NIAR’s Eric Kivett to talk large-widebody conversions at Cargo Facts Symposium 2023

Eric Kivett, program manager for the KMC 777-300ERCF program at Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research, will join a panel to discuss the conversion market on Oct. 27 at Cargo Facts Symposium 2023.

The 29th Cargo Facts Symposium will take place Oct. 25-27 at the Omni Hotel in San Diego, where industry leaders will gather to share insights and analyses on developing market trends while providing an outlook on the air cargo industry in the Americas and around the world.

KMC collaborated with NIAR to launch the 777-300ERCF freighter conversion program. The FAA approved KMC’s project-specific certification plan in May. KMC and NIAR have also begun testing a full-scale demonstrator cargo door and control mechanism for normal operations certification.

While converting a 777-300ER represents a significant undertaking, KMC and NIAR have not yet hit any major, unforeseen hurdles and still expect to obtain certification in 2024.

“I think probably the biggest technical challenge is still ahead of us. We don’t know what it is yet,” Kivett said. “I’ve been in the industry thirty-five years, and I’ve seen much more significant technical challenges than what we’ve encountered to date.”

Kivett, who has more than thirty years of engineering and leadership experience with commercial and government business programs, joined NIAR in 2020. He previously served as senior manager of research and development for Spirit AeroSystems.Kivett joins the session “Conversion market overview and analysis” on Friday, Oct. 27, at 9 a.m. PDT (GMT -5). The discussion will highlight pending, existing and soon-to-be-discontinued conversions in the industry. The other panelists are Bob Weiss, director of Boeing 737 and 767 converted freighters; Michael McConnell, chief executive of C Cubed Aerospace; Zach Young, director of sales at 321 Precision Conversions; and Mark Neely, vice president of freighters at Embraer Commercial Aviation.

View the full event agenda here.

There is less than a month to go until Cargo Facts Symposium, taking place Oct. 25-27 at the Omni San Diego. Learn more about the essential event for stakeholders in the freighter and air cargo industry, and register today.