A multi-engine, instrument rated pilot, James Wynbrandt has been an AIN and Business Jet Traveler contributor since 2003. His in-depth reporting and insightful features have won more than a dozen editorial honors, including two National Business Aviation Association Gold Wing Awards (2019; 2021), and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Barron’s, Fortune, Forbes, and Smithsonian Air &amp; Space. He has flown his Mooney M20K 252 on assignments throughout North and Central America and the Caribbean. Wynbrandt is also the author of Flying High (Wiley &amp; Sons), a biography of Jet Blue founder David Neeleman, as well as histories, references works, and books on a variety of other topics from major publishers. He lives in New York City.

Contributor - Business Aviation

James Wynbrandt

With its June purchase of SKF’s Fly-by-Wire Systems France (FbY) subsidiary, Lord (Booth 1244) has expanded into flight controls, part of an initiative to “rebalance” its aerospace business evenly between rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, while pursuing opportunities in aircraft electrification, said Lord Aerospace president Bill Cerami. 
FbY’s products, such as its electromechanical actuators, are “complementary to the range of Lord” products, Cerami said. The acquisition also expands North Carolina-based Lord’s aerospace engineering and manufacturing presence in Europe.
FbY collaborated with Airbus on the A320’s fly-by-wire system and provides the fly-by-wire cockpit controls for Embraer’s Legacy 450 and 500. NBAA 2016 attendees can try out a cockpit simulator at Lord’s booth. It is outfitted with all the fly-by-wire controls— sidesticks, throttle, flap/slat lever, speed brakes and rudder pedals—that the company’s new subsidiary provides for the Legacys. 
Cerami said Lord Aerospace seeks to return to a 50-50 split between its rotorcraft and fixed-wing business. This has skewed toward rotorcraft work in recent years, now representing approximately a 60-40 split, through defense work supporting the “rotary centric wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In the last three years, Lord has also acquired two sensing businesses aligned with its strategic goals, Cerami said.

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