Cessna is trying to nurture relationships with customers of their older "classic" aircraft by creating a Classic Support team at all 10 Citation Service Centers.

"It’s an art to rig the mechanical throttles on these legacy aircraft," said Stan Younger, vice president, Service Facilities at the Cessna Aircraft Company. "And to rig the flaps. Those skills could easily have been lost if we had not started our Classic Support program. We didn’t want to lose that knowledge base so we had to try to move that tribal knowledge back into the younger technicians. So that is the whole reason behind the initiative."

Several years ago Cessna began to recognize that their customers were not associating their Citation Service Centers with supporting the older legacy Citation fleet. The manufacturer wanted to nurture relationships with these clients, whether they were entry-level, first-time jet owners or the original purchaser.

To that end, they decided to create a program that would help those customers understand that intent. "We are a company that loves you from the day you buy an airplane till the day you are done flying," said Younger. "The classic aircraft are being used especially by entrepreneurial people that are just now coming out of the piston aircraft group," said Younger, "and the pricing is such that they can afford the product and they want to get into the jet age. It’s really important for us to have new clients coming into the used market no matter how they come into that market."

The company embarked on an initiative to better serve those customers that included reviewing employees inside the Cessna Citation Service Centers and breaking them out into separate specialty areas in which they may love to work. "We found that many of our employees like to specialize in the classic Citations, especially the older employees. Their heart was there and so we created the Classic Support team at each Citation Service Center," said Younger. The program is also designed to help pass along the knowledge of those older technicians to the younger, less experienced technicians.

There are 138 technicians in the program throughout the service center network, at all 10 Cessna Citation Service Center locations, who are steered toward work on the classic aircraft that are no longer in production. "For example, when a 1988 550 Citation II would come in the door, we have technicians that are trained in that model of legacy aircraft. We don’t have to go searching for somebody that remembers how the darn thing was put together," Younger said. "We make sure that the Classic Support team specifically gets the 500 series FlightSafety update every year. And we make sure to train them on the PWJT15 engines with Pratt & Whitney in addition to other more specialized training in the legacy avionics and other systems."

The aircraft included in the classic label are the 500-501 series, 550-551 series, S550, and 560s (serial numbers 0-259). At serial number 260 the Cessna changed the 560s to the Ultra. "We didn’t include the 650 model in this team because we also have a group at the service centers that specializes in the larger aircraft," Younger said. About 2,000 airplanes are included in that classic group, a significant number.

With these older aircraft Younger said that parts can be a bit of a challenge. Cessna has taken steps to ensure parts availability across the board, and specifically for the classic aircraft. "This year all 10 Citation Service Centers have joined with Cessna Parts Distribution (CPD) and CPD has taken over all distribution at the outlying service centers. We created a 10-location satellite shipping system; now everything doesn’t need to ship from Wichita. So that has really helped a lot," Younger said. "We support the parts structure so no matter who needs the parts, they are there."

For example, CPD has started purchasing older Citations Is and parting them out to continue to ensure that there are parts on the shelf. "I believe they are going to continue to do that. We are committed to the fleet whether it’s Model 500 serial number 1 or Model 750 serial number 270," said Younger. "As far as the legacy parts are concerned, it’s a continual challenge." Legacy aircraft are made up of many parts and some of those parts weren’t made by Cessna. The company is continuing to work with those original vendors. "That being said, if we are maintaining those relationships and we just can’t keep the older instruments in the aircraft we are quick to find a resource for our customers so they can upgrade their aircraft to something new," said Younger.

For example, last year Cessna teamed with Innovative Solutions & Support (IS&S) for the AdViz program that can be retrofitted back into those 2,000 classic aircraft. "We joined IS&S for that initiative. We are working very hard to bring that product to bear this year," Younger said. "We will be able to redesign the entire cockpit and the instrumentation to fit the AdViz product and even start joining that up to some new communications equipment that is out there." All of the service centers are starting to pick up on upgrades for the legacy model aircraft according to Younger.

Younger also stressed that Cessna’s years of experience with these aircraft, especially during inspection times, pays off for the classic customers. "Because we are so familiar with the aircraft, we’re able to proactively look for and identify potential mechanical issues; such as pulling the ADF antenna down underneath the lavatory to ensure that there isn’t corrosion there. Those are the types of things, the type of institutional knowledge that the Classic Support team brings," he said.

With older aircraft there also comes more need for non-destructive testing capabilities and more need for larger inspections like at the 10,000-hour point. Cessna maintains that they are particularly well-suited to handle those inspections. "This is where we would remove the horizontal stabilizer and we’re pretty good at things like that. It’s not real complicated. It’s just ‘three yards and a cloud of dust.’ You just put your head down and get it done. We’ve done it so much, so many times that it’s second nature to us," said Younger.

Cessna also feels uniquely suited to address those needs. "We have an engineering team dedicated to supporting the entire service center network." said Younger. "And with the IT capabilities today, like e-mail and digital pictures, we’ve become very good at providing engineering support at the outlying centers."

Percentage wise, the larger repairs have been coming to Wichita but other Cessna service centers like San Antonio and Orlando are doing some larger repair jobs. "The outlying service centers understand how to effectively work with our engineers on an off-site basis. And sometimes we fly the engineers to the site," he said. Overall the company said that challenges with the sheet metal structure itself beginning to fatigue have been non-existent. "Those folks who designed and engineered those airplanes years ago did a phenomenal job. They are a strong model aircraft. The stress testing we put a Citation through before we put it out into the world is second to none in my view," said Younger.

Cessna believes their effort to woo the classic customers is working. "We have made it a point to have more trained individuals on staff; we have made it a point to have more of the inventory on the shelf, especially at all 10 locations instead of just at Wichita," said Younger. "I can tell you that over time our customers are more and more pleased with the type of support they are getting from us, especially over the last two years."