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WINGS wingsmagazine.com

RED CARPET TREATMENT

Saluting Canada's top FBOs big and small

Watching their every movement

Canadian firms offer new flight data monitoring options

Celebrating a whole new class

PHOTO CREDIT TK

Swiss-based Pilatus Aircraft introduces the slick PC-24

SEPT OCT 2014 CANADA’S NATIONAL AVIATION MAGAZINE

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UPFRONT 5 Leading edge

The value of a nice loo

8 On the fly

News and opinion

12 Alternate Approach Connecting the dots

14 At the Gate

Joining forces in the North

15 Glidepath

The slick, new Pilatus PC-24 debuts in a gala celebration in Switzerland.

Laying the groundwork

16 Women in aviation

Shooting for the stars

BACK 57 MRO Directory 70 Marketplace 74 On final

Give geese a chance

From top: Laying the groundwork P.15 Shooting for the stars P.16

FEATURES 18 RED CARPET TREATMENT

In the Canadian FBO game, it’s all about teamwork and keeping an eye on details BY MATT NICHOLLS

26 ESTABLISHING REAL DIVERSITY

Canada’s newest aviation company is as skilled flying commercially as landing in the world’s troubled hotspots BY DAVID CARR

30 CELEBRATING A NEW CLASS

Swiss-based Pilatus Aircraft is branding its new PC-24 as “Crystal Class” BY RICK ADAMS

PHOTOS: PILATUS (TOP); PAUL DIXON (TOP LEFT); MDA (BOTTOM LEFT)

36 EXPANDING THE FLIGHT ENVELOPE

Panorama Helicopters now has a fixed-wing aviation division BY CARROLL MCCORMICK

40 MONITORING THEIR EVERY MOVEMENT

Canadian firms creating better solutions to track aircraft BY BRIAN DUNN

45 THE QUEST TO OWN THE SKIES

Aviation’s brightest young minds compete for UAV supremacy BY PAUL DIXON

55 STRENGTHENING SUPPLY CHAIN RELIABILITY COVER PHOTO: SKYSERVICE

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Selective control of suppliers can improve quality, reliability and aerospace management

September/October 2014 | WINGS

I like to stay ahead of my aircraft. So if I’m 40 miles out with weather rolling in, I’m listening to what’s happening in front of me. AWOS. Pilot chatter. A quick check with flight service. Sometimes, there’s a lot to decipher. But I need to hear it clearly. Because when I do, I feel confident. Prepared. In the moment. And that allows me to just

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LEADING

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| By Matt Nicholls

The value of a nice loo

What’s the value of a great restroom? Ask a top Canadian FBO winner!

PHOTO: KREOS AVIATION

n a previous incarnation as the editor of a prominent Canadian business magazine, I was fortunate enough to tour and write about some of the top hotel properties in the world. What impressed me most about these facilities was the unique combination of service excellence from dedicated employees coupled with an acute sense of detail that you just don’t see in most “cookie-cutter” facilities. The staff at the world’s top hotel brands and impeccable independent properties “get it” when it comes to creating unique, memorable experiences that keep customers coming back again and again. And call me crazy, but one of the most invaluable ways I used to evaluate the properties was by assessing the quality and condition of the bathroom – as a clean, well-kept oasis reveals a commitment to service and attention to detail. It also shows a strong work ethic, because cleaning bathrooms isn’t exactly up there on most people’s priority list. I’m sure I’m dating myself here, but there’s an ongoing shtick in Seinfeld built on this premise – George Costanza and his quest for the perfect corporate “comfort station.” In one episode, the affable George stumbles upon his best job ever – which comes complete with the perfect loo, his own corporate throne. And really, in the aviation environment, coming in from a long-haul destination, tired and burnt out, or held captive with a makeshift latrine in some northern ops camp, who doesn’t want the chance to experience a bathroom nirvana? If you’ve flown commercially and experienced some of the lovely offerings in just about every North American airport, you understand what I am talking about. It’s also why I belted out an emphatic “yes” – and stunned the folks in the cubicles next to me – when, in my interview with KREOS Aviation’s Sherry Franks and Wes Ramsay, they both went into detail about their

5 WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

such a standard is not an accident. It takes flexible, attentive, service-minded employees who understand that the individual needs of all customers take priority . . . and it’s all done with a smile. Wings 2014 FBO winners also comprehend that customers demand the best; they expect value from pricing to maintenance and much more. Like their hotel brethren, it’s about doing things in a unique, memorable way. “A lot of what our customers enjoy is the atmosphere of the FBO,” Franks said. “When you come to this facility, when you look around, the first thing you see is the local art on the walls, the artists prominent in the area. The attention to detail in every room incorporates many aspects of aviation, including books, art, local fishing camps, activities going on in Saskatoon, specialized aviation furniture, chandeliers . . . it all works to identify the local heritage.” Attention to detail, exceeding expectations and offering a unique product – they’re all components of a winning FBO recipe. Congratulations to all of the 64 properties receiving votes this year. Good luck exceeding customer expectations in the future – and, of course, ensuring the bathrooms are clean! | W

It also shows a strong work ethic, because cleaning bathrooms isn’t up there on anyone’s priority list. commitment to having a nice bathroom at their Saskatoon, Sask.-based FBO. Ramsay assured me that the KREOS latrine is always pristine. “This, is absolutely critical,” Ramsay said, chuckling. “You can always tell the quality of a house, a property, by the kitchen . . . and the bathroom!” Voted Wings Top FBO in Central Canada in our annual Top Canadian FBO survey (see, “Red Carpet Treatment,” pg. 18), KREOS has taken the plunge by creating an outstanding respite for its corporate passengers and pilots. Like the other winners of our fourth annual report, the KREOS team has mastered the nuances of blending top service with unique amenities that leave customers with an experience to remember. As all the winners have indicated, reaching

TOP DATA BURSTS… in this issue

1. $5.8 trillion: Total sales of single-aisle commercial jet liners and large-cabin private jets by 2033. (Pg. 12) 2. First Air has been in business for more than 65 years. (Pg. 14) 3. A total of 64 Canadian FBOs were nominated in the 2014 survey (pg. 18) 4. $485 million: The amount Pilatus will spend on its PC-24 development. (pg. 30) 5. Grand Forks Air Force base, a new UAV development site, will bring in $82 million to the U.S. economy. (pg. 45)

Your feedback is always welcome. Please contact me at mnicholls@annexweb.com. @Wings_Magazine September/October 2014 | WINGS

WINGS

SEPT OCT 2014 CANADA’S NATIONAL AVIATION MAGAZINE

wingsmagazine.com

Vol. 55, Issue 5 EDITOR

Matt Nicholls mnicholls@annexweb.com 416-725-5637

RED CARPET TREATMENT

Saluting Canada's top FBOs big and small

MEDIA DESIGNER

Brooke Shaw

Watching their every movement

Canadian firms offer new flight data monitoring options

FLIGHT DECK

Celebrating a whole new class

Rick Adams, Krista Bulmer, David Carr, Paul Dixon, Brian Dunn, Frederick K. Larkin, James Marasa, Carroll McCormick, Anna Pangrazzi, Bill Zuk

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THE LEAD

INDUSTRY HAPPENINGS

10 TRADE SHOWS

THE LEAD

SINGLE-AISLE, LARGECABIN DRIVE SALES Single-aisle commercial jetliners and largecabin private jets are expected to drive more than $5.8 trillion in sales up to 2033, according to 20-year market forecasts released by Bombardier Aerospace and Boeing at this year’s Farnborough Air Show. According to Boeing, single-aisle jets such as the new 737 MAX 8 and CSeries, will make up 70 per cent of all units sold over the next 20 years, largely due to the continued emergence of low-cost carriers. “We see the heart of the single-aisle market in the 160-seat range,” said Randy Tinseth, vice-president of marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Over that same period, large-cabin aircraft will experience the fastest percentage growth in the private jet market, accounting for 24 per cent of all unit sales. It’s difficult to point to degrees of light between the two airframers. For example, Bombardier forecasts sales of 6,000 units in the 90-seats and below segment, compared with Boeing, which sees sales of 2,490 aircraft because the forecast does not include turboprops such as the Q400 and ATR72. Boeing predicts 25,680 deliveries of single-aisle aircraft in the 90- to 230-seat range. Bombardier sees 7,100 deliveries in

the 100- to 149-seat range, where the airframer will compete with the CSeries CS100 and CS300 airliners. Bombardier is also offering a high-density, 160-seat version of the CS300. The CSeries was unable to debut at this year’s Farnborough Air Show after an engine fire grounded the test program earlier this year. “The 100- to 149-seat aircraft segment, which has not been the focus of aircraft development for at least the past two decades, will witness a major fleet transformation with the entry-into-service of new cleansheet aircraft designs,” Bombardier said in a statement. The 60- to 99-seat segment will continue to be one of the most dynamic in commercial aviation, says Bombardier, which estimates global fleets to more than double in size with new aircraft deliveries split between large turboprops and large regional jets. The Asia-Pacific market, including China, will continue to lead the way in total commercial airplanes delivered, according to Boeing, followed by North America, which marginally edged out Europe. On the corporate side, the deck gets shuffled. Over the forecast period, Bombardier predicts that, over the forecast period, North America will receive the largest number of new business jet deliveries between 2014 and 2033, followed by Europe. China is forecast to become the third largest region in terms of deliveries over the next 20 years, with 950 deliveries from 2014 to 2023 and 1,275 deliveries from 2024 to 2033. Business jet orders are expected to remain sluggish in 2014 and should pickup in 2015. The Bombardier forecast also predicts a rebound for the weak light jet segment, which has struggled since 2004, when it

Boeing is forecasting that single-aisle jets like the new 737 MAX 8 and CSeries will make up 70 per cent of all units sold over the next 20 years 8

WINGS | September/October 2014

accounted for 50 per cent of all deliveries. Over the next two decades, light jets will represent 41 per cent of industry unit deliveries (17 per cent of delivery revenues), but will continue to trail large and mid-size cabin aircraft. “Overall, the market is strong and resilient,” says Boeing’s Tinseth. “With new and more efficient airplanes entering service, the growth in air travel is being driven by customers who want to fly where they want, when they want.”

ONTARIO’S FUEL TAX HIKE IGNITES OUTRAGE Ontario’s 150 per cent hike in aviation fuel taxes will increase fares and shipping costs, encourage operators to tanker fuel outside the province, cause more travellers to flee to U.S. border airports to fly, and will likely result in less revenue flowing into provincial coffers than the government predicts, according to industry sources. As announced in a recent provincial budget, the Ontario government wants the aviation community to chip in for more of the cost of building non-aviation infrastructure and transit projects. Aviation fuel in the province will jump one cent a year to 6.7 per cent by 2017, adding an estimated $100 million to the gas bills of operators filling up in Ontario. It will be the first increase since 1992. “At the existing 2.7 cents per litre tax on aviation fuel, Ontario is both out of step with most provinces and competing U.S. jurisdictions (where the fuel tax is 1.7 cents per litre and goes toward aviation infrastructure),” Marc-André O’Rourke, executive director of the National Airlines Council of Canada (NACA), recently told the Ontario Legislature’s Standing Committee of Finance and Economic Affairs. “Ontario already has one of the highest taxes on aviation fuel and is one of the only jurisdictions in the world that still imposes a tax on fuel used for international flights.” Canada already has some of the highest aviation taxes in the world, recently ranking 136th of 144 countries in a World Economic Forum survey. A recent Conference Board of Canada study estimates that more than five million Canadians already drive to U.S. airports to avoid the high taxes on Canadian airline fares. It is estimated that the new tax, which will have an upward impact on fares, will send up to 400,000 WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO: BOEING (BOTTOM LEFT)

more Ontarians to airports such as Duluth, Minn., and Niagara Falls, New York – perhaps along some of the newly paved highways the government has planned. “The Thunder Bay airport and associated air transport business in Thunder Bay is worth over $500 million to the local economy, and this kind of de-stimulating tax is a step in the wrong direction,” Scott McFadden, chief executive of the Thunder Bay Airport Authority told tbnewswatch.com. With 12,000 employees, Air Canada is one of Ontario’s private sector employers. The airline estimates that, when fully implemented, the fuel tax will add $50 million to its bottom line, with a negative impact on operations. “Ontario will continue to lose business to U.S. border airports and other provinces with more progressive perspectives on economic development,” said Calin Rovinescu, Air Canada’s chief executive. “The approach on aviation rates, charges and taxes must go in the other direction.” Indeed, a decision by the British Columbia government in 2012 to eliminate fuel taxes on international flights is credited for helping to generate added flights by 22 airlines to the Vancouver International Airport. “The B.C. government has indicated that the initial loss of revenue ($12 million) has been significantly superseded by an estimated $20 million in new payroll and consumption taxes.” Rovinescu has called on Ontario to follow B.C. and neighbouring competing U.S. states, “who recognize the value

Ontario’s aviation community is outraged by the provincial government’s 150 per cent hike in fuel taxes.

of the aviation industry as an economic engine and enabler of trade, not as a facile source of revenue to subsidize other government activities.” Rudy Toering, chief executive of the Canadian Business Aviation Association, suggests that the increase could have an opposite impact on revenues. In a letter to Ontario’s Minister of Finance, Toering writes, “operators will tanker their aircraft in the U.S. and other Canadian provinces, saving themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars and in the process dramatically affect the sale of fuel in Ontario.” Already, the newly elected government is showing signs of a slight wobble. The Finance Minister insisted after the fact that an unspecified number of remote and isolated airports in northern communities will be exempt from the tax hike, a classic case of government again hand-picking winners and losers. Will it be enough? Dr. Fred Lazar of the Schulich School of Business at York University estimates that tripling the fuel tax

increase could result in a $97-million hit to the province’s GDP and a loss of more than 2,000 jobs. “By 2030, the catalytic effect of a four-cent increase could cost the province up to $1 billion in lost GDP,” the NACA’s O’Rourke added.

AVIANOR AIRBUS RETROFIT HEADS FOR THE GULF Avianor has delivered the first of four refurbished Airbus A330 aircraft to Bahrain’s Gulf Air. Avianor specializes in component maintenance and interior modifications, including cabin conversions of Air Canada A319 and Boeing 767 aircraft to Air Canada rouge, the company’s leisure airline. The Gulf Air contract includes all-new cabin seating, a refreshed interior and an advanced inflight entertainment system for the airline’s long haul fleet. “The Avianor team has worked very hard over the past seven months to

PHOTO: AIR CANADA (TOP); JAMIE EWAN (BOTTOM)

INDUSTRY HAPPENINGS

One of the world’s only airworthy Avro Lancasters, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s C-GVRA arrives in Britain for a historic tour. The iconic aircraft was a mainstay for Allied aviators in the Second World War. WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

September/October 2014 | WINGS

ON THE

FLY

realize a successful introduction of the first modified aircraft,” said Earl Diamond, company chief executive. “The first off is always the most difficult aircraft as it serves as validation of the design and all the systems need to mesh perfectly.” Avianor acted as the “turn-key provider” managing the program and was responsible for the engineering, certification and installation of the extensive upgrade. The work was performed at the company’s 170,000-square foot maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at Montreal’s Mirabel Airport.

ACCIPITER TURNS 20 Canada’s Accipiter Radar, a pioneer in the radar surveillance industry, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The Niagara Falls, Ont.-based company was launched in 1994 by a group of radar engineers and scientists from Raytheon.

Since then, Accipiter has sharpened its focus, providing wide-area situational awareness systems that have proved to be effective against small, uncooperative targets of interest for homeland security, aviation safety, such as bird strike prevention and defense applications. “Our talented and dedicated team continues to grow, providing local employment, and we are proud to represent the Niagara Region, delivering some of the best Canadian technology around the world,” said Dr. Tim J. Nohara, the company’s chief executive. Accipiter delivers systems coast-tocoast across North America and as far as the Middle East and Australia for government, military and private customers. Its new class of radar solutions combine patented software and architecture with common off-the-shelf products and technology to affordably supply outstanding military-grade performance to the RCMP, Canadian Forces, NAV Canada and the Federal Aviation Administration.

