AAR, Spreading Diverse Wings

Despite the economic challenges affecting the commercial aircraft maintenance industry during the past few years, AAR has managed to keep its hangars full by branching into new areas such as regional airliner maintenance and delivering products that are in demand. AAR recently branched in a new direction with the announcement that it is leasing two bays of the huge former United Airlines Indianapolis, Indiana maintenance facility, with an aim to provide large aircraft MRO services from that location.

AAR's Oklahoma City, Oklahoma facility encloses more than 200,000 square feet of hangar space used for heavy aircraft maintenance. Up to six nose-to-tail narrowbody maintenance lines can be handled simultaneously. AAR, which is a Class IV ISO 9000 certified FAA/JAA-approved repair station, is presently servicing four lines of narrowbody aircraft, including the Boeing MD-80 and 737-200. In the past 18 months, AAR added maintenance of the Bombardier CRJ-200 with the hope that the company can grow into more regional airline service.

The facility, which employs 550 people in Oklahoma City, is also the only full service FBO operated by AAR. The company also works with the military at nearby Tinker Air Force Base. In addition to maintenance services, one of the Oklahoma City hangars is dedicated to painting. The Oklahoma City division also manages AAR's aircraft storage facility in Roswell, New Mexico.

AAR president Don Ward said that diversification is the key to AAR's weathering the recent economic downturn. "We really haven't missed a beat," he said. "Our business didn't have to downsize, which speaks to our performance and reputation. Our baseline customers stayed and we have added customers." He added that in the nine years that he has been in Oklahoma City there have been no layoffs.

Ward and general manager Rick Townsend both emphasized that they are carefully pacing the growth of the Oklahoma City facility based on manpower resources. "We are struggling to find enough A & P mechanics and also good sheetmetal workers," Townsend said.

"We are pacing adding work as we get more technicians," Ward said. AAR may add one or more new hangars to accommodate growing workloads. "We want to be able to accommodate more regionals. We are a company that looks for opportunity and we act quickly. We want to expand heavily into the regionals."

Answering recently publicized concerns over the use of third-party maintenance facilities in the commercial airline industry, Ward stated, "Quality is a given here. We have disciplined processes and a disciplined workforce. If there is a question about right or wrong, we stress conformance to regulation." He also noted the close working relationship with the FAA's local Flight Standards District Office. "We enjoy working hand-in-glove with the FAA," Townsend said.

Also emphasized in the success of AAR's Oklahoma City operation is the addition of technology such as hand-held computers. With the wireless computers, mechanics can work more efficiently. "A lead can spend more time at his desk," said Townsend, "researching and completing paperwork and ready to help with technical advice for the mechanics. Turnaround times have been reduced, sometimes as much as 25 to 30 percent."

"We are a good company to work for," Ward concluded. "We strive to have [our employees] enjoy coming to work."

-- By Joy Finnegan

Hamilton Aerospace Revives Tucson Mx

Rising from the ashes of Hamilton Aviation--which was essentially driven into bankruptcy by the post-9/11 aerospace slump--Hamilton Aerospace Technologies (HAT) of Tucson, Arizona is a smaller, more tightly-focused MRO. "We specialize in heavy maintenance for narrow-bodied aircraft," explained company director Gordon Hamilton. "We've established a niche that works for us."

HAT's fortunes are built on Hamilton Aviation's legacy: specifically the defunct company's hangars, client base, and most experienced technicians. "We have about 200 people on staff, which is about half of the number employed at Hamilton Aviation," said Gordon Hamilton. "Fortunately, our reputation for doing work on time and within budget has allowed us to keep most of our clients and to attract some new ones." At press time, HAT's client list included UPS, DHL Worldwide Express, and Jetran International.

In addition, HAT has generated some new revenues by acquiring, refitting, and then selling renovated Boeing 727s and 737s to carriers such as Air Galapagos and Space World. "The advantage of this sideline is that there's a little money to be made in brokering the sale, while the refit work increases our regular revenues," Hamilton said. "It's a win-win for us and our clients."

