Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

Parker Aerospace and China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC) held a contract-signing ceremony just ahead of the Paris Air Show to form two joint venture companies in support of Comac’s new C919 program.
Under one of the agreements, Parker Aerospace (Hall 5 C220) and AVIC’s Flight Automated Control Research Institute (FACRI) will form a partnership to provide local, in-country support of the joint development of the flight control actuation systems on the C919. The companies plan to locate the joint venture in Xi’an, site of a customer service repair center responsible for Parker Aerospace, AVIC and third-party products. 
Under a separate contract, Parker Aerospace and AVIC Jincheng have agreed to form a partnership for development and support of the C919’s fuel, inerting and hydraulic systems. The companies plan to locate the joint venture’s headquarters and a manufacturing facility in Nanjing. 
Plans call for a significant portion of the systems’ component assembly, test and manufacture to take place at the new facilities, as well as systems integration test functions. 
Parker Aerospace supplies the C919’s primary fly-by-wire flight control actuation, fuel, inerting and hydraulic systems. Developed by Parker Aerospace’s Control Systems division, the fly-by-wire system design includes a horizontal stabilizer trim actuation and motor control; aileron, rudder, spoiler, and elevator actuators; and remote electronic units. 
The hydraulic system–under development at Parker Aerospace’s Hydraulic Systems division–features a control and monitoring software package for the C919 integrated modular avionics controller and provides the functions necessary to power and control the aircraft’s flight control system, landing gear and steering systems and thrust-reversers. 
The Parker Aerospace Fluid Systems Division has taken responsibility for the complete fuel and inerting systems for the aircraft. The fuel system equipment performs multiple functions for the aircraft’s fuel system and includes engine feed, auxiliary power unit feed, refuel and defuel, venting, scavenge, fuel quantity gauging and integrated modular avionics fuel gauging and management software. The inerting system includes the conditioned air supply and electronic control, as well as nitrogen-enriched air generation and distribution, to reduce the flammability of fuel vapors in the aircraft’s fuel tanks and increase safety.
Here in Paris, Parker Aerospace is also promoting its presence on the Airbus A350 XWB, which flew for the first time on June 14. The company provides the composite, twin-aisle jetliner with its fuel and hydraulic systems, as well as the landing gear hydraulic dressing, engine build unit and a variety of equipment for its Trent XWB engines. 
Parker Aerospace provides the A350’s entire fuel system equipment package, including the fuel tank inerting system, fuel measurement and management system, fluid mechanical equipment and engine feed and transfer fuel pumps. It also supplies the A350’s hydraulic power generation and distribution system used to power and control the aircraft. Operating at a higher pressure level of 5,000 psi, the system uses smaller components and distribution lines, which reduces the weight of the equipment and aids fuel cost savings. Parker’s hydraulic system products include pumps, reservoirs, manifolds, accumulators, thermal controls, isolation valves and software. Other A350 systems Parker Aerospace designs and builds include the fluid conveyance system, as well as the engine build unit and the landing gear hydraulic dressing.
New technologies that Parker Aerospace contributes to the A350 included the highly resistive union (HRU), which makes the aircraft safer in the event of a lightning strike. The HRU provides a block or shield along fluid conveyance lines to halt and arrest the conduction of electricity in the event of a lightning strike. 
Finally, Parker products supporting the A350’s Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines include parts of the pneumatics suite–compressor bleed valves, cooling air control, anti-ice valves, turbine case cooling valves and actuators and pressure regulating valves. Parker also provides parts of the engine’s oil system, including pumps and valves.

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