TRADE SHOWS

FARNBOROUGH SHORTS China’s Loong Air signed a Letter of Intent to acquire 20 Bombardier CSeries CS100 airliners. Based on the list price for the CS100 aircraft, a firm order for 20 CS100 aircraft would be valued at approximately US$1.28 billion. “The CSeries airliner is the right size aircraft to allow for profitable growth as Loong Air seeks to expand its network and provide improved connectivity and frequencies to an increasing number of domestic travellers,” said Liu Qihong, chair of the airline. “With its clean-sheet design and leading-edge technology, Bombardier’s CSeries family of airliners provides a distinct economic advantage.” . . . Bombardier Aerospace wrapped up the Farnborough International Airshow with firm orders, conditional purchase agreements and letters of intent for

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Bombardier wrapped up the Farnborough Airshow with firm orders, conditional purchase agreements and letters of intent for a total of 74 aircraft.

a total of 74 aircraft, valued at more than US$4.25 billion, should all commitments be converted to firm orders . . . Montreal’s Héroux-Devtex has renewed a contract with Viking Air of Victoria, B.C. for the fabrication of the nose landing gear for the Twin Otter Series 400 aircraft. Héroux-Devtex designed the original de Havilland legacy Twin Otter landing gear in the 1960s. The renewal extends the current contract into 2018 and is valued at approximately $20 million including

aftermarket components . . . Viking Air officially handed over the second of four Series 400 aircraft to Air Seychelles. Viking hopes the carrier’s strategic partnership with Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways will expand the Series 400 presence throughout the entire Middle East and North African regions . . . L-3 MAS has completed the installation and certification of a Wi-Fi telecommunications system and the delivery of patient transfer units (PTUs) on the CC-150 Polaris aircraft for the Royal Canadian

Air Force (RCAF). The need for medical evacuation PTUs was identified several years ago by the RCAF, but it had not been fully implemented due to unresolved technical issues. L-3 MAS developed a proactive plan that allowed it to deliver the PTU capability, enabling the CC-150 aircraft to conduct medical evacuation of injured personnel . . . The Cessna Citation X+, currently the world’s fastest business jet, completed its first trans-Atlantic crossing in a normal business flight profile in five hours, 33 minutes. The aircraft flew from Presque Isle, Maine, 2,788 nautical miles non-stop to Cessna’s facility at Paris-Le Bourget. The Citation X+, which just received FAA certification, then completed its journey at TAG Farnborough Airport. “While the operator will realize a huge benefit from the Citation X+ during shorter cross-country flights, long flights like this are where it really shines, said Kriya Shortt, senior vicepresident, sales and marketing.

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September/October 2014 | WINGS

2014-08-25 12:55 PM

ALTERNATE

APPROACH By David Carr |

Connecting the dots

Thai aerospace industry is hungry for Canadian investment

12 WINGS | September/October 2014

250 kilometres northeast of Bangkok in Nakhom Ratchasima, Thailand’s second largest city. While the land is government-owned, there is no date yet for when development will begin. Attracting future Canadian investment will likely require taking a path similar to Michelin, the France-based tire manufacturer. Michelin began producing tires in Thailand in 1987. The company expanded into the aviation sector in 2003 and accounts for one-third of Michelin’s global aviation tire output. Thailand is confident it is putting the winning conditions in place for a vibrant aerospace industry, including membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 3.3 billion person free trading bloc including China, India and Japan. If there is a spanner in the works it would be the instability caused by last May’s coup. Still, lessons have been learned from the last coup, eight years ago. The military recently announced the go ahead of major infrastructure projects, including high-speed rail, and approval of more than US$21 billion in foreign investment, previously stalled because of the uncertainty. “We have passed through many crises and our approach to free markets has not changed. This is a positive thing,” Pattanapanchai said. | W

The BOI understands the size and significance of Canada’s aerospace industry and is making the effort to attract business. Singapore has become a global manufacturing hub for aerospace and accounts for approximately 25 per cent of Asia’s MRO activity, according to the London Financial Times. Like Singapore, Thailand offers a favourable tax structure, access to a welltrained and cost-competitive workforce, good infrastructure and business-friendly regulations in key areas such as foreign ownership and intellectual property protection, practices that have not been impacted by a recent military coup. What is missing is a Thai version of Singapore’s Seletar Airport, an abandoned Royal Air Force base that has been converted into a 320-hectare aerospace park, where Rolls Royce is building Trent engines and Pratt & Whitney will begin to manufacture fan blades next year. “Singapore is far ahead of us in aviation,” said Kamjorn Vorawongsakul, a vice-president with AMATA, a leading industrial estate developer, where several of Thailand’s aerospace firms are located. There are plans to redevelop Korat Airport, an old Royal Thai Air Force base into Thailand’s first aerospace industrial park. Korat has a 2,100-metre runway and is located outside

David Carr is a Wings writer and columnist. WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO: DAVID CARR

y 2020, Asia is expected to account for one of every three new aircraft deliveries. Thailand, an industrious nation of 67 million, wants in as a supplier to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and in MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul). Some of the dots are already in place, including Michelin, which manufactures aircraft tires in Thailand; Wichita-based Triumph, which produces engine parts, including for the Bombardier Q400; and the U.K.’s Senior plc, whose output includes compressor blades and airfoils for the V2500 commercial engine. In 2013, exports of aircraft parts and equipment from Thailand topped US$1.7 billion, a year-over-year increase of 87 per cent. While some of the dots may be in place, there is a bigger job ahead connecting them and attracting investment from more companies such as Bombardier and Pratt & Whitney Canada, including building an aviation cluster similar to those in Montreal or neighbouring Singapore. The country has been down this road before, most notably in the automotive sector. In 30 years, cars, parts and accessories have gone from idle to pole position as the country’s leading export, valued at more than US$25 billion in 2013, with every major car brand present. “There was no national carmaking strategy,” Ajarin Pattanapanchai, Deputy Secretary General of the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI), told Wings. “We invited major car makers in and the government played the role of matchmaker.” Pattanapanchai said the BOI understands the size and significance of Canada’s aerospace industry and is making the effort to attract business. She makes an annual visit to Canada and was in Montreal last October knocking on doors. She insists the interest level is high, “but it is quite new for Canadian aerospace companies to be thinking about Thailand.” For now there is no strategy to directly target Canada, except to tack toward Tier I and II manufacturing, which appears to be consistent with the government’s approach to building a presence in aerospace overall. And while success in the auto sector may be driving Thailand’s vision for manufacturing and MRO, it is neighbouring Singapore that has drawn the road map.

AT THE

GATE

By Brian Dunn |

Joining forces in the North

First Air, Canadian North exploring merging operations

14 WINGS | September/October 2014

School of Business, University of Manitoba and the former Director of the Transport Institute. “But it’s essential not only for the transportation of people, but also for the food supply, since 80 per cent of what’s consumed in the north must be imported at very high cost.” Usually, when a competitor exits a market, ticket prices go up, but Prentice doesn’t think it will happen if the two carriers merge, as prices are already high. In fact, prices could come down as a lot of duplication of services will be eliminated, resulting in some job losses. “That’s one of the reasons for a merger, to bring costs down. You’re not going to have two presidents, two vice-presidents, two maintenance bases and so on. Another issue is whether the merged airline will maintain service and capacity if they don’t have to as a monopoly,” he said. One major stumbling block to a merger is that the Competition Bureau could step in, suggested Prentice which would not be such a good idea. “Blocking the merger would limit the potential of one of the airlines, as one will eventually flounder,” Prentice said. “But very few mergers live up to their expectations and there could be friction between the two different corporate cultures. It took Air Canada more than 10 years to absorb Canadian Airlines with their different cultures and pilot seniority squabbles among other issues.” | W

We anticipate most employee coverages will either be taken up by natural attrition and/or growth. merger would eliminate a lot of duplication. But a combined airline should not result in major layoffs or the sale of any aircraft, according to McCart. “Overall, we don’t anticipate large-scale layoffs or selling of aircraft as the charter business at Canadian North is growing, with fleet renewal plans at both airlines already underway,” he said. Asked if some routes will be dropped or frequencies adjusted on certain pairings, McCart said there will be an opportunity to review new routes and existing offerings under a merged airline that wouldn’t be possible as competitors. He added that several economies of scale are expected to be achieved. “Overall, the objective will be to improve the flight network from both a connectivity and community schedule perspective. Improvement in flight schedules to northern communities with better connections to northern hubs would be a key benefit for the merged airline. Today, in several instances, the two airlines combine to serve a community with four flights a day with two flights arriving at almost exactly the same time in the morning and two flights arriving at the same time in the afternoon – all less than half full. This situation could be improved for both communities.” It’s a very thin market for two airlines to serve, agreed Barry Prentice, Professor of Supply Chain Management, at the I.H. Asper

Brian Dunn is a Wings writer and columnist. WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO: FIRST AIR

alks are continuing on a possible merger between First Air and Canadian North, the two major players in Canada’s north. First Air is a subsidiary of the Makivik Corporation, founded in 1975 to administer funds paid to the Inuit of Northern Quebec as part of the James Bay Hydro Agreement with the Quebec government. NorTerra, a subsidiary of the Inuvialuit Development Corporation, which represents the Inuit of the Western Arctic, owns Canadian North. “It was felt there was significant value in exploring the benefits of a merged airline entity that combined the strengths and identities of Canada’s largest northern airlines to provide better, more sustainable airline services for our northern customers,” said Peter McCart, Vice-President, Passenger Sales & Marketing at Canadian North. “Further . . . it was well understood that, in order to grow and develop, change is needed.” First Air would not comment during the negotiations. Based out of Yellowknife and Iqaluit, First Air has been in business for more than 65 years and operates a fleet of 23 aircraft, including the only two civilian-owned and operated Hercules cargo aircraft in Canada. In addition to the Hercules, the fleet consists of a Boeing 737-400 all passenger aircraft, two 737-400 combis, three 737200 combis, three 737-200 all passenger aircraft, one 767-223 Super Freighter, nine ATR 42s, and seven ATR 72s. Its scheduled service carries approximately 225,000 passengers and more than 22 million kilograms of freight and mail over its vast and comprehensive route system, which connects 30 northern communities with Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg and Edmonton. It has around 1,000 employees with close to half of them working in the north. Canadian North has been around for more than 80 years. It was created from Canadian Airlines, Pacific Western Airlines, Transair and Nordair and is based in Yellowknife. It also has about 1,000 employees and serves 19 communities, including Edmonton and Ottawa. It operates a fleet of eight Boeing 737300s, seven 737-200 Combis and four Dash 8 aircraft. First Air also serves most of the destinations served by Canadian North, so a

GLIDE

PATH

| By Paul Dixon

Laying the groundwork

Aviation will have a huge impact on future economic tendencies

PHOTO: PAUL DIXON

was recently reading an article about the impending reversal of north and south. The earth’s magnetic polls are getting ready to flip, according to those who make this their life’s work. It’s happened before, many times in fact, and we’re told that the next flip is actually long overdue. The smart money says about 2,000 more years, but hedges by allowing it could just as easily be in another couple of hundred years. In an effort to cheer us up, the article states that in past polarity flips there were no mass extinctions or evidence of other mayhem, then goes on to conclude that researchers think that “power grids and communication systems would be most at risk.” I’m thinking that given our almost total dependence on “power grids and communications systems,” we may be forced to re-think the potential for mass extinction. It got me thinking about how transportation technology has changed since the Industrial Revolution and the impact that changes have had on the status quo. If you’ve taken the tour at Boeing’s plant in Everett, Wash., they start off by showing a short movie that opens with a replica of Capt. George Vancouver’s ship Discovery under sail, with the comment that, in 1791, when Vancouver had been dispatched to the Pacific Coast to investigate rumours that the Spanish were taking an interest in the region, it took him a year to get here. Today, London is a 10-hour flight to Vancouver or Seattle. The difference between 365 days and less than half a day is mind boggling, more so when you realize that George Vancouver died in 1798 at the age of 40. There was an old joke about buggy whip holders on early motor cars and the poor soul who had the misfortune to invent a better buggy whip just as Henry Ford arrived on the scene. My grandfather entered his apprenticeship in 1893 in Northumberland, bound in servitude for five years to a wheelwright and joiner, learning the trade of building and repairing horse-drawn conveyances. Ford started his first automobile company in 1899. My grandfather was still able to work most of his life as a carpenter, but it was a close call. In 1921, my grandfather’s family in “the old country” shipped a piece of furniture WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

will likely drop. Moving containers has been one of the key drivers in how Canada’s two major railroads operate their businesses. CN and CP have both become long-haul, big-train operators running unit trains for containers, coal, potash, grain and, increasingly, oil. It wasn’t that long ago that the railroads were the stitching in the Canadian mosaic, but think of how many towns have all but disappeared after the tracks were pulled up. The aviation world is shifting on its axis and what will the impact be on Canada and Canadian airports? The drive from some quarters to make the Persian Gulf the major hub between Europe, the Americas and the Middle East and Asia could have profound impacts on the status quo, especially given the deep pockets in the region that support such a move. We have the apparent dichotomy created by competition between the A380 and B787. When both projects were long overdue, the industry pundits were pretty much equally split in suggesting that Boeing or Airbus had got it wrong. Is it possible that, in their attempt to steal a march on their competitor, they both got it right? The future of any business is about knowing what your customers will require at some point in the future and being the person or organization capable of meeting those needs. The talent lies in being able to take today’s skill set and apply it to tomorrow’s market, much as the wheelwright of the 19th century was able to use the skills he developed for the carriage trade in the old world and transition into a carpenter and builder in the new world of the 20th century. | W

The talent lies in being able to take today’s skill set and apply it to tomorrow’s market. to him in Vancouver (I have it in my house today). It came by sea, around Cape Horn (just like George Vancouver), because it was cheaper to ship it around the Horn than via the Panama Canal. Today, the Panama Canal is being widened to accommodate the largest container ships afloat. Due to open to these super-ships in 2016, the retooled passageway could have a huge impact on shipping in general and the West Coast ports of North America in particular. Currently, to get cargo from Asia into the heart of North America by sea, it is quicker to dock on the West Coast and ship by rail, but it is $600 cheaper for each container that goes through the Panama Canal and is then barged up the Mississippi into the heart of the continent. Once the canal is widened, the biggest container ships will be able to transit the canal and shipping prices

Paul Dixon is freelance writer and photojournalist living in Vancouver. September/October 2014 | WINGS 15

WOMEN IN

AVIATION By Anna Pangazzi

Shooting for the stars

MDA’s Natalie Panek confidently blazes a new path

Why did you choose a career in aerospace? I have always been driven by a sense of adventure, the ability to push limits, and learning. Combine these with a desire to travel to space and a career in aerospace is a natural fit. Space travel is the ultimate for me. Aerospace engineering offers amazing learning opportunities with so much involvement in science and technology. Did you have any role models and/or mentors? Unfortunately, in my early school years, I really did not have many mentors (aside from my family). As I progressed through 16 WINGS | September/October 2014

the world. I often feel like I

Engineering is all about am not making enough of an innovation; allowing curiosity impact. At times like these, you just have to take a step to run its course in our daily lives. back and consider a wider school, I learned to take advantage of opportunities for mentorship, especially with the female mentors I connected with in university – female professors, my instructor for my pilot’s license, or even a mentorship program through the Women’s Executive Network (WXN), where I was mentored by Maryse Carmichael. What kind of challenges have you had to deal with and how have you overcome them? The biggest obstacle I have had to overcome is leaving behind my family and the city that I love (Calgary) to pursue a dream of travelling to space. I can honestly say that I have had equal opportunity throughout my career in engineering. While there are certainly challenges in any industry, I think women need to focus more on why we love what we do – flying, working with robots, designing spacecraft – rather than the challenges. Have you ever felt overwhelmed? Do you have certain strategies to help you affect change? Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the number of incredible youth accomplishing amazing feats to really revolutionize

perspective. Sometimes inspiring just one young woman to consider an engineering career is enough. Those moments when a father tells you that he visits your blog with his daughter to get ideas for science experiments are absolutely unreal. How do you describe your professional style? My professional style is a combination of determination, efficiency, ease, and rebelliousness (to create positive change!). I love the opportunity to get my hands on a very diverse cross-section of Canadian space initiatives. I try to enjoy each day and put in my best work for the time I am in the office. But for me, travel, adventure, and exploration are just as important as my day-to-day job. Making time for these has to be priority in my life – and I think being an engineer teaches you very well how to manage priorities. While I love what I do, I don’t think, later when looking back on my life, I’ll wish I spent more time on the computer; but pursuing adventure, I’ll always want more of that! | W Anna Pangrazzi is an accomplished aviator and Toronto-based writer. WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO: MDA

hen I broke into the aviation fraternity in the 1980s, my generation of female aviators was considered quite a novelty. It was an exciting field, full of adventures, and we did not mind being “one of the boys.” Years later, however, many of my female colleagues are finding it hard to understand why more women did not follow in our footsteps. One explanation may be the lack of visible role models youngsters had and although we tried to make a difference, it was difficult to make a significant impact. Fortunately, there’s now a new breed of young women entering the field who are changing the landscape in many exciting ways. Natalie Panek, for example, the 2013 Northern Lights Rising Star Award recipient, is an aspiring astronaut working for MDA Corporation in B.C. The 29-year-old blogs, tweets, hosts a website called the Panekroom.com and uses every opportunity to speak and engage young women about aviation and aerospace. Panek holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters of Applied Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies. She has driven a solar-powered car across North America, has done two internships at NASA, completed her pilot’s licence and now works on robotic kinematics. Beyond her day job, Natalie is an ambassador for young women in engineering and aims to inspire the next generation “to dive head-on into the challenge!”

allowing you 3 ways to market your organization to students: the guide, expos & website. choose any or all to suit your marketing objectives! Colleges and universities with aviation and aerospace programs, industry hiring managers, and industry associations need to invest and participate in promoting the amazing career opportunities available in our industry! For more information on sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities, please contact: Mena Miu I 905-713-4351 I mmiu@annexweb.com Jarah Stefek I 519-429-5191 I jstefek@annexweb.com

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Signature’s “Service with a Leading Edge” training program has helped instil a sense of integrity at Signature YUL. 18 WINGS | September/October 2014

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RED CARPET TREATMENT

IN THE CANADIAN FBO GAME, IT’S ALL ABOUT TEAMWORK AND KEEPING AN EYE ON DETAILS

BY MATT NICHOLLS

PHOTO: SIGNATURE YUL

eave it to a baseball coach to properly conceptualize the importance of teamwork to the overall success of a Canadian fixed based operator (FBO). “It’s most certainly about teamwork,” says Darryl Golbeck, the new General Manager at Skyservice Calgary (YYC), when asked what makes his FBO stand out at the bustling Calgary International Airport. As a savvy youth baseball coach when he’s not leading the Skyservice team, Golbeck knows a thing or two about assembling the right players to get the job done. And even though he’s just recently taken the helm at YYC after working at Skyservice in Toronto – a completely different atmosphere he notes – he’s also quite aware of how to execute the proper game plan for developing a winning FBO, one that consistently exceeds customer expectations for value, price, comfort and convenience. Meeting such standards and executing the game plan flawlessly as a team is also why Skyservice YYC – and the other national and regional winners – have been recognized in Wings magazine’s annual survey of top fixed based operators. “Teamwork is the key ingredient to our success without question and each person on your staff has to believe in what they do,” Golbeck notes. “If they buy into this concept, it easily reflects on how they deal with customers.” Also crucial, he notes, is attentiveness to detail and the utmost flexibility when dealing with clients. It’s all about delivering a heightened sense WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

of awareness and establishing a corporate culture that puts clients’ needs above all else – a mainstay in the corporate Skyservice model. “At an FBO, you are looking at two key words – anticipation and communication. You are always trying to anticipate when a customer is coming in, what could they need,” Globeck says. “If you are asking the questions ahead of time, you’re not guessing if it’s coffee or ice, for example. If someone is coming from far away and they are staying overnight, they are going to need a hotel, they are going to need a rental car. You have to anticipate and communicate these things with the client. And communication comes from the line crew right on up. You have to make sure everyone is on the same page, asking the same questions. If you can get everyone to communicate with the customer – the pilots, the engineers, the people on board – you can ensure that you are properly meeting their needs.” Exceeding expectations in every realm is something the team at KREOS Aviation in Saskatoon has been doing since the FBO’s inception in 2010. Sherry Franks, the manager of the family-owned, independent operation at Saskatoon International Airport agrees that teamwork, communication and attentiveness to detail are critical elements in an FBO’s success. She calls it the desire to go beyond the “expected” elements of your job to attain a higher level of attentiveness. This level of awareness comes when the team follows and respects key processes. “Success is determined by

your team’s individual personalities and their ability to fit in and care about all aspects of the process,” she says. “It’s the presentation of yourself, the building, understanding client needs and feelings, how you can help them out . . . it all starts with your personality. There really is no need for you to be involved with aviation prior to joining the team – it’s mainly about your personality and how you treat people.”