Oklahoma City may be home to a 350-plus-acre maintenance, repair, and overhaul technology center (MROTC) in the near future. The Oklahoma Industries Authority, in conjunction with Battelle Oklahoma will build the $600 million center across the field from Tinker Air Force Base.

The massive project could take place in five to eight phases during the next 12 years, with the building phase to begin in the first quarter of 2005, according to Chip Carter, vice president at Battelle Oklahoma. "We are expecting $2.2 million any day now," he said, "from Housing and Urban Development [HUD], which we will use for an environmental impact study. The HUD funds will be used to perform a variety of environmental tests, such as traffic engineering, noise impact, and water quality, as well as some basic construction and site-grading preparation." By 2006, maintenance, overhaul, and training is planned to begin.

Battelle and Oklahoma City are hoping that the commercial aviation MRO companies and education/training institutes will locate at the site. In addition, both are hoping that the military complex at Tinker will also eventually utilize some portion of the facilities to relieve congestion and free space on the base for new work.

Battelle Oklahoma is a subsidiary of Battelle, a non-profit charitable trust based in Columbus, Ohio. The group, which was founded in the 1920s by steel baron Gordon Battelle with the mandate that all enterprises be for the betterment of mankind, operates and manages facilities for government and industry and develops and commercializes technologies. "Our partnership with the government and community is key," Carter said.

"Practically every aerospace company I know has come and looked and wants to be here," said Carter. "By the third quarter of 2004 we should have letters of intent or know some of the industries."

Several local colleges and technical schools are already training A & P mechanics and other support personnel for Tinker and others in Oklahoma City. Carter said the facility hopes to house training not only for A & P mechanics but also for computer technicians, administrative support, and to offer technical management leadership training. And with one half of the Tinker military personnel becoming eligible for retirement in the next seven to ten years, Batelle sees a market niche to fill. They hope to create up to 1,000 new aviation jobs at the facility and not only work with the military base but also compete for work with Tinker and other MRO facilities located in the Oklahoma City area.

-- By Joy Finnegan

FLS Completes SSIP in Record Time

In February 2004, FLS Aerospace announced it had completed an Airbus A340 8C- check, including a supplemental structural inspection program (SSIP), for Virgin Atlantic Airways in a record time of 40 days. The SSIP is designed to ensure the safety of structurally significant items on older commercial aircraft with a gross weight in excess of 75,000 pounds.

The SSIP is mandatory and its philosophy is outlined in documents including the CAA Airworthiness Notice 89 Issue 4 and FAA Advisory Circular 91-56A. These have instructed aircraft manufacturers to put systems in place whereby operators must conduct premature integrity examinations of structurally significant items on a limited number of aircraft. The inspections are to be carried out at a point halfway before they would normally become due and the data gathered is then used by the OEM to verify the validity of component life models developed during the aircraft's initial development phase. This assures the safety of the global fleet.

The programs are expected to cover the oldest fifth of every relevant fleet, but each OEM can adopt its own method for selecting the appropriate aircraft. "Boeing nominates the individual aircraft it wants SSIPs to be carried out on," explained Neal Jennion, general manager production support at Marshall Aerospace, Cambridge, United Kingdom. "However, Airbus expects operators to identify the applicable aircraft themselves. But because the numbers are rounded up, this can adversely impact on smaller operators. An airline with six aircraft can have the same SSIP workload as one operating ten." But every structurally significant item inspected by the Airbus SSIP need not be on the same aircraft. This enables smaller operators to pool their resources, with each undertaking an agreed aspect of the work.

As the SSIP is focused on components that are not expected to have deteriorated significantly, the number of repairs it initiates are minimal. However, according to Jim Conroy, manager structures engineering at FLS Aerospace, "it does generate a large amount of extra work on the particular aircraft involved. The problem is that it relies heavily on X-ray techniques and so the aircraft has to be isolated. This impacts workflow expectations. With the Virgin A340 we closed the hanger on three weekends and handed it over to the NDT specialists, some of which we brought over from our U.K. sites." However, with each cost comes a benefit. SSIP work gives the engineers an unparalleled level of knowledge and experience on that particular aircraft type.

-- By Colin Browning