South America, Asia, North America and now Africa.
One highlight in 2020 was working alongside Transport Canada to obtain an STC for our Beech 1900D seat which was supplied to Carson Air this year. If you want more information about the reversible seat please click here.
We were also proud to export AS350 Seats to South Africa recently. The production team worked extremely hard to ensure we could ship the seats for delivery prior to Christmas, not easy in these times of clogged supply chains with less flights. These seats allow the AS350 to fit a stretcher in the rear cabin. For more information on the AS350 Seats please click here.
Flight Structures provides a range of seats and berths that can be installed into fixed wing and rotary aircraft used in aero medical and utility roles. If you are interested in what we have available and if it will suit your needs you can contact us via this online form or via email or phone.
More prototyping on Flight Structures CNC Router.
Flight Structures has been busy prototyping on our CNC router.
Much of the Flight Structures manufacturing is completed on our CNC Router. We have a skilled team in our workshop, who programme the router, hand finish and assemble the final products.
Design concepts are developed into Solidworks models and drawings, which are then converted to DXF files, and programmed on the router. Our router is used both for prototyping and final product runs. This recent footage is of a new project we are working on and shows the precision and scope of our design.
In addition, Flight Structures has a large 3D printer which is also used for prototyping.
If you are interested in talking about your own projects, or seeing some of what we are doing, please make contact with one of the team or via email on touchbase@flightstructures.co.nz