“What we look for in an employee is personality, passion and eagerness – the training will do the rest.” Like many western cities, Saskatoon is booming at the moment, buoyed by significant interest in natural resource exportation, construction and more. The result is an uptick in aircraft activity and the spinoff at KREOS has been very positive, notes Wes Ramsay, the firm’s Chief Operating Officer. “Saskatchewan is a unique province and there is a real mix of clients here. And we do have a lot of traffic at the moment,” he says. “We are lucky because there is a lot of opportunity as well. We are a growing city, the natural resource base in Saskatchewan is very strong, so we see plenty of good things happening going forward. It’s all the more reason

to concentrate on the strength of our FBO.” When it comes to meeting the needs of customers and establishing the right corporate philosophies in employee development, Ramsay defers to Franks, who has done a “tremendous” job creating a welcoming, successful culture. “Sherry works hard with our CSR’s to ensure they are the right fit, that they have the right feel with what it is we are trying to accomplish here,” he says. “She sets that vision, is crystal clear on what she expects, and, yes, there is a standard that she expects that is above everything else. Yes, there is a manual to follow that has been created, but the ultimate end game goes beyond that because each employee needs to take responsibility for so much more.” Following corporate doctrines to meet a high level of service excellence is standard practice at Montreal’s Signature. Here, teamwork and an almost unbelievable attention to detail – for example, their incredible cappuccino’s are now famous in the industry – are the driving forces behind all aspects of the FBO’s philosophy, notes Starlink Aviation president/COO Zoran Bratuljevic. For the fourth year in a row, this unique combination of service, value, price and ambiance has propelled Signature YUL to top honours in the Wings annual Canadian FBO survey. Actively promoting their position as an industry leader doesn’t hurt either. Bratuljevic suggests the award proves that Signature’s corporate training tool, “Service with a Leading Edge,” is paying off September/October 2014 | WINGS 19

CLOCKWISE: Saskatoon’s KREOS leadership team of FBO manager Sherry Franks and president/COO Wes Ramsay; Teamwork is paramount at Irving Aviation Services YYT, voted the third-best FBO in Atlantic Canada; The open, inviting space at Skyservice YYC is a perfect spot for pilots seeking to relax in comfort.

in spades. The program, developed in concert with hotelier Ritz-Carlton, gives Signature employees the tools they need to ensure customers are treated with the highest service levels possible. The tool ensures clients choosing Signature get the same quality standards at every Signature FBO. “Service with a Leading Edge training is part of our corporate culture and we are fortunate to have our own in-house trainer, Yuliya Marunych, the customer service trainer for Canada and a few locations in the U.S.,” 20 WINGS | September/October 2014

Bratuljevic says. “What we look for in an employee is personality, passion and eagerness – the training will do the rest.” In the FBO business, passion, personality and an eagerness to achieve have helped some FBOs quickly gain recognition on the national stage. Avfuel’s H-18 FBO at Montreal/Saint Hubert Airport is one such example. The fledgling FBO, which will host next year’s Canadian Business Aviation Association conference, came out of nowhere this year to capture the inaugural “Rising Star” award – an

honour given to a Canadian FBO that gains the most total votes year over year. H-18 FBO opened its doors in June 2010 and has made a significant impact in the entertainment and sports charter markets. Located just 15 minutes from Montreal, H-18 has a small, determined staff of just 10, but has amenities including a 200,000-sq. ft. ramp, more than 30,000 sq. ft. of hangar space, and a spacious, comfortable location with conference rooms, pilot’s lounge, passenger lounge and more. The company

hopes to make a big splash in the BizAv market in the months and years ahead, notes President Gordon Livingstone. “We are in a bit of a niche market, we are at a different airport, so that’s something that our people are going to have to realize – that this airport has certain nuances,” Livingstone says. “It’s what it offers, the location. And when they are on the ramp, we try to ask them what they really want, what they need. “A lot of times, a high-end customer will come in, they are met by a limo and whisked off WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

We go the Extra Mile

Pilots rank Irving Aviation FBOs amongst the best in the country. Visit us to find out why.

Thank you to our customers for their loyal support and our exceptional team for their superior service standards. Gander CYQX | Goose Bay CYYR | St. John’s CYYT irvingaviation.com

to where they have to go, leaving the pilot and the rest of the team that have to stay with us. We can offer them a lot – we can offer them a car ride to a hotel, a rental car, we can take them to a restaurant . . . I think everyone on the team is thinking of ways to cater to their needs.”

Listed below are the overall winners broken down by region: • •

Numbers game Service excellence, identifying customer needs, offering flexible price and maintenance points – all are key drivers when it comes to creating an FBO that delivers a high-end experience. The Wings annual FBO survey was designed to identify properties that deliver on these important value propositions. For the fourth consecutive year, we asked readers to identify their top Canadian FBOs, fuel brands, and charge or credit cards. In an industry driven by service impressions as well as price, the survey offers a unique overview of the Canadian market and this market alone. The methodology for the survey was straightforward. The survey was conducted online for six weeks in June and July. Respondents were allowed the opportunity to select up to five FBOs and rank them based on everything from service and pricing to the bricks-and-mortar aspects of the venue. Respondents were asked for a rating on each section using a scale of one through 10 for such attributes. What makes the Wings FBO survey unique is that it is based solely and completely on respondent recall without prompting – readers choose an FBO based on their experience only, without a cheat sheet or prompt list. Our research and experience over several years has shown this to be a proven method to not only focus on Canadian service and support providers, but also allow for the inclusion of all airports from across the country on an equal footing. With the end scores tallied, we then were able to see how the selected FBOs rated overall for their markets – both in the number of times they were selected and in the total scores by attribute. Of the 64 FBOs receiving votes this year, winners were selected region to region across the country – including a “Top 3” and a “Rising Star” award – and an overall winner was determined based on the total votes cast and related scores. Once again, the survey illustrates that customers do remember their service experience – and when it is good, they feel loyal enough to comment. As any professional from the service and retail sector knows, most customers don’t say much about your service until it is really great – or conversely, incredibly bad. And it is seldom expressed directly to the company, so a survey such as this provides a valuable third-party insight into how the people who put money into your cash register see you. 22 WINGS | September/October 2014

• • • •

Best FBO in Canada: Signature YUL (Repeat overall winner four years in a row) Best FBO in Western Canada (B.C., Alta., Y.T., N.W.T): Skyservice YYC (Repeat winner in this category) Best FBO in Central Canada (Sask., Man., Nunavut): KREOS Aviation YXE (Repeat winner in this category) Best FBO in Ontario: Skyservice YYZ (Repeat winner in this category) Best FBO in Quebec: Signature YUL (Repeat winner in this category) Best FBO in Atlantic Canada: (N.B., N.L., N.S., P.E.I.): Shell Torbay Aerocentre YYT (Has captured the award previously in this category)

The top three FBOs in each region includes: Top 3 Western Canada Skyservice YYC Signature Flight Support/Airside FBOPartners, YEG Million Air, YVR Top 3 Central Canada Kreos Aviation, YXE Central Aviation Services, YWG Kelly Western Jet Centre, YWG Top 3 Ontario Skyservice, YYZ Skycharter Ltd., YYZ Landmark Aviation, YYZ Top 3 Quebec Signature Flight Support, YUL Avfuel H-18 FBO, YHU Skyservice, YUL Top 3 Atlantic Canada Shell Torbay Aerocentre, YYT Gateway, YHZ Irving Aviation Services, YYT Rising Star Award (FBO making the largest jump from last year) Avfuel H-18 FBO, YHU

Fuel ’em up Survey results once again revealed that FBOs continue to accept a variety of fuel cards and charge services to remain competitive and responsive. Here are the top fuel brand choices and preferred fuel card providers: Top 5 fuel brands Esso Shell Uvair FBO Network Epic Irving Oil WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

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Service with a smile Providing top service is essential for the success of any FBO, and this year’s results firmly indicate it is the top priority in determining if customers come back. Some 75 per cent of respondents indicated impeccable customer service was their top reason for choosing a specific FBO while price was the top-determining factor for some 25 per cent. These results note a slightly higher trend towards service excellence this year than last (74 per cent in 2013), underscoring the premise that service with a smile is key to customer retention. “The commitment to service transcends everything we do, and everyone is responsible for making it happen,”

says Paul Weeks, Vice President of Maintenance and Central Region with Skyservice YYZ. “It’s everyone knowing what everyone else is doing, from the line staff on the tarmac to the FBO CSR to the driver taking the pilots to hotel. This takes a concerted team effort to make it all happen and it looks seamless. That’s what we want.” High service standards can often go farther than that: providing clients with a sense of coming home, a sense of refuge. It can even mean something as simple as ensuring the bathrooms are top notch. Sound far-fetched? In the FBO world, a nice bathroom can mean repeat business in the future, even in a smaller location such as Saskatoon. “Our FBO isn’t cookie cutter for sure . . . it’s not meant to be a McDonald’s,” says KREOs’ Ramsay. “It’s welcoming, comfortable, a fireplace . . . there is a real attention to detail throughout the facility. And you know, people talk about washrooms all the time. Well, in Saskatoon, I don’t know if there are better washrooms.” Franks laughs, but adds that in all seriousness, quality washrooms reflect a top service standard that is indicative

of an overriding philosophy of service excellence. “I was at an FBO conference earlier this year and they talked about the three top things that you needed to concentrate on. Washrooms were in the top three with service and your first contact with people. The first thing people do when you welcome them in is they ask, ‘where the restroom is.’ ” Ramsay notes that the goal at KREOS – and everyone else in the Canadian FBO business – is to maintain a standard that sets you apart from the crowd. “This thing with the washrooms didn’t just come without a lot of thought,” Ramsay says. “We understood that and when that place was built, it was understood what people want and value. When you buy a house, you look at the kitchen and you look at the washrooms. A lot of thought is put into every aspect of the process – there is a lot of attention to detail here.” A high commitment to service excellence, teamwork and attention to detail certainly makes winners out of sports teams – and as the Wings annual FBO survey reveals, Canadian fixed based operators as well. Congratulations to all of the winners. | W

Voted BEST

in Ontario

4 CALGARY

THANK YOU Congratulations to the winners of the 2014 WINGS Canadian FBO Survey, it is an honour to be in your company. We are proud to be a part of this remarkable group, and we are honoured to have been chosen as Best in Ontario and Best in Western Canada, as well as third in Quebec.

TORONTO

Thank you to everyone who voted for Skyservice™. You have our guarantee that we will continue to provide you with exceptional service, safety and security, both in the air and on the ground.

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The goal of the Regional Express Aviation Ltd., (REAL) venture is to be a major player in the 19- to 76-seat turboprop and jet market.

CANADA’S NEWEST AVIATION COMPANY IS AS SKILLED FLYING COMMERCIALLY AS LANDING IN THE WORLD’S TROUBLED HOTSPOTS. BY DAVID CARR

hen the executive team at Air Georgian, an Air Canada Express partner, sat down in 2012 for a strategic planning session, it is likely that nobody considered a future that included the remote air strips of the Democratic Republic of Congo, or supporting Canada’s oil and gas sector. It was during a visit to Calgary by Eric Edmondson, Air Georgian’s chief executive officer to research the availability of de Havilland Dash 8 aircraft that the pieces began to fall in place. Edmondson met up with John Binder, chief executive officer of Avmax, owner of the world’s largest private fleet of Dash 8 and Bombardier CRJ Series 100 and 200 26 WINGS | September/October 2014

aircraft, and parent of Regional 1 Airlines, a charter operator specializing in the resource sector and delivering humanitarian aid in some of the world’s hot spots. “We wanted to better position ourselves to take advantage of any future growth opportunities presented to us by Air Canada, including an entry into 705 operations through organic growth, strategic partnerships or mergers and acquisitions.” Edmondson said. “I started to discuss our goals with John. His goals for Regional 1 and their capabilities with Avmax made it clear that a strategic partnership of some sort would be the most logical and mutually beneficial relationship to pursue.” The result is Regional Express Aviation Ltd., (REAL), a joint venture between Air Georgian and Regional 1, with a goal to be a major player in the 19- to 76-seat turboprop and jet market at home and abroad. “Our current area of expertise is in the 19- to 50-seat market. We certainly see the 76-seat market in our near future,” Edmondson pointed out. The Avmax fleet includes the 86-seat BAe 146 and 74-seat Bombardier Q400. Edmondson was appointed chief executive officer of Calgary-based REAL, while retaining the same position at Air Georgian

near Toronto Pearson Airport. Avmax has representatives on the Board of Directors and plays to its strengths in areas such as leasing and asset management, and MRO (maintenance repair and overhaul), but is not directly involved in either operation. REAL places Air Georgian and R1 under a new ownership structure, and includes the rebranding and repositioning of Regional 1 Airlines to R1, with added muscle to bid on contracts in the resource sector, and leverage its expertise in international operations as an ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance) operator in remote regions, as well as continuing to support humanitarian efforts. “R1 does not reflect the Regional 1 of a few years ago in terms of personnel, fleet and scope,” said Rick Pollock, sales manager for R1. Regional 1 began as a scheduled carrier in 2003, linking Red Deer with several cities in British Columbia, before focusing exclusively on the charter market two years later. “It is a thriving airline in its own right with the ability to add aircraft, people and capabilities. The old Regional 1 that people were accustomed to has changed. It will continue to grow under its new R1 brand over the next few years.” R1 currently operates a fleet of four Dash

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PHOTO: AIR GEORGIAN

ESTABLISHING REA

Air Georgian chief executive officer, Eric Edmondson, is one of the driving forces behind the REAL concept.

PHOTO: AIR GEORGIAN

AL DIVERSITY 8 and 2 CRJ aircraft. The airline leases where needed, largely but not exclusively from Avmax. An immediate benefit of the joint venture is access to Air Georgian’s fleet of 18-seat Beechcraft B1900D commuter aircraft. It immediately opens the doors to more opportunities with existing customers, said Matt Lomas, general manager for R1. “There were parts of a contract we couldn’t bid on because our aircraft were too large. Access to the B1900 gives us the flexibility to go deeper.” It is not a one way air lane, Edmondson pointed out. Air Canada recently amended its capacity purchase agreement (CPA) with Air Georgian to operate additional regional and transborder routes using CRJ aircraft. “Access to the world’s largest private fleet of legacy Dash 8 and CRJ 100/200 aircraft was obviously a key factor in the recent award from our partner Air Canada,” he said. Still, REAL goes further than the opportunity to swap out airplanes. “In many ways, the joint venture was born because of the many layers of synergies both companies could realize through this relationship,” Edmondson added. For example, both partners not only have access to beneficial pricing for MRO services WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

offered by Avmax, mostly relating to heavy maintenance, but also includes paint and interior modifications, spares, avionics support and engine programs. R1 benefits from Air Georgian’s membership in the International Air Transport Association (IATA), where adherence to IATA requirements give Air Georgian a vast infrastructure resulting in standards built around technology and very mature systems. This is seen as a differentiator in servicing the resource sector. Air Georgian has shifted its charter business to R1, freeing up the carrier to start focusing entirely on its CPA relationship with Air Canada. At the same time, Air Georgian keeps open ancillary revenue streams outside of the CPA, which has always been fundamental to the airline’s success. “The biggest outlier,” Edmondson noted, “is our corporate aircraft management and maintenance business. We are still deciding where it belongs. But it is a very important part of our business, so we need to find the right brand to park it in.” Establishing a new brand to differentiate itself from the old Regional 1 was one of the priority items on the R1 “to do” list. “The old Regional 1 was highly focused on one or two specific markets,” Pollock pointed out. “Given the fleet expansion and the plans on

the horizon, we really wanted something that would distinguish the old from the new.” The challenge was folding the characteristics of R1 – a limitless airline with almost overnight access to airplanes, willing to fly where customers want to go, including unproven destinations – into a single tagline. The solution: the “boundless” concept. ‘boundless’ is a really good fit,” Pollock added. “It gives the brand something that is readily identifiable. We are chasing markets beyond the traditional Canadian landscape.” In the past that has included responding to national disasters, political unrest and other emergency situations in troubled areas such as Haiti, during the 2010 earthquakes, and Afghanistan, where R1 continues to operate. “We partner with humanitarian organizations to provide air transport in some of these vulnerable and remote locations,” said Lomas. “We have been able to use a proven formula as a safe and efficient airline and apply that formula to some of the most interesting parts of the world.” Unlike the line pilots on the Air Georgian side, R1 crews confront a variety of missions on a daily basis. “You definitely have to be comfortable with change and last minute requests,” Pollock admitted. “You are going to fly into airports you have never been to September/October 2014 | WINGS 27

before. Our crew really enjoy the trips they get because they don’t know what next month is going to bring. It holds a lot of appeal.” Humanitarian work accounts for a significant portion of R1’s revenue, and is often the biggest logistical challenge in terms of tapping into fleet and crew, and getting tires on the asphalt quickly. It also keeps the team sharp when competing for the bread and butter of the business. “We are constantly bidding for different humanitarian and resource sector projects around the globe. These are activities

where you really have to respond in a matter of days. A lot of our competition can’t do that. It takes them months to decide on what we can decide on in days. R1 is still a privately held company and we are fortunate that our ownership can respond to placing aircraft very quickly, and to places where a lot of people don’t want to go,” Pollock said. Indeed, the biggest stumbling block is often acquiring insurance for some of the humanitarian missions. Going forward, all three business partners, Air Georgian, R1 and Avmax, are expected to stick with their core strengths

while leveraging pieces of the partnership to expand. “REAL is interested in continuing to play a key role in Air Canada’s regional network and being able to respond to any future growth opportunities presented to us under the Air Georgian brand,” Edmondson said. “R1 really has two key areas of operation: serving the resource sector domestically, and serving the resource, peacekeeping and humanitarian sectors internationally in remote and difficult regions. “The fastest-growing economies in the world are in Africa. By 2050, Africa’s 54 countries will be home to two billion consumers. We would certainly like to increase our brand representation internationally. R1 is really engaged in that sector and does a very good job operating in some pretty difficult areas.”

“It is a thriving airline in its own right with the ability to add aircraft, people and capabilities.” Another expansion opportunity will likely be fleet acquisition, where R1 expects to triple its size over the next five years. While expansion into the 76-seat category is possible for both Air Georgian and R1, expect R1 to remain focused in the 19- to 50-seat gauge. “You can take a Dash 8-100/200/300 places where you can’t take a Q400,” Lomas explained. “There are things you can do with a Dash 8 that you can’t do with any other airplane. So we plan to remain in that market regardless of adding larger gauge aircraft.” It is still early days, but given that Air Georgian and R1 will remain as separate entities with minimal overlap, it is likely that REAL will sidestep the headaches of knitting two differing corporate cultures together. An outright merger between Air Georgian and Avmax was never in the cards given the core businesses of the two players were so different, and neither side was interested in stepping outside its core competencies. “Think of Avmax as a services and asset partner, Air Georgian as a CPA operator and R1 as a charter and ACMI airline,” Edmondson said. “All three companies have different roles but each will play a very key part in our combined success. We do not see any further integration. We are excited to see what the next opportunities will be for each brand. And we will keep on looking.”| W 28 WINGS | September/October 2014

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CELEBRATI

A NEW CLASS PILATUS INTRODUCES THE PC-24

BY RICK ADAMS 30 WINGS | September/October 2014

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PHOTO: PILATUS

ING W

hen someone invokes the word “Swiss,” it immediately conjures up certain stereotypical images: the beauty of the Alps, military neutrality, secret bank accounts, gourmet chocolate, or precision watches. But to better define the Pilatus Aircraft company, it helps to be aware that their headquarters in Stans, near Lucerne, is in WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

the German-speaking section of Switzerland, not la langue française or rumantsch enclaves to the west and south. The Swiss-German identity thus adds an extra layer of disciplined thinking to the Pilatus mindset, much like the fused fibres of a composite component, a finer tuning of precision and pride in craftsmanship that comes through in the performance of Pilatus aircraft, as well as consistent accolades for customer support.

“We have learned to preserve good Swiss values such as dependability, honesty, and a sense of responsibility whilst yet accepting other ways of thinking,” said Oscar J. Schwenk, Pilatus Chairman. Pilatus is not-so-secretly pleased when observers refer to its aircraft as “overengineered.” If you spend as much time understanding the customers as they do, you’d appreciate the harsh environments – weather extremes, altitudes, dust, stones, September/October 2014 | WINGS 31

birds – that lead them to explore durable designs, simplified parts molded from a single chunk of metal, laser-precise machining tolerances, anti-corrosion coatings, and innovative sealant techniques which add both safety and longevity. The company is almost religious about efficiency. Retaining most component design and production in-house, they use a highly automated parts process in which machines retrieve the tooling and raw materials, then create the part . . . and finally compact the metal shavings to save on transport to the recycler. For just one part, the Flexibles Fertigungs System (Flexible Manufacturing System) reduced setup time from 630 minutes to a mere 9 minutes and production time was cut from 249 to 80 minutes. Pilatus is also constructing a new logistics building which will almost completely automate the entire internal supply chain process, especially the storage and “picking” process. One of their dilemmas is having to import almost all raw materials, as Switzerland lacks suppliers of aviation-grade aluminum and other critical elements.

Overwhelming response to the PC-24 I visited Pilatus headquarters a few days after the company’s August 1 “Swiss National Day” celebration – which encompassed both the company’s 75th anniversary and the rollout of the prototype PC-24, the first business jet to be built in Switzerland. By the way, the beauty of the Alps is even more incredible than the stereotype, enhanced by the sun and shadows playing on the Vierwaldstättersee, or Lake Lucerne, which you quickly overfly only a 32 WINGS | September/October 2014

few hundred metres from the end of the Buochs airstrip adjacent to the Pilatus complex. The local chocolate is quite satisfying too. But, as for bank secrecy, that’s pretty much a footnote in history now. The euphoria of having 25,000 people show up in tiny Stans, permanent population barely above 8,000, was still lingering in the machine shops, the employee canteen, and the final assembly hall when I toured. The new PC-24 represents a huge investment for the company. My host, Markus Kälin, Executive Assistant to Schwenk, told me Pilatus will spend about 400 million Swiss francs (CHF) – $485 million Canadian – on the PC-24 development, another 100 million CHF on new buildings, and yet another 100 million CHF on new machinery. But the privately held company will not rely on banks for financing; they have been debt-free the past 11 years. “Our stable Swiss shareholder base,” explained Schwenk, “remains a guarantee that we do not become an object of speculation or end up with a competitor as a result of an unfriendly takeover.” This is not the first time Pilatus has invested heavily in a new aircraft on which the relatively small (1,800 employees) company’s future depended. Two decades ago, while part of Oerlikon-Bührle, which Schwenk said, “was being driven into a sell-out by incompetent management” at the time, Pilatus sought a second source of revenue to supplement the fickle military market into which they were selling PC-7 and PC-9 trainer aircraft. “Everyone rushed to bury the PC12 before it even got off the ground,” he recalled. But Pilatus prevailed and has sold more than 1,300 PC-12s, including

Mountain heritage Pilatus Aircraft takes its name from Mount Pilatus, which is actually multiple peaks due west of Stans, the highest being Tomlishorn at 2,128 metres (6,982 feet), from which you can see 73 other mountaintops, including Mont Blanc well to the southwest. One legend claims the notorious Pontius Pilate was buried there, but Monte Vettore in central Italy makes the same incongruous boast. Another tale, from medieval times, says a winged dragon lived on the mountain – the carved-out cave viewing tunnel is called the Dragon Walk. Today, there are modern fire-breathers; gun emplacements just WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO: PILATUS

Some 25,000 people descended on the Swiss town of Stans August 1 for Swiss National Day celebrations, the company’s 75th anniversary, and the rollout of the new PC-24.

the current PC-12NG variant. There should be little consternation about the success of the PC-24. Pilatus announced at the European Business Aviation Conference and Exposition (EBACE) in Geneva, Switzerland in May that they had sold 84 PC-24s and therefore closed the new order book for the time being. Announced buyers are the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, which was also the launch customer for the PC-12; United Arab Emirates-based charter Falcon Aviation Services; U.S. (New Hampshire) fractional PlaneSense, which operates 30 PC-12s; Luxembourg shared ownership operator Jetfly; U-Haul International; and the Swiss Air Force. The 84 orders cover PC-24 production ramp-up from initial deliveries in 2017 through 2019. The maiden flight, originally announced for late this year, is now targeted for early 2015. Three prototype aircraft will be produced for 2,300 hours of flight testing, carried out in Switzerland, and also in U.S. airspace together with Advanced Cockpit Environment (ACE) avionics supplier Honeywell and Williams International, selected for its FJ44-4A 3,400-lb. takeoff thrust powerplant. (The engines, by the way, will include an automatic thrust reserve to 3,600 lb., very helpful for single-engine climb-out in case of an engine failure, as well as a “quiet power mode” or auxiliary power unit idle mode, which is critical for Canadian operators who fly into remote locations which lack infrastructure.) Pilatus has about 300 engineers working on the PC-24 and other technical developments. Their workforce also features 100 young apprentices who are learning everything from polymechanics to composites to design for customer paint schemes through a four-year work-study program. Schwenk said such apprentices “hold the future of the Swiss economy in their hands. It is my personal belief that the Swiss system of dual vocational training is one of the best in the world, and we must take care of it.”

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September/October 2014 | WINGS 33

below the tourist area reportedly continue to protect Swiss neutrality. The Pilatus campus is actually located hard against another famous mountain, the Bürgenstock, among the most visited tourist destinations in Switzerland, once home to actors Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren, Charlie Chaplin and Yul Brynner. The aircraft company location was chosen in 1939 in part because of the Buochs military airfield and in part because Swiss officials envisioned digging tunnels into the mountain to protect aircraft in production from enemy bombardment. Tunneling into the nummulitic limestone was ultimately determined to be too expensive, and fortunately there never were any air raids It’s certainly a rugged location, one that, like the aircraft it manufacturers, aptly typifies its strength, durability and longevity in the market. Two words, which pop up frequently in conversations about the Pilatus PC-12 single-engine turboprop aircraft, are “rugged” and “remote,” and Canada has plenty of terrain which can be described by either or both adjectives. “It’s an aircraft that has no problem operating in minus 40 degree conditions,” Stan Kuliavas told Wings. Kuliavas is Vice President, Sales and Business Development for Pilatus Centre Canada. “One of the first things you notice about the PC-12 is how overbuilt it is and how high it sits off the runway. Flying pavement to pavement, the aircraft gets babied, quite honestly. It’s really beefy trailing link landing gear allows for smooth landings in remote, unimproved surfaces – everything from dirt, snow, gravel, ice, grass.” “In Canada,” Kuliavas noted, “we have a lot of remote landing areas, or in the case of mining companies where they’re excavating up north, there are no runways. It’s actually just a dirt road they shut down to allow an aircraft to land. Once the aircraft taxis away, it becomes a road again. Those are environments the PC-12 is very comfortable operating in.” Since 1997, Pilatus Centre Canada, headquartered in Thunder Bay, Ont. with presence across Canada, has been the exclusive sales and service dealer for Pilatus aircraft in Canada, which basically coincides with the introduction of the PC-12. They now also sell the new PC-24 business jet, which offers many of the same capabilities as the PC-12 for accessing short and unimproved runways but does so with greater speed. President and CEO Robert Arnone and Steve Davey, COO and Director of Maintenance lead the company. The Swiss-made PC-12 is quite popular 34 WINGS | September/October 2014

The Pilatus PC-12 is the aircraft of choice for a number of Canadian operators, including Ornge, Ontario's air transport provider.

in Canada, currently representing about seven to eight per cent of the more than 1,300 aircraft fleet sold worldwide. For a country of 35 million people, or about half of one per cent of the world’s people, “to have almost 10 per cent of the global fleet of an aircraft is an indication of how well that aircraft fits into the Canadian geography in the mindset of an operator here. Everything from its performance characteristics to its operating economics make it a great airplane for Canada,” Kuliavas said. Among the PC-12 operators in Canada: Pascan Aviation, which claims to be the largest independent airline in Quebec, serving 17 destinations in the eastern part of the country; First Nations-owned Wasaya Airways, which provides charter services and cargo supply of food, clothing, medicines, and other essentials to remote communities in Ontario; Ontario’s Ornge air ambulance service; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; the Ontario Provincial Police; and the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service, whose First Nations jurisdiction encompasses two-thirds of Ontario (about 15 times the size of Switzerland). Because it can access so many more airports than most aircraft and its renowned reliability, some of the highest-time PC-12s in the world operate in Canada. “We have a great mix of aircraft used for executive transport, the owner-operator segment, aeromedical, and commercial lift where they’re often used as part of an airline fleet n the north," Kuliavus said. “It's a great airplane for that because it’s not the 10,000-foot paved runways of southern Ontario; you’re flying into dirt

roads or iced-over gravel runways that not every aircraft can get into. The PC-12 works very well in those environments.” Kuliavas said the dispatch reliability of the aircraft contributes in direct correlation to the amount of hours flown. “When you want to go, it goes. For a commercial operator, that’s quintessential to their survival as a company.” Pilatus Centre Canada often encounters milestones with the PC-12 sooner than other parts of the world. “That has led to a really strong knowledge base about the aircraft that we openly share with other dealers and service centres and with the Pilatus factory in order to make the Pilatus owner and operator experience as good as possible,” Kuliavas stated. In fact, Canadian high-time operators triggered a life extension program (LEP). The original certified life of the PC-12 was 20,000 hours. But when some Canadian operators were approaching that limit, “They said, basically, ‘We’re not parking this airplane. It’s still a great machine. We need to figure out a way to keep this thing flying,’ ” Kuliavas said. Together with the Pilatus factory in Switzerland, PCC devised a program, “that guts the entire aircraft, checks every component and system, replaces anything that needs replacing, and you essentially bring it back to almost new status.” The LEP result is an extension to 50,000 hours, a 150 per cent increase over the original life limit. “To a commercial operator who is a high-time, high-utilization customer, this is very attractive. Pilatus Centre Canada and the factory in Switzerland are the only places in the world authorized to do this WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO: PILATUS

The Canadian connection

IT’s amazING whaT aN exTra $2 mIllIoN doesN’T BuY You. Pay millions more for a comparable twin and what do you receive? Good question. But know this: the Pilatus PC-12 NG delivers the most potent recipe of speed, range, cabin size and single-pilot ease in business aviation. You’ll be able to do everything you need for business, and everything you desire as a pilot. Can value be exhilarating? That’s a definitive yes. www.pilatus-aircraft.com

stan Kuliavas, Vice President of sales | skuliavas@pilatuscanada.com | 1.855.745.2887

Centre Canada

Founded in 2000, Panorama Helicopters flies 12 turbine helicopters. For several years, the company has wanted to add fixed-wing aircraft to its charter offerings.

PANORAMA HELICOPTERS NOW HAS A FIXED-WING AVIATION DIVISION BY CARROLL MCCORMICK

oving into the vacuum left by a departing carrier, Alma, Quebec-based Panorama Helicopters has created a new aviation division, Panorama Aviation. It began service this May with a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. Founded in 2000, Panorama Helicopters flies 12 turbine helicopters. For several years, the company had wanted to add fixed-wing aircraft to its charter offerings. Their greater passenger and cargo capacity, longer range and lower flying cost meant that they could capture more business. 36 WINGS | September/October 2014

“When we were flying for mining companies in 2012, we missed some business,” acknowledges Jimmy Emond, general manager of Panorama Helicopters and president of Panorama Fixed Wings. “We have several customers in our helicopter business who are using charter flights. Now, we can offer both services. Also, just for our crew changes up north, we are using our plane, saving time and money.” As long as the existing fixed-wing carrier, Pascan Aviation, had scheduled service in Alma, Panorama could not build a business case for expanding into fixed-wing operations. “The population can’t justify two operators at this airport,” Emond said. When Pascan Aviation discontinued its service to Alma on November 7, 2013, Panorama pounced. It purchased a Pilatus PC-12/45, manufactured in 2000. The company obtained its air operator’s certificate and Canadian Transportation Agency certificate on May 15 and made its

first charter flight the next day. Emond waxes almost poetic about the choice of aircraft. “The Pilatus is a luxury aircraft. Ours is a completely overhauled aircraft with zero time on the 1,200 SHP PT6A-67B engine. It has a new interior and new paint. We added a USB port and iPad at each seat. It has a smooth ride for passengers and is quiet inside. It has a good payload and higher range. The operational cost is lower than similar aircraft and the safety records are better than all small multi-turboprop aircraft.” The large wings and big flaps make for easy, year-round flying in and out of small northern Quebec airports. Its slow approach speed is perfect for airports typical of the region, such as Eleonore, with its 3,500-foot gravel airstrip and Poste Montagnais, which has a 3,900-foot gravel airstrip. It can also land on ice. The Pilatus has a 260-knot cruising speed, which translates into a 50-minute flight from

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PHOTO: PANORAMA FIXED WINGS

EXPANDING THE FL

With new interior paint, a USB port and iPad at every seat, and a smooth, quiet ride, Panorama Fixed Wings has created a welcome environment.

LIGHT ENVELOPE

PHOTO: PANORAMA FIXED WINGS

Montreal to Alma, for example. Panorama Fixed Wings hired three pilots: two captains and a first officer. They are all from local communities, with experience flying for other companies. This reflects the company’s position that young pilots from the region should be supported. “For me, it is very important to encourage people around here,” Emond says.

Panorama Fixed Wings is manning each flight with two pilots. “We could fly with just one pilot, but we think it’s preferable to fly with two pilots. It is safer to do that,” Emond notes. A company in Alma, Produits Aviatech, has the necessary tools and Pilatus-trained mechanics to service the Pilatus. Advanced servicing is available at Pilatus Centre Canada in

Panorama Fixed Wings serves industries that include mining, forestry, construction and hydro development. They tend to travel in bunches. As for learning to fly the new plane, Emond says, “The Pilatus is easy to fly. When you go on the simulator in Florida, if a pilot is experienced with the King Air, they need about 20 hours of simulator time. It is easier to fly than the King Air.” WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

Thunder Bay, Ont. With five passengers booked, a flight will cost less to charter than buying seats on a commercial airline, according to Emond. He sketches the five-passenger business proposition: “On a commercial

flight to Kuujjuaq, a flight from Montreal is $1,500 for one seat. Also, the scheduled flights are very busy. You have to check your flights weeks in advance. When you are chartering a flight from us, a threehour flight is [about the same] for the plane and you can fly when you want.” A lot of the passengers are contractors making crew changes up north. Panorama Fixed Wings serves industries that include mining, forestry, construction and hydro development. They tend to travel in bunches. “For one company, it is not rare that we are carrying more than five people,” Emond says. The trick to further reducing the per-seat cost is to find passengers from other companies heading in the same direction. The idea is for one company to charter a flight, and then help that company sell any empty seats. Granted, Emond admits, “It is not easy to fly people from more than one company at a time, but we have developed a web platform on our website. When I have a September/October 2014 | WINGS 37

charter with a company, using five seats, for example, I can offer them to sell the leftover seats on our website to reduce their charter cost. On our website you will be able to see where we are going and how many seats are available. It will be publically viewable. You will be able to pay for the flight through the website. Everything will be done automatically.” Panorama Fixed Wings wants to make the Pilatus available to everyone, not just to corporate clients. “We are also offering our services to our regional population, which has been served by fixed-wing companies from other regions since 2004,” Emond says. “Our community put in money to keep them around to assure a fixed-wing service. Each time, when the subsidies were burned up, they left the airport. We decided that we can give this service and we believe strongly in the support of our regional population.” What the company does not want to do, however, is jump into scheduled service without proper justification. “As soon as we can justify a scheduled flight, we will do it,” Emond adds. “But we don’t want to make the same mistakes that other airlines made. We don’t want to make flights just for the sake of the flights.” The Pilatus also works nicely as a cargo plane. When configured just for cargo, it can carry about 2,000 pounds and anything that will fit through its 4’6” wide by 4’6” high cargo door. “With the cargo door at the back we can slide a pallet into the aircraft. We have a quick kit we can install to protect the aircraft interior,” Emond says. As a “just-in-case,” a stretcher kit will be available so Panorama Fixed Wings can also respond to MEDIVAC emergencies. By July, Panorama Fixed Wings was doing three or four flights a week, enough to justify making plans to bring in another Pilatus. “We are buying a second aircraft for next spring and adding three more employees,” Emond says. “There are currently eight of us working for Panorama Fixed Wings, and we believe that we will be around 20 in the next two years.”| W 38 WINGS | September/October 2014

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PHOTO: PANORAMA FIXED WINGS

Alma, Quebec-based Panorama Fixed Wings, a division of Panorama Helicopters, chose the Swiss-made Pilatus as its first fixed-wing aircraft.

In parallel with IATA’s Task Force, ICAO will develop a flight-tracking concept of operations covering how the new tracking data gets shared, with whom, and under what circumstances.

CANADIAN FIRMS CREATING BETTER SOLUTIONS TO TRACK AIRCRAFT BY BRIAN DUNN

ollowing the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) convened a special meeting on Global Flight Tracking of Aircraft in Montreal in May, where a consensus was reached among its member states and the international air transport industry sector on the near-term priority to track airline flights, no matter their global location or destination. In addition, the meeting established a framework for future efforts in this regard for the medium- and long-term.

40 WINGS | September/October 2014

Under the ICAO framework, contributions by industry through an Aircraft Tracking Task Force (ATTF) coordinated by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) will help address the nearterm needs for flight tracking. “Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been an unprecedented event for aviation and we have responded here in a similarly unprecedented manner,” commented ICAO Council President Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu. “While our flight safety work logically focuses the majority of our energy and resources on accident prevention, everyone in our sector also deeply sympathizes with the families of this lost aircraft’s passengers and crew.” In parallel with IATA’s Task Force work, ICAO will begin developing a flight-tracking concept of operations covering how the new tracking data gets shared, with whom, and under what circumstances. The UN aviation organization will also

begin considering international performance based standards, on a priority basis, to ensure broader adoption of airline flight tracking throughout the aviation system. Different tracking devices or systems are available from a number of companies, including FLYHT Aerospace Solutions of Calgary, Skytrac Systems of Kelowna, B.C. and Star Navigation Systems of Toronto, which gave a presentation at the Expert Dialogue on Real-time Monitoring of Flight Data Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 26 and 27. More than 50 industry experts, involving official representatives of several countries, regulatory bodies, airlines and the industry in general, including Airbus and Boeing, attended the conference. Star’s STAR-A.D.S. system provides accurate, continuous tracking information, relayed through satellite, through minute by minute “heart beats,” giving position, altitude, speed and heading of an aircraft

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PHOTO: ISTOCK

MONITORING THEIR

The loss of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 has prompted both ICAO and the IATA to re-evaluate international flight tracking standards.

PHOTO: ISTOCK

EVERY MOVEMENT to the airline’s operations centre in addition to real-time Black Box flight data streaming. The company claims it is the first system in the world to feature in-flight dataanalysis, monitoring and diagnostics with a real-time connection between aircraft and the ground. Its real-time capability of tracking performance trends and predicting incident-occurrence enhances aviation safety and improves fleet management while reducing costs for the operator, according to the company. The system also offers fuel management and other operational enhancement benefits that can make the installation of the system a revenue positive one. Amir Bhatti, Star’s Chief of Technology and a former Certified Aircraft Accident Investigator and Flight Safety Specialist, delivered a presentation entitled, “Real Time Flight Data Monitoring, Tracking and Communication.” He expanded on Star’s views and the benefits of real-time WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

streaming of flight data. And with STC’s for a number of aircraft including 737s, A310s, A340s and more, Bhatti notes that improving global aircraft tracking is not only a safety concern but is also one that is economically viable for airlines. “Yes, it is a safety matter, but it is an operational efficiency as well” to have a STAR-A.D.S.system. In an age where fuel efficiency is paramount, such a system will certainly improve the bottom line.

Eliminating the human error factor SkyTrac Systems of Kelowna, B.C., has been in the aircraft tracking business for more than 25 years and has solutions that are used on a daily basis for tracking aircraft. While active tracking by dedicated flight-following crews is one solution, it can be time-intensive and prone to human error and oversight. As a result, SkyTrac is encouraging its clients to use passive tracking through “Overdue Notifications,” a simple feature that uses machine-to-machine

(M2M) communication technology and supervisory control techniques to its advantage. This approach reduces the cost and human error associated with traditional flight-following techniques as it relies on connectivity link status to alert flightfollowing personnel to a possibly serious situation. Because the overdue notification approach is automated, a single supervisor can oversee a large fleet of aircraft with ease. Overdue notifications are enabled through Skytrac’s web-based flight tracking system management interface (SkyWeb). It automatically alerts assigned individuals via email and uses colour codes and popup windows on flight-following software when an aircraft has missed a predefined number of GPS position reports. Skytrac gives the example of an aircraft that crashed in a remote location and the crew for some reason, was unable to make a distress call or inform ground crew of an September/October 2014 | WINGS 41

FLYHT president Matt Bradley says the AFIRS system could have pinpointed MH370 right away and eliminated the high costs in searching for the aircraft.

in-flight emergency prior to impact. Because the overdue notification feature was enabled, SkyWeb automatically alerted ground crew that there was a potential problem within minutes of the actual accident. When no response was received from the aircraft, a search and rescue crew was sent out immediately who were able to locate the crash site with minimum time lost. FLYHT’s main product is the Automated Flight Information Reporting System, or AFIRS. The system operates on multiple aircraft types and provides functions such as voice and text messaging, data collection and transmission, and on-demand streaming of black box data. AFIRS sends that information to its companion, UpTime, the ground service product, which stores and transfers the data to the customer in real time. Aircraft operators can use this information to increase safety, improve service, and enhance profitability by tracking engine performance and providing fuel reports among other measures, the company explained. First Air, based in Yellowknife and Iqaluit, is adding AFIRS and FLYHTStream’s automatically triggered, real-time data and live black box streaming capability to its current fleet of 21 Boeing 737, ATR and Boeing 767 aircraft at a cost of under $100,000 per aircraft. The airline operates throughout the Canadian Arctic in some of the harshest conditions on earth and as a result is continually striving to find ways to improve the safety and operational efficiency of its fleet. Enabling FLYHTStream raises the standard of tracking and automated alerting that is unsurpassed in the industry. It’s also a small price to pay compared to the cost of replacing an aircraft costing millions of dollars. “FLYHT’s Automated Flight Information System (AFIRS) ensures we have 100 per cent visibility on our aircraft at all times,” said Brock Friesen, President and CEO of First Air. “We are proud to be industry leaders in adopting the FLYHTStream capability to ensure First Air has the highest level of operational awareness available on any aircraft flying today. It is another important step in our continual process of enhancing safety.” Vic Charlebois, Vice-President of flight operations added, “FLYHTStream will alert us when an aircraft needs assistance, 42 WINGS | September/October 2014

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without distracting the crew from the primary task of flying the aircraft safely. Financially, AFIRS has paid for itself by saving First Air tens of thousands of dollars in flight management expenses, and FLYHTStream is only an incremental cost that is incurred when triggered, making the solution very cost effective.” AFIRS is the hardware on an aircraft, while FLYHTstream is the software, explained FLYHT president Matt Bradley. “AFIRS is designed to provide

an alert to the operational control centre if there’s a problem with an aircraft who then may alert air traffic control. If it’s a serious problem, it will stream data from the black box to the control centre.”

Finding ways to fill the void ICAO’s recommendation of performancebased standards for airline tracking addresses a gap that has been there for a long time, Bradley suggested. “The public thinks when a plane takes

off, it’s visible to Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) all the time. That’s true most of the time, but when the aircraft flies outside of primary radar control (more than 200 miles offshore, for example) ATC relies on secondary surveillance radar or procedural control. Procedural control is prone to error, as was the case when there was a miscommunication with Air France 447 (which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in 2009) with another Air France flight over the tail numbers which had 447 descending into the ocean.” The accident report said the likely cause was the pitot tubes being obstructed by ice crystals, leading to a stall. From FLYHT’s perspective, who knew where the flight went down and what did the public think of existing standards? If their equipment was on board, Bradley said, it could pinpoint the exact location where the plane went down, eliminating the more than 50 million Euros in costs associated with the search for the aircraft.

“FLYHT’s Automated Flight Information System (AFIRS) ensures we have 100 per cent visibility on our aircraft at all times.”

A Pilot’s Guide to sAfe flyinG by sAnder VAndeth An ideal reference for the GA pilot, summarizing the many ways of avoiding situations that can affect the safety of a flight. This internationally acclaimed book is perfect for GA and sport pilots to learn the accumulated wisdom (from over 80 years of accident investigation) on how to avoid situations that can impair the safety of a light airplane flight. It is a long practical reference that will help pilots avoid the pitfalls that have trapped many pilots over the years. Easy to read and focusing on the facts a pilot really needs, this book is one of the most complete references available on almost any aspect of general aviation safety. Now includes the extra booklet 178 Seconds, a pocket size manual serving as a checklist for all phases of flight.

In terms of MH370, nobody has designed a system that is 100 per cent tamper proof, said Bradley, who believes the flight’s disappearance may have been caused by an onboard fire, which led to the disabling of some of the plane’s avionics systems. “We have designed a system that is tamper resistant and we’ve removed the ability to tamper with it from the cockpit which we could ship out tomorrow. But we are waiting for the recommendations from IATA before we proceed, in case they make recommendations we haven’t considered.” FLYHT is targeting both airlines and OEM for its products and already has some 300 units on the market used by about 30 commercial operators. And there’s lots of room to grow. There are more than 10,000 commercial aircraft operating today and another 10,000 are expected to be delivered over the next few years from the major manufacturers. Add in 5,000 business jets, and the sky is literally the limit when it comes to growth opportunities for all flight tracking devices. | W

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The Dronolab quadcopter returning from its training flight.

THE QUEST TO OWN THE SKIES

AVIATION’S BRIGHTEST YOUNG MINDS COMPETE FOR UAV SUPREMACY

PHOTO: PAUL DIXON

BY PAUL DIXON

hree days in May saw a human whirlwind of activity touch down at Southport, outside Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. More formally known as the 2014 Unmanned Systems Canada Student UAS Competition, it was a showcase for the future of unmanned aviation in Canada. Eleven teams and more than 90 students turned out for the competition, the largest turnout to date. The first

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student competition took place in 2007, in military air space at Goose Bay, Labrador with the team from Universite de Sherbrooke taking top prize. The leader of that Sherbrooke team, Charles Vidal, is now Chair of the Organizing Committee for the USC Student Competition. The competition continued as a biannual event, in 2009 at CFB Gagetown and 2011 at CFB Val Cartier, but as interest grew, changes had to be made, as recalled by USC

Past Chairman and President of Montrealbased Xiphos Systems Corp., Eric Edwards. “We realized that by flying in military air space, there were two things that were holding us back,” Edwards said. “One, Transport Canada was getting comfortable with us doing this in simplified air space situations and we realized we could push the acceptance of these systems into Canadian air space by moving our competition into shared civic air space. The other change came from the students themselves. They told us they wanted to see accelerated development, and to do that, they needed more continuity and they needed to hold the competition every year, not every two years. Doing it every two years you lose the thread of the team, you lose the technology, you lose the whole teamwork element. We realized that we needed to do it in the same place every year or at least limit the number of places. We held a national competition and the winner was Southport, so in 2012 we came back to Southport. A close second was Alma, Quebec and we took it there in 2013. We’re back in Southport this year, we hope to go back in Alma next year and we’d like to keep alternating between the two sites.” This year’s competition was scheduled to run over a three-day period, with Friday and Saturday for preparation and practice flights and with the money run on Sunday. Unfortunately, Mother Nature wasn’t included in the planning, as southern Manitoba was slowly recovering from the harshest winter on record. Visitors were advised the week before the competition that there was still snow on the ground in many areas, though hopefully it would be gone from the competition area. Luckily, the snow was indeed off the ground, but the wind blew non-stop on Friday and Saturday – gusting at times to gale force – wreaking havoc on several teams that braved the elements. It simply added another challenge to the competition.

A strategic alteration A major change in 2014 saw the competition change from a technically driven competition to a business-driven challenge. Teams were presented with a course laid out between the airport runways that represented a farmer’s field, an oil pipeline and a landslide debris field that they would be required to reconnoiter. On the Friday morning, teams were also required to make their business pitch to a committee, detailing a strategic plan for each scenario. On Sunday, each team had 45 minutes to conduct their flight, collect their data, and from the end of their allotted flight time, 60 minutes to collate their data into a finished report. But their score wasn’t based on the design and performance of their aircraft or the sophistication of their sensors and technology. It September/October 2014 | WINGS 45

46 WINGS | September/October 2014

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PHOTO: PAUL DIXON

Team VAMUdeS, Unversite de Sherbrooke, walking its aircraft out to the runway.

was based on the quality of the contractor report that would be delivered to the clients who had contracted them to do the work. The featured speaker at the Friday evening reception was Doug McDonald, Director of Special Projects at the Unmanned Applications Institute International, based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. McDonald was unable to appear in person, as he was dealing with the last-minute details in preparing for the official launch of Grand Sky the following Monday. He was, however, available via a Skype video link. “Six weeks ago we were notified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that we would be the first site (UAV and UAS development site) to be activated,” McDonald told the student competitors. “We’ll be the FAA guinea pig. This has been a long process and it doesn’t happen overnight. On Monday, we start our first sorties using Draganflyers. We’re hoping to parlay that into fixed wing and a series of ‘next steps’ across the board, both in size and duration.” Grand Sky is a 217-acre site, co-located with the Grand Forks Air Force Base. The site offers almost one million square feet of hangar and building space to companies that will be involved in UAS testing, development, training repair and maintenance

TOP: The quadcopter used by Team Dronolab from Ecole de Technologie Superieur was the only rotary UAV in the competition, but the team was able to fly it effectively in the high winds.

as well as sensor technology and systems development. McDonald is bullish on the future of unmanned aircraft. “This is going to be huge,” he said. “Our organization predicts that once they are allowed to fly in the national airspace there will add $82 billion to the national economy, with 100,000 new, high-paying jobs. With the sensor payloads and the small UAS, which will be the focus of our work 48 WINGS | September/October 2014

here, the challenges are there for students. The opportunities are unlimited.” While much of the focus on unmanned systems in the U.S. has been on military applications, McDonald sees Grand Sky’s mandate to drive the commercial possibilities, such as precision agriculture, pipeline patrols along with FEMA and public safety. The location of the site will also benefit Canada. “We have signed an MOU with

Southport, and we hope to do some crossborder initiatives focusing on the same things – precision agriculture and some of the common interests on both side of the border,” he said. Grand Forks Air Force Base had been slated for closure, but thanks to a united front from local, state and federal representatives, the air base lives on. The B-52s and tankers are gone, but they have been WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTOS: PAUL DIXON

BELOW: USC volunteers attempting to lay out the course were hampered by high winds. Sandbags were required to keep the plastic sheeting in place.

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replaced by the Predators and Global Hawks operated by Homeland Security and the North Dakota Air National Guard. Operating the Grand Sky site within the security provided by the air base is an extra incentive for potential tenants such as Northrup Grumman and Rockwell Collins. McDonald also discussed the level of frustration some in the industry have with current U.S. regulations prohibiting the operations of UAVs in commercial air space. While the FAA has been directed to address the issue by September of this year, McDonald does not see that happening. The situation in the U.S. has many commercial operators moving ahead without authorization and operating under the FAA regulations for radio-controlled hobby aircraft (under 400 feet and away from airports or “sensitive” areas). At the conclusion of McDonald’s presentation, Edwards took the opportunity to reiterate the differences between American and Canadian regulations. The USC competition takes place in civil airspace, not military air space. Every student team had to apply for its own SFOC, and USC applied for an overarching SFOC covering the entire competition – all is on paper, all above board. McDonald offered a closing comment on the difference in dealing with U.S. and Canadian regulators. When Canadians complain about having to deal with Transport Canada, he asks them how long it takes to get an approval. The response is generally in the order of a couple of weeks, which makes him chuckle. “We’re lucky,” he says “if we get a simple yes or no answer in less than six months.” Grand Sky is pressing ahead to address the same challenges that faced the student teams at Southport – precision agriculture, the oil and gas industry and public safety issues. McDonald concluded by saying, “the real focus (of the site) is on research and development. The initial research focuses are system safety and aircraft certification, command and control links, ground and airborne sense and avoid. That’s the mission put forth by the FAA. Then we need to move forward into actual intelligence – turn data into intelligence for a myriad of end users and clients.”

Marc Sharpe drew on his years of forensic training to create an extra target for the course. 50 WINGS | September/October 2014

Vidal was the team leader of the Universite de Sherbrooke team that won the first student competition back in 2007. Today, he is the Director of Solutions at ING Robotics of Montreal. Talking with the media about this year’s competition, he said the scenarios were designed to illustrate the challenges the Canadian unmanned systems industry faces. “Students have to design, build and operate their unmanned aircraft in support WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTOS: PAUL DIXON

The grassroots perspective

of agriculture, mining and oil and gas industries,” he said. “Excluding the military, the three main industries are agriculture, mining and oil and gas. The military talks about 3D (dull, dirty and dangerous), but in the commercial world we think of MIM – mapping, inspection and monitoring – because we think these are the three key things that unmanned aircraft can provide. Being able to survey a field with a UAV will enable a farmer to spot problems earlier and take remedial action. “For open pit mines and quarries, UAVs offer the ability to quickly and accurately map inventories and stockpiles. The oil and gas industry needs to patrol pipelines to detect leaks as quickly as possible and also to determine if there is encroachment on rights of way.” Speaking from his own experience, he described the importance of student competition. “They work for a year to design their systems, sometimes as part of their courses, sometimes it’s extracurricular. Some teams build their own aircraft, others buy the aircraft and design all the electronics. It gives them work experience and credibility for when they look for jobs. Going to university is not just about the grades, it’s also being able to do something.” It takes a wide range of skill sets to make

“Students have to design, build and operate their unmanned aircraft in support of agriculture, mining and oil and gas industries.” a successful UAV team, he added. Mechanical engineering, software engineering, computer engineering are all paramount, as unmanned aircraft are a mix of mechanical, electrical, software, and firmware. Sound program management and fundraising ability are also critical. “It’s a multi-disciplinary thing,” he said. Another objective of the competition is to make people aware that this technology exists,” Vidal said. “It’s not science fiction, it’s here, it exists and it’s available,” he said. “We want to make people aware that there are all these Canadian universities and students working to develop the next generation of flying robots. We believe this is a truly excellent student engineering competition and they are trying to solve real problems.”

Dealing with Mother Nature An extra dose of reality was provided during the competition by the wind that blew

Aero Space Museum of Calgary

non-stop throughout Friday and Saturday. It grounded most practice flights and caused the organizing committee to do a quick re-think of the ground targets. The targets were to be defined by sheets of bright red plastic held in place by tent pegs. Unfortunately, the wind quickly separated the plastic from the pegs. The only solution at hand was to anchor the targets with sandbags, with the result that actual targets, while spread out across a great distance, were smaller than originally planned. Winds gusting above 60 kilometres-an-hour played havoc with the few teams that ventured out. Team Dronolab from Ecole de Technologie Superior in Montreal, managed to fly both of its quadcopters on the Saturday afternoon, reportedly the first time two aircraft had flown under one SFOC. The quads appeared to handle the winds with little problem, but the constant autocorrection drained the batteries, cutting

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flight time by half. Battery life was a topic of conversation with all teams and is a limiting factor in the development of commercial applications. Another problem teams faced was radio interference with control systems from a variety of sources – other teams and even airport tenants. The forecast for Sunday morning called

for a break in the wind. Flight schedules were moved up to sunrise in order to give teams enough time to get a second flight in if problems arose with the first. The competition called for 45 minutes of airtime, followed by 60 minutes to develop the report and submit it to clients. There were plenty of highs and lows on the flight line, but when

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The 2014 Unmanned Systems Canada Student UAS Competition winners – Team VAMUdeS from the Unversite de Sherbrooke.

it was over, the top teams were able to put their aircraft in the air, fly their routes and bring them back without significant drama. USC Chairman Stewart Baillie, speaking at the awards ceremony said it was an impressive competition to watch, “the cutting edge of technology at the student level. The competition is about rising to the occasion and innovating new solutions.” Speaking as one of the “clients” who sat through the student deliverables, he congratulated teams that had gone above and beyond – those that added value to their reports by adding more information than a client required. With tongue planted slightly in cheek, he gently admonished one team that offered a full refund when their flight aborted due to the weather conditions. “Read the fine print in your contract before you do anything like that,” he said smiling. It was very intense competition for students, with plenty of late nights and little sleep. For most, the competition came on the heels of final exams. For industry representatives in attendance it showcased some of the bright minds of tomorrow operating under very stressful conditions. And then there was this stark reality as well: no matter how sophisticated technology becomes, when you absolutely have to get the job done, duct tape is still the answer. | W

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In some respects, the supply chain situation has become somewhat more problematic in recent years as the aerospace industry has attempted to increase its economies by adopting some of the automotive industry’s more “commoditized,” costdriven approaches to purchasing. However, this approach can actually be detrimental to production efficiencies, particularly when it comes to more complex, higher tolerance systems and components. “When choosing a supplier, we always want to be sure they are going to provide a quality part, and deliver on time, because we design complex, one-of-a-kind parts that must be delivered in time to meet our customer’s schedule,” says Russell Gibbon, Director, Landing Gear and

Hydraulic Systems Engineering at Triumph Aerospace Systems in Redmond, Wa. “If there is a quality problem, we’re in trouble. If they’re late, we’re in trouble. So, we’re always looking for suppliers with a good track record for quality, for consistently meeting schedule commitments. “When it comes to highvolume, routine build-to-print components, many aerospace manufacturers source them overseas as commodities,” says Randy Brodsky, President of Primus Metals, Inc. (Lakewood, CO), a Tier I and II supplier of structural components, kits, and subassemblies to the global aerospace industry. “But when it comes to higher complexity, higher tolerance components, or those that require exotic materials or are produced in lower quantities, then aerospace companies need to seek out parts manufacturers who have the necessary credentials, production machinery, quality systems and JIT delivery capabilities.” Such was the case with a

recent project of Triumph Aerospace Systems – Seattle (Redmond, Wa.), a member of the Triumph Group, an industry leader in the design, integration and manufacture of complex aerospace components and systems for aerospace vehicles. In producing a complicated landing gear system for a new military helicopter, for example, Triumph was seeking a supplier that could make some critical parts in a limited quantity. “After canvasing the supply base, we settled on Primus Metals to manufacture a number of the critical and complex parts of the helicopter landing gear system.” Gibbon explains. “Most of the parts were very complex aluminum millings with tight tolerances. All of the parts required delivery within a short time frame to meet our customer commitments.”

Avoiding potential risks Brodsky, whose company manufactures a broad range of turnkey, integrated sub-systems September/October 2014 | WINGS 55

and components used within aircraft, says aerospace companies can improve on supply efficiencies by verifying that their suppliers have all the necessary capabilities and credentials. For example, AS9100 certified manufacturers such as Primus, are able to produce the most complex components in-house, and then work exclusively with its NADCAP supply chain for part finishing to manage all the burdens that a purchasing agent is normally required to perform through multiple vendors. Final subassembly is then commonly handled in-house as well.

56 WINGS | September/October 2014

In many instances, machining experience, equipment capability, capacity and quality systems will affect a supplier’s ability to deliver on a timely, consistent basis. Brodsky adds that there are more complex designs coming out each year because engineering is exponentially evolving. The demand to find high quality manufacturers continues to become more and more difficult. “It can be extremely risky for aircraft manufacturers to assume that a low bid or perhaps even relying on a traditional supplier will provide quality parts that require

next generation materials or other complexities,” he says. “In some cases there can be 1,000 dimensions on a single piece of hardware and tolerances within millionths of an inch. Such requirements are usually outside the capabilities of the ‘commodity’ job shop and customers become complacent about monitoring historical suppliers and continuing to seek the best of the best in the marketplace.”

Enhancing management control The ability of the supplier to provide complete assemblies, subassemblies, kits, and turnkey products can improve an aerospace customer’s management control over its own manufacturing processes. Such control enhances their abilities to consolidate orders instead of having to facilitate and maintain many supplier relationships to accomplish the same goal. This further reduces the lead times for product delivery as well as drive down supply chain costs. Yet many suppliers, both domestic and overseas, are unable to deal with the supply chain management effectively, which is critical for producing turnkey parts and assemblies, Brodsky notes. “This is important to many aerospace companies because there is a lot of risk involved when their component contractors are using three, four or five subcontractors to fulfill their commitments, in addition to the customer already using multiple suppliers to fulfil the same program’s demands. Coordinating and ensuring the delivery of all these variables commonly fails.” Primus Metals, Brodsky’s company, deals with premier commercial and military aerospace manufacturers such as UTC, Lockheed Martin, Ball Aerospace, Zodiac Aerospace, Eaton Aerospace and Triumph Aerospace Systems. Therefore, it is significant that Primus has a robust NADCAP (global cooperative accreditation program for aerospace engineering, defense and related industries) supply chain, which enables the company to produce turnkey parts and assemblies. “This is very important when there are multiple subcontractors involved,” Brodsky explains. “But it requires additional overhead and strong internal controls, so many of the smaller job shops don’t want to deal with it.” At the same time Brodsky estimates that more than 95 per cent of his company’s business has to deal with a significant level of supply chain management. While this can have some affect on the company’s pricing structure, he feels that for most customers, the supplier’s ability to provide more reliable quality with on time delivery is worth far more savings than a few per cent of hard costs on the front end. | W WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

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2000 Jubilee Pkwy., Box 17, Campbell River, BC V9H 1T9 Tel: 250-923-9858, 1-800-331-4244 Fax: 250-287-8659 Website: www.sealandaviation.com Email: info@sealandaviation.com Personnel: Bill Alder, PRM; Aaron Spetifore, DOM; Rick Warwick, GM

WESTERN PROPELLER

124-7080 River Rd., Richmond, BC V6X 1X5 Tel: 604-273-4561, 1-877-870-PROP(7767) Fax: 604-273-0215 Website: www.wpl-app.com Email: csloane@wpl-app.com, dtaylor@wpl-app.com, rob@wpl-app.com Personnel: Chad Sloane, President; Dave Taylor, Director of Sales; Rob Heath, DOM

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exchange, & sales.

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After 67 years as a leader in aviation MRO, Western Propeller launched AeroPARTS Plus a sister company dedicated to MRO, exchange, and consumable supply services for the fixed and rotary wing markets. We did because our customers asked us for it and we wanted to deliver more to the people and companies who have helped us shine on this long. With AeroPARTS Plus we now service more than just Propellers & Governors!

Repair / Overhaul

Services: hangarage, pilot lounge, courtesy vehicle, GPU. Fuel: Jet A Maintenance: rotary wing, turbine, painting, sheet metal, mods, conversions. Approved Service Center: Bell 206, MD 500. Consulting: pre-purchase, import/export. Component rentals/exchanges. Parts Sales, vibration analysis, salvage.

Structural Fixtures, import & export and manufacturing

Alpine Aerotech LP is a one stop MRO with facilities in Kelowna and Abbotsford BC. Both Facilities are Bell CSF’s with Structural repair fixtures for the light and medium Bell fleets. Full paint facilities with state of the art plastic media stripping. Our manufacturing department has many STC’s which you can see on our company web site. Full rewire, instrument and radio repairs and some exchange units available. Both facilities have component repair and overhaul capabilities.

Program management, fleet management, engineering services and fully integrated logistics support (ILS) for commercial and military transport aircraft.

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124-7080 River Rd., Richmond, BC V6X 1X5 Tel: 604-273-4561, 1-877-870-7767 Fax: 604-273-0215 Website: www.wpl-app.com Email: Dtaylor@wpl-app.com Personnel: Dave Taylor, Director of Sales

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BRITISH COLUMBIA AEROPARTS PLUS

NDT

Custom overhaul for all Lycoming and Continental engines. Exchange engines also available for both Lycoming and Continental. We overhaul all engine related accessories. Level 3 magnaflux and liquid penetrant.

NDT TCM Crankshaft UT Inspection, MPI and LPI CGSB Level ll, parts sales and mac

Based in Kamloops, British Columbia, the Progressive Air Group of Companies (PAG) is the parent company of ProAero Aviation Ltd. (aircraft engine and airframe repair/overhaul). ProAero Aviation (formerly ProAero Engines) opened in 1989 and currently offers a wide range of aircraft and engine maintenance, repair and overhaul services, including NDT capabilities, and has one of the largest pools of new and refurbished engine components in the region. We service a broad array of clients across North America and globally.

Structures, Imports, Exports, Modifications, Salvage, Manufacturing

Sealand Aviation has a worldwide reputation for top quality repairs and maintenance. Our crew is knowledgeable and experienced on a wide range of aircraft. We are best known for developing innovative modifications to the DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver, such as the Alaska Door, and to Cessna aircraft for skydiving steps and doors.

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STC, NDT, chroming, cad plating, machining, manufacturing

For over 67 years we’ve been Canada’s #1 Component MRO shop specializing in all makes & models of Propellers, Governors, Wheels & Brakes and more. We are Transport Canada & EASA Certified with in house NDT capabilities, new and used propellers, governors, wheels & brakes in stock for outright purchase or exchange. Two full service MRO facilities in Vancouver & Calgary to service the Canadian market as well as our international partners.

ALBERTA AVIALTA HELICOPTER MAINTENANCE LTD.

1A 27018 SH 633 Villeneuve Airport, Sturgeon County, AB T8T 0E3 Tel: 780-460-1800 Fax: 888-743-0187 Website: www.avialta.com Email: avialta@avialta.com Personnel: Paul Horvatis

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Avialta specializes in the buying, selling and leasing of helicopters, component overhauls, new and reconditioned part sales. Bell, Robinson and Turbomeca Service Center.

WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

CANADIAN HELICOPTERS LIMITED

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4500, 1000 Airport Road, Edmonton International Airport, AB T9E 0V3 Tel: 780-429-6900 Fax: 780-429-6925 Website: www.canadianhelicopters.com Email: beaton@canadianhelicopters.com Personnel: Bryan Eaton, General Manager, Third Party Maintenance Services

Import and Export

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ALBERTA

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MAINTENANCE, REPAIR & OVERHAUL DIRECTORY

Canadian Helicopters provides comprehensive helicopter support services - repair and overhaul for engines, avionics, components, and structures. We service civilian and military aircraft within Canada and internationally. Backed by 65 years of experience, Canadian Helicopters is an industry leader in refining maintenance practices. We offer cost effective, flexible maintenance solutions. Canadian Helicopters is a Bell CSF.

CONDOR AIRCRAFT ACCESSORIES

Repair, overhaul and sales of aircraft components and accessories. These components would be categorized as Fuel, Hydraulic, Pneumatic, Electro-Mechanical, and Electronics. Supporting Dehavilland, Boeing, Bombardier, Metro, Bell, Beech, HS748, and various other aircraft.

FLYRITE ACCESSORY OVERHAULS LTD.

Overhaul of electrical components. Factory-trained. AMO 90-97. Specialists in overhauling starter-generators. Safran Power (Goodrich, Lucas), Skurka/APC, Thales (Auxilec), Bendix, and Geneva STC for AStars. Also Dynamic Air fans, Hartman RCCOs and Bendix CPVRs.

MADONNA HELICOPTERS LTD.

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PROPWORKS PROPELLER SYSTEMS

Hgr. 5, 620A McTavish Rd. NE, Calgary, AB T2E 7G6 Tel: 403-250-3032, 1-888-285-8989 Fax: 403-291-9439 Website: www.condorac.com Email: viki@condorac.com Personnel: Victoria Reeves 9615 – 56 Ave. N.W., Edmonton, AB T6E 0B2 Tel: 780-439-6020 Fax: 780-439-6106 Email: flyrite@incentre.net Personnel: Peter C. Jenkins, President/Director of Maintenance R.R. 2 , Stn. Main, 290143 Twp. 270, Airdrie, AB T4B 2A4 Tel: 403-948-0968 Fax: 403-948-4338 Email: rgoble@madheli.com Personnel: Ron Goble, President 15357-114 Ave., Edmonton, AB T5M 3S9 Tel: 780-457-1910, 1-888-457-1910 Fax: 780-457-1939 Website: www.propworks.ca Email: carntson@propworks.ca Personnel: Cliff Arntson, Manager

QF AVIONICS CENTER LTD.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN AIRCRAFT

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P.O. Box 27126, Red Deer, AB T4N 6X8 Tel: 403-886-4306 Fax: 403-886-4244 Website: www.qfavionics.com Email: bob@qfavionics.com Personnel: Bob Marryat, President 129 MacLaurin Dr., Calgary, AB T3Z3S4 Tel: 403-288-3305, 1-800-661-1130 Fax: 403-286-2137 Website: www.rockymountainaircraft.ca Email: rocky@pathcom.ca

WESTERN PROPELLER

Bay Q 1003 55th Ave. NE, Calgary, AB T2E 6W1 Tel: 403-275-1116, 1-877-870-PROP (7767) Fax: 403-275-1163 Website: www.wpl-app.com Email: dtaylor@wpl-app.com, governors@wpl-app.com Personnel: Dave Taylor, Director of Sales; Olie Werthwein, Component Technician

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Pre-buy inspections, import & export COFA’s

Located at the Airdrie Airport, Airdrie, AB, Canada

Propeller overhaul & repair, NDT Inspections

Full service propeller and governor overhaul facility. Transport Canada and EASA approved. Factory trained technicians. Avia, Dowty, Hartzell, Hamilton Standard, Hamilton Sundstrand, McCauley, MT Propellers, Sensenich propellers. Non-destructive testing. Exchange governors. Parts sales.

Avionics repair, installation and recertification.

Parts Sales for DHC-6/ PT6A

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Specializing in all aspects of the deHavilland Twin Otter market, including sales and leasing, heavy maintenance and modification, avionics installs and parts sales.

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Providing composite repairs to components such as: radomes, propeller spinners, elevators, ailerons, flaps, flight controls, engine nacelles, cargo/passenger floors, cowls, fairings and helicopter rotor blades.

STC, NDT, chroming, cad plating, machining, manufacturing

MANITOBA ADVANCED COMPOSITE STRUCTURES INC.

43 Muir Rd., Winnipeg, MB R2X 2X7 Tel: 204-982-6565 Fax: 204-982-6555 Website: www.acs-composites.com Email: acs@acs-composites.com Personnel: James Anning

AERO RECIP

540 Marjorie St., Winnipeg, MB R3H 0S9 Tel: 204-788-4765, 1-800-561-5544 Website: www.gregorashaviation.com Email: info@aerorecip.com Personnel: Alvin Gregorash, President and GM; Dave Wakeman, Sales Manager WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

24 hour AOG Service and Tech Support

Aero Recip is the largest piston engine overhaul shop in Canada. Located in the centre of North America, with 31,800 square feet and the largest core-pool in the country. Quick turnaround is the standard. Overhaul and repair of Continental, Lycoming, Pratt & Whitney radial engines and related accessories, oil coolers and cylinders.

September/October 2014 | WINGS 59

ARGUS

CANADIAN PROPELLER LTD.

PROPWORKS PROPELLER SYSTEMS

QUALITY AIRCRAFT INTERIORS

20 Murray Park Rd., Winnipeg, MB R3T 3T9 Tel: 204-837-4660 Fax: 204-896-4250 Website: www.argusindustries.ca Email: ross@argusindustries.ca

462 Brooklyn St., Winnipeg, MB R3J 1M7 Tel: 204-832-8679 Fax: 204-888-4696 Website: www.canadianpropeller.com Email: dwills@canadianpropeller.com, info@canadianpropeller.com Personnel: Debbie Wills, Vice-President; Maurice Wills, AME, GM; Jason Matikka, Sr. Governor Technician; Bryon Duncan, QA & Inspection; Robert McGeachy, Sr.Propeller Technician; Chad Howells, Sr. McCauley Propeller Technician

525 Madison St., Winnipeg, MB R3H 0L6 Tel: 204-837-4961, 1-888-679-2965 Fax: 204-779-3085 Website: www.propworks.ca Email: propwork@mts.net Personnel: Mike Hudec, Jim Ross

P.O. Box 1561, Portage la Prairie, MB R1N 3P1 Tel: 204-252-2599, 1-888-996-1999 Fax: 204-252-3103 Website: www.qualityaircraftinteriors.com Email: qai@qualityaircraftinteriors.com

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560 Marjorie St., Winnipeg, MB R3H 0S9 Tel: 204-772-0800 1-888-744-9944 Website: www.gregorashaviation.com Email: info@airpartsnetwork.com Personnel: Tracey Gregorash, General Manager; Mark Elste, Customer Service

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MANITOBA AIRPARTS NETWORK

Distributor. 24 hr AOG Service and Tech Support

When it comes to aviation parts, we’ve got what you need or we’ll find it when you need it the most. Our 15,000 sq. ft. warehouse is full of new, overhauled and used/serviceable parts ready to ship. Alternators, carb kits, carburetors, controllers, cylinders, crankcases, crankshafts, exhaust pipes, fuel pump kits, gears, harnesses, hose kits, magnetos, piece parts, prep governors, starters, starter adapters, voltage regulators, waste-gates, oil, filters, batteries, tires, brake pads and discs. Distributor for Lycoming Superior Air Parts, Hartzell Engine Technologies, Tempest, APS, Skytronics, Lamar, Barry & Phillips Oil, Electroair and General Aviation Products. Experimental engines, Arcotherm portable space heaters.

Silicone Extrusion, Silicone Gaskets, Fluorosilicone Seals, Silicone Molded Products

Argus has been on the leading edge of providing quality elastomeric products since 1962. We are AS9001(C) certified and are on an exciting continuous improvement journey developing our systems and processes. Our Aerospace/Military Division specializes in Silicone Elastomeric products and our customers confirm that we are experts in Silicone gasketing solutions. Call us now to discuss what a leading edge silicone seal supplier will do to assist you in growing your business today.

NDT testing, Accessories, Governors, Consulting

EASA Approved. Specialized support, MRO and exchange of propellers, governors and components. MT Propeller distributor. NDT services. On wing maintenance and 24/7 technical and AOG support. Metal and composite propellers, turbine and reciprocating governors. Servicing across North America. Western Canada’s Factory Authorized Service Centre for Hartzell & McCauley.

Propeller overhaul & repair, NDT Inspections

Full service propeller and governor overhaul facility. Transport Canada & EASA approved. Factory trained technicians. Avia, Dowty, Hartzell, Hamilton Standard, Hamilton Sundstrand, McCauley, MT Propeller, Sensenich propellers. Non- destructive testing. Exchange governors. Parts sales.

QAI fabricates the Oxygen Cylinder Restraint System for personal use oxygen tanks on board aircraft. STC’d and FAA approved on over 20 models of aircraft.

A Transport Canada Approved AMO facility specializing in interior upgrades and refurbishments. With experience on over 60 models of aircraft, we have the knowledge and skill required for your interior. We fabricate wing and engine covers for some models of aircraft as well. QAI also manufacturers the Oxygen Cylinder Restraint system, a newly STC approved method of restraining personal use, carry on oxygen cylinders in aircraft.

Component Repair & Overhaul

Authorized component repair and overhaul facility for hydraulic, electrical and pneumatic components for Boeing, Airbus, ATR and Bombardier series of aircraft. In addition we have Regional aircraft landing gear capabilities including DHC8, Q400, ATR and Challenger restoration and lease programs. Av-Reps hold Transport Canada, EASA and Bombardier certifications. Full range of spares and programs to support your fleet type.

ONTARIO AV-REPS, COMPONENT R&O

6245 Danville Rd., Mississauga, ON L6T 2H7 Tel: 905-790-0244 Fax: 905-790-3957 Website: www.av-reps.com Email: sales@av-reps.com

BRAMPTON FLIGHT CENTRE

13691 McLaughlin Rd., Caledon, ON L7C 3L7 Tel: 416-798-7928 ext. 224, 1-800-387-2534 Fax: 905-838-3612 Website: www.bramptonflightcentre.com Email: amicone@bramfly.com Personnel: Angelo Micone

CHARTRIGHT AIR

2450 Derry Road E., Mississauga, ON L5S 1B2 Tel: 905-671-4674, 1-800-595-9395 Fax: 905-671-8901 Website: www.chartright.com

60 WINGS | September/October 2014

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Our services include: AMO 346-92, Authorized Cessna Service Centre with full Cessna technical support including factory trained personnel, propeller balancing, Pitot/Static and Altimeter encoder recertification, Tanis Pre-Heat Distributor, ACF 50, annual inspections for all makes & models, engine overhauls, cylinder repairs, engine removal and repairs.

Chartright Executive Helicopters is an authorized Agustawestland service center for the A109 E/S/SP and A119 family of aircraft.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

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FLYING COLOURS CORP.

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HELITRADES INC.

HOPE AERO

2450 Derry Rd. E., Hangar 2, Mississauga, ON L5S 1B2 Tel: 905-676-1540 Fax: 905-676-0977 Website: www.fieldav.com Email: customersupport@fieldav.com Personnel: Brian Love, CCO; Ken Trilesky, VP Operations; Jito Naraine, Director of Production 901 Airport Rd., Peterborough, ON K9J 0E7 Tel: 705-742-4688 Fax: 705-742-8861 Website: www.flyingcolourscorp.com Email: info@flyingcolourscorp.com Personnel: Tony Barrett, Glenn Williams, Sal Dicaro 18 Terry Fox Dr., Vankleek Hill, ON K0B 1R0 Tel: 613-678-7660 Fax: 613-678-2776 Website: www.helitradesinc.com Email: gerry@helitradesinc.com Personnel: Gerald Tom

7605 Bath Rd., Mississauga, ON L4T 3T1 Tel: 905-677-8747, 1-800-268-9900 Fax: 905-677-5935 Website: www.hopeaero.com Email: goodtogo@hopeaero.com Personnel: Terry Hope, President; Paul Severin, COO; Jasper Megelink PRM; Dana Ladd, Sales

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JD AERO TECHNICAL INC.

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PILATUS CENTRE CANADA INC.

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SKYSERVICE™

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13-475 Airport Rd., Sault Ste Marie, ON P6A 5K6 Tel: 705-779-3977 Fax: 705-779-3250 Website: www.jdaeromaintenance.com Email: info@jdaeromaintenance.com Personnel: Don McNabb, Managing Director/COO; Julian Chin, Managing Director/CFO

2039 Derek Burney Dr., Thunder Bay, ON P7K 0A1 Tel: 807-475-5353, 1-855-PILATUS (745-2887) Fax: 807-475-5405 Website: www.pilatuscanada.com Email: info@pilatuscanada.com

6120 Midfield Rd., Mississauga, ON L5P 1B1 Tel: 905-678-5844, 1-877-759-5656 Fax: 905-673-8343 Website: www.skyservice.com Email: mark_rinaldi@skyservice.com Personnel: Mark Rinaldi

TULMAR SAFETY SYSTEMS INC.

1123 Cameron, Hawkesbury, ON K6A 2B8 Tel: 613-632-1282, 1-800-570-6670 Fax: 613-632-2030 Website: www.tulmar.com Email: avaition@tulmar.com Personnel: Francine Bigras

VOYAGEUR AIRWAYS LIMITED

1500 Airport Rd., North Bay, ON P1B 8G2 Tel: 705-476-1750, 1-800-461-1642 Fax: 705-476-6773 Website: www.voyageurairways.com Email: jeffc@voyageurairways.com Personnel: Jeff Cooke, VP Maintenance and Engineering

WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

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FIELD AVIATION

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ONTARIO

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MAINTENANCE, REPAIR & OVERHAUL DIRECTORY

Aerospace parts, components, airframe assembly manufacturing.

Field Aviation is a world leader in the design, engineering, integration and certification of aircraft and systems modified for specialized roles. With facilities in Toronto and Calgary, Field Aviation offers extensive capabilities such as aircraft modifications, conversions, engineering, aerospace parts manufacturing, specialized aircraft interiors and aircraft sales.

Auxiliary Fuel Systems and Parts Manufacturing

Flying Colours Corp. is a global aviation services company with headquarters in Peterborough, Ontario - specializing in Green Completions, Interior Refurbishment, Maintenance, Component Services, Auxiliary Fuel Systems, Exterior Paint and Avionics Installation and Upgrades. Flying Colours’ US operation is an FAA-licensed Class III and IV Part 145 repair station based in St Louis, Missouri. Flying Colours is an authorized service center for both Bombardier and Beechcraft.

Dynamic and hydraulic components

Helitrades is a Bell Helicopter Approved Customer Service Facility for the repair/overhaul of dynamic components installed in Bell Helicopter models 205, 206, 206L, 212, 407 and 412. Approved for field maintenance. Helitrades is also an approved Woodward HRT Licensed Repair Service facility for the repair/overhaul of hydraulic components installed in the Bell Helicopter Models.

NDT, Component Painting, Sales of Honeywell Chadwick Balance Equipment

Transport Canada & EASA approved, certified NDT Inspectors. Registered with the Canadian Controlled Goods Program. Sales and overhaul of propellers, governors, wheels & brakes. Exchange of propellers and governors are available. Hartzell distributor, MacCauley, Dowty and MT Propeller service centre. Hamilton Sunstrand, Sensenich, Hoffmann and PZL propellers. Sales, service and calibration of Honeywell Chadwick Dynamic Balance equipment. Sales of J.Chadwick Digital Optical Micrometer for measuring the depth of a scratch.

Heavy Maintenance/ Structural Repairs

Specialize in Dash8/CRJ series aircraft. MRO services, Mobile Repair Teams and Lease/Purchase Inspections.

Pilatus Centre Canada offers PC-12, turbo prop, and general aviation owners a One Stop Shop solution for all of your maintenance needs. We are an Authorized Service Centre/Dealer and preferred installer for numerous industry products and services. Qualified, experienced, factory trained maintenance staff and managers ensure your aircraft is always maintained to the highest standards. NDT, Authorized Gulfstream Service Facility, Authorized Bombardier Service Facility

Award winning FBO and maintenance facilities in Montreal, Toronto and Calgary. Skyservice focuses on a large range of technical services including but not limited to; aircraft maintenance, aircraft inspections services, avionics upgrades, avionics support services, sheet metal, non-destructive testing, strategic sourcing and parts services. With over 500 employees and over 600,000 sq ft. of state-of-the-art hangar and maintenance facilities to support aircraft operators, Skyservice is one of the largest aviation companies in Canada that offers maintenance, charter, aircraft management and FBO services.

Hydrostatic testing, ELT programming - DME SRB-406 recertification and recoding

MRO of life vests, life rafts, survival kits, first aid kits, seat belts and cargo nets. Cut & sew services, clean & repair of seat cover, carpet cutting and kitting. Canadian distributor and Authorized repair station for AMSAFE, EAM and Winslow LifeRaft Company. AMO-67-92, EASA.145.7249

AMO 59-91, DAO 12-O-01

Voyageur’s experience as an air carrier has enhanced our ability to understand the needs of regional airline customers throughout the world. Voyageur provides a “one stop shop” for your MRO needs. Voyageur’s in house Transport Canada Design Approval Organization and aeronautical parts manufacture approval allows us to provide MRO customers with all of the necessary resources to perform not only all level of inspections, but manage major repairs and modifications from requirement to certification. September/October 2014 | WINGS 61

98 Columbus Ave., Pointe-Claire, QC H9R 4K4 Tel: 514-630-7777 Fax: 514-630-9999 Website: www.caspaerospace.com Email: info@caspaerospace.com Personnel: Patricia Mulroney

HEATHAIR INTERNATIONAL (1991) INC 681 Ave. Lepine, Dorval, QC H9P 1G3 Tel: 514-636-1000 Fax: 514-636-0031 Email: daheath@heathair.com Personnel: David Heath

L-3 COMMUNICATIONS MAS

10000 Helen Bristol, Mirabel, QC J7N 1H3 Tel: 450-476-4000 Fax: 450-476-4467 Website: www.L-3com.com/MAS Email: info-marketing@l-3com.com Personnel: Paul Mercier, VP Business Development

M1 COMPOSITES TECHNOLOGY INC.

1933 le Chatelier, Laval, QC H7L 5B3 Tel: 450-686-8864, 1-855-880-8864 Fax: 866-709-0508 Website: www.m1composites.com Email: info@m1composites.com, lorenzo.marandola@m1composites.com Personnel: Lorenzo Marandola, cell 514-898-5838

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CASP AEROSPACE INC.

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QUEBEC

Repair, overhaul, exchange and sale of aircraft safety and life support equipment

Repair, overhaul, exchange and sale of aircraft safety and life support equipment, including but not limited to: fire protection, oxygen, inflation and pneumatic, cartridges, floor covering, crew oxygen masks, Securaplane batteries, camera and security systems.

Non-destructive testing services

Transport Canada AMO # 46/90. Radiographic, ultrasonic, Eddy current, Magnetic Particle and Fluorescent Penetrant inspections. Welded plate certification. Lab and field services

L-3 MAS is among Canada’s leading providers of aircraft life-cycle extension, in-service support services and aerostructures design, prototyping and manufacture of aerospace components to government and commercial customers. L-3 MAS also provides extensive fleet management, complete engineering services, maintenance, components R&O, technical publications and robotic solutions.

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NDT, Thermographic inspection. Manufacturing and overhaul of cargo nets, seat belts, parachutes, and other textured industrial fabrics.

M1 Composites Technology specializes in repair, manufacturing, and engineering of advanced composites and sheet metal structures for the commercial and defence aerospace sectors. M1 is Transport Canada (AMO 23-12), Canadian Controlled Goods Program (CCGP), ISO9001, and AS9100 certified. M1 offers its customers exceptional quality, customer service, and rapid turnaround time at a competitive price.

Technical and engineering support, avionics and structural modifications, NDT

IMP Aerospace & Defence, along with its six Operating Units, provides turn-key military and civilian engineering and maintenance and modification services in ISO 9001 certified facilities. IMP Aerospace & Defence is an Accredited Maintenance Organization (AMO); Transport Canada delegated design approval organization (DAO); Accredited Technical Organization (ATO); a Sikorsky licenced Sea King/S-61; Bell 412; Cormorant CH149/AW/EH101; Lockheed Martin authorized C-130, C-130J, CP140/P-3 modification and maintenance support provider. IMP also manufactures aircraft structural assemblies, wire harness assemblies and space products.

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We sell and overhaul a mass quantity of parts for Latin America and around the world. Our company strives to give great customer service. Aero Distribution Services will manage all your servicable needs and arrange for all parts, repairs, exchanges, and overhauls to be done efficiently and with our high quality standards.

NOVA SCOTIA IMP AEROSPACE & DEFENCE

P.O. Box 970, Enfield, NS B2T 1L5 Tel: 902-873-2250 Fax: 902-873-2290 Website: www.impaerospaceanddefence.com Personnel: David Gossen, President; Carl Kumpic, VP International Marketing

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UNITED STATES AERO DISTRIBUTION SERVICES

25510 Avenue Stanford # 105, Santa Clarita, CA 91355 Tel: 661-295-2064 Fax: 661-295-2061 Website: www.adssupplies.com Email: distribution@adssuplies.com, ads.sales@hotmail.com

MINT TURBINES LLC

2915 N State Hwy. 99, Stroud, OK 74079-4756 Tel: 918-968-9561 Fax: 918-968-1080 Website: www.MintTurbines.com Email: Info@MintTurbines.com Personnel: Danny Hickman

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Honeywell Authorized T53 Service Center; Pratt & Whitney PT6T & PT6T Service Center. We have Supported our Customers with the industry’s most experienced team of technicians, engineers, and support personnel since 1981.

WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

JOHN McKENNA

PRESIDENT & CEO / jmckenna@atac.ca

ATAC Celebrates 80 Years In 1934, eleven members of the aviation community of Canada met at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa and created what today has become the Air Transport Association of Canada. So this year, ATAC is celebrating its 80th Anniversary of service to the industry. Such a milestone is noteworthy for any organization but it is particularly significant considering the extraordinary impact ATAC has had on the Canadian commercial air transport industry during that period. The association’s mission has consistently been Service to Members throughout these eight decades. Advocacy, Benefits, Community have been the dominant themes of our collective effort to promote a safe and sustainable air transport industry in this country. Advocating for our members is something we have been doing very well and we are proud of our many wins. Helping members overcome obstacles is what we do best at ATAC. Our approach is to work collaboratively with the Regulator in working out issues for our members. A constructive approach at

solving problems is at the heart of the ATAC reputation. While we knock on doors on Parliament Hill when a legislative solution is needed, we excel at lobbying on behalf of our members to solve operational issues. This is why a membership in ATAC has always been an excellent investment. This is why our members see ATAC as their very efficient and extremely reliable partner in Ottawa. ATAC’s strength lies in the engagement of its membership. Our committee work is where our members get their best return. Member involvement in the ATAC Community is the reason for the continued success of our committee work. Flight, Technical, and Cabin Operations, Legal, Finance, Flight Training, Tax, Security, Dangerous Goods, Air Cargo, Facilitation, Industry Affairs, and Environment are all areas that seriously impact air operations. The ATAC Community is enriched by the active participation of its members’ subject matter experts in all these areas. This is why issues and solutions put forth by ATAC receive due consideration. Throughout its history, ATAC has supported the vast majority of air carriers in Canada, from the largest to many small operations. Indirectly, however, ATAC has continually

ATAC 80TH AGM AND TRADESHOW Monday, November 17 - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 Westin Bayshore Hotel, Vancouver, BC

“Celebrating 80 years!” ~ The premier national gathering for operators, suppliers to the industry and government stakeholders involved in commercial aviation and flight training in Canada ~ Exhibitor package and sponsorship opportunities are available on our website www.atac.ca. Great opportunity to showcase aviation products and services directly to commercial aviation operators or promote your company as an important supporter of the Canadian commercial aviation scene!

ATAC IS PROUD TO WELCOME THE FOLLOWING NEW MEMBERS: Conlin Bedard LLP Ottawa, ON Pulselite Canada Delta, BC Provincial Airlines St. John’s, NL Sogestair Longueuil, QC

worked for the betterment of all commercial air carriers in Canada as they all benefit from the work we do on behalf of the industry. The value of what ATAC has done for its members and for the air transport industry in general is very tangible. For example, savings resulting from ATAC’s successful resistance to fee increases in Canada, and in the USA in the case of overflight fees, can be measured in millions of dollars. ATAC was created out of necessity. This aviation group industry was still in its budding phase and already industry stakeholders recognized that our sector needed a strong collective voice. This sense of community was needed to advance the cause of aviation in Canada and to ensure that this young industry got the support it needed to build solid roots and develop into the critical socio-economic enabler this vast country needed at the time and continues to benefit from today. Loyal membership and commitment to the aviation industry is what ATAC is celebrating in 2014. ATAC is both proud and privileged to have over a dozen Operators and Industry Partners, led by Pratt & Whitney, one of the founding members, who have enjoyed membership for many decades. Although that is certainly worthy of celebration, just as important is the fact that 50% of ATAC members have joined in the past five years. This shows that ATAC has not only been a major player in the development of our industry but that its raison d’être is still quite contemporary and still very much key to the continued success of commercial aviation in Canada.

Air Transport Association of Canada 255 Albert Street, Suite 700, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6A9 Phone: (613) 233-7727 • Fax: (613) 230-8648 • Website: www.atac.ca

#163

The official publication of the Canadian Business Aviation Association

News Brief

CBAA’s Partners in safety Program to offer sMs Turnkey

hrough Partners in Safety, the CBAA is committed to ensuring that every operator, regardless of size, can easily incorporate the highest quality safety culture into all aspects of its operations, based on standardized and professional processes. We are currently developing two separate programs for operators: a Turnkey SMS Solution and standardized proficiency training options for business aviation operations of all sizes and types. The “turnkey SMS” was created as a result of feedback we received at the CBAA 2014 convention’s SMS Gap Analysis Workshop. Available to members for a fee, this turnkey SMS would meet the new 604 requirements with very little customization required by our members. It would take advantage of and

link to the CBAA SMS as a means of compliance for SMS regulations that cannot readily be met by small operators. An offline solution is in the works for all operators. As well, it will be designed as an online SMS provided through a CBAA-endorsed SMS service provider,

develop and make available standardized proficiency training and evaluations. Through this program, members can be assured that their training is scaled to their operations, while, at the same time, meeting both the highest and best training standards, and Transport Canada’s

soon to be announced. The development of this “turnkey” has commenced and will be offered as early as Fall 2014 which will allow members a full year to implement before the SMS exemption to the new regulations expires. As well, CBAA is currently working with the major training providers to

needs. This will include a clear process from the training providers to Transport Canada to demonstrate how Train to Proficiency is confirmed. Members will receive updates on the status of these programs in our weekly email CBAA Business Aviation Bulletin, distributed every Thursday.

induStRY paRtneRShip pRogRaM CBaa Membership Benefit and partner opportunities operators - Take part in discounts and preferred rates provided by our Industry Partner associate members associates – If you haven’t already, contact CBAA to partner with us and leverage your business

for more information contact Lindsay Berndt (lberndt@cbaa.ca)

Ceo’S CoRneR

CBaa iS YouR paRtneR in SaFetY Airplanes fly but time flies faster! With a busy year under my belt it seems as if it was yesterday that I was introduced in Vancouver. As many of you have discovered, I can be pretty passionate about our business. What has really fuelled my fire is that you, our members, are just as if not more passionate about safety in our sector and ensure we “walk the walk.” Over the last year, CBAA has escalated its advocacy and services to members – adding value to your membership, and wins for our sector. I am pleased that we have found a way forward on many challenges and am indebted to many of our members and board for their guidance and support. While we deal with many issues, from safety management systems to Canadian and international Continued on page 2

www.cbaa-acaa.ca

CBAA-ACAA News Brief

CONTENTS

3 4 4 5 6

955 Green Valley Crescent, Suite 155 Ottawa, ON K2C 3V4 Tel: (613) 236-5611 • Fax: (613) 236-2361 Email: info@cbaa.ca • Website: www.cbaa-acaa.ca

advocacy update

highlights of CBaa 2014 evolution of “Business” airports as CBaa Members CBaa Matters/ Membership Matters

Rudy ToeRing ConTinued regulations, to taxation and more, I find that they all relate to three underlying pillars. The first is to instil a culture of safety into every business aviation operation, regardless of size; the second, and equally important, to constantly strive, through strong advocacy, for fair treatment and understanding of the nature of business aviation; and third, to provide tools and support that create cost efficiency and sector standardization for our members. It all begins with safety. Business aviation’s commitment to the highest standards of safety has many benefits besides the obvious. We would not have retained our train-to-proficiency privileges under the new regulations if our sector did not have the safest private business aviation record in the world. As well as ensuring the confidence of clients and passengers, it eases the regulatory burden. We are low on the TC radar. Regulators tend to have a lighter hand if we demonstrate that safety standards are maintained (and exceeded) by all operators within the business aviation community, irrespective if they are flying under CARs 604, 703 or 704. Our aim is to reach such a high standard that the regulators will realize that they have no concerns with business aviation and that their limited time and resources can be better used in solving the persistent level of service issue. With our partners in Safety program, the CBAA is developing tools and negotiating with third party suppliers to provide all of our operator members with a suite of standardized, affordable and scalable safety and training products and services. Why is the CBAA doing

CBAA-ACAA 2 CBAA-ACAA NewsNews Brief

sTAff MeMBers

events Calendar president and Ceo Rudy Toering, rtoering@cbaa.ca executive assistant Aime O’Connor, ext. 228, aoconnor@cbaa.ca Vice president, government and Regulatory affairs Merlin Preuss, 613-656-0505, mpreuss@cbaa.ca Membership Sales & Communication Services Manager Lindsay Berndt, (613) 236-5611 ext. 221, lberndt@cbaa.ca Marketing & industry Relations Debra Ward, 613 274 0619 dward@cbaa.ca events Coordinator Lise Hodson, lhodgson@cbaa.ca

Finance Barb VanDoorn, ext. 222, bvandoorn@cbaa.ca

this? We have found that one of the obstacles for members, particularly smaller operations, is the complexity, time needed, and cost of embarking on a full-scale SMS or customized training program. It’s fine if you manage staff for a flight department or a flight management company, but next to impossible when you are a one- or -two person operation. Yet, these elements are every bit as important to the company with one aircraft as for the company with a dozen. With my background at CAE and FlightSafety International, I’ve seen these issues first hand and am convinced that CBAA, working with member service providers, can provide the solution by offering members a range of quality, affordable and scalable services they could not negotiate on their own. There’s an old saying: “Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.” That’s exactly where we are in business aviation. BA is already the safest form of aviation, and Canadian business aviation is one of the safest of its kind in the world. However, we must back up our assertion with action, and give every operator, large or small, the opportunity to attain the same levels of safety. “We talk the talk but we must also walk the walk.” That is our aim for Partners in Safety and our vision for business aviation: a made-in-Canada sustainable quality standard that is the best in the world. I look forward to working with every member to achieve this goal and with your help grow our membership as we both share the CBAA values and services with prospective new members.

BoArd of direCTors eXeCUTiVe CoMMiTTee Chair • David Hall Maintenance Manager Irving Air Services past Chair • Frank Burke, Operations Manager/Chief Pilot, Tidnish Holdings Limited Vice Chair • Rod Barnard, Flight Department Manager/Chief Pilot, Kal Aviation Group Secretary • Andrew Wilson Litigation Council Rohmer & Fenn treasurer • Mike Fedele, Innotech Execairel executive Committee member • Scott Harrold Landmark Aviation

BoArd MeMBers AT LArge BC Campbell • Aviation Director, Chief Pilot Scotiabank Louise Dunlop • President, Sterling Aviation Services David Mann • Director of Aviation, TransCanada Pipelines; Bill McGoey • President, Aurora Jet Partners Clement Nadeau • A.G. Aviation, Ltee. Andrew Norejko • Director, Travel Services & Aviation/Chief Pilot, Walmart Canada Corporation; Jim Thompson • Chief Pilot Saskatchewan Air Transportation Services Andrew Tuck • Assistant Chief Pilot, Air Services Branch, RCMP Jaime Vins • CEO, Vins Plastics Limited Joe Zigrossi • President and CEO; Global Aerospace Underwriting Managers CBaa advisory Board opeRationS BC Campbell • Aviation Director, Chief Pilot Scotiabank netwoRk opeRationS Dave Anderson • Anderson Air aiRpoRtS Rob Seaman • The Aviation Advantage aiRwoRthineSS Francois Faust • Assigned Engineer Skyservice Business Aviation MaintenanCe David Hall • Manager of Maintenance Irving Air Service Inc. tRaining Doug Ware • Manager, FlightSafety Canada Ltd pRoJeCtS Gary Banks • Vice President, Marketing & Sales Support, John Hopkinson & Associates Ltd aViation MediCine and huMan FaCtoRS Dr. Randy Knipping

AdvOCACy ANd NEwS

advocacy update

here was no summer break for CBAA’s advocacy, as competitive issues, taxes and regulations dominated the agenda. A brief recap is below. As we continue to engage with governments, these issues can change on a daily basis. For the latest updates, members are encouraged to read our weekly emailed CBAA Business Aviation Bulletin. For more detail and to provide your own comments, sign up or log on to our national members forum, CBAA Matters! at www.cbaamatters.com.

604 Regulations An exemption delaying “coming into force” of certain parts of the new regulations for two years is available for operators who had a TPOC on 29 May, 2014. A similar exemption is being prepared for those members who had CBAA POCs but didn’t require TPOCs because of the Interim Order. They now need them as the 604 applicability has changed to once again require them to operate under 604. No exemption is being contemplated for new entrants.

www.cbaa-acaa.ca

in the interpretations and a request for urgent action due to the loss of business the extra 13% is already causing our members. We are hopeful that our very collaborative meeting will solve this issue.

CBaa asks for moratorium on ontario aviation fuel hike

This presents a significant barrier to new entrants as they will have difficulty meeting the new requirements at this time. Issues with the new regulations are being resolved (almost daily). The CBAA met with TC on 20 May, 6 June, 18 June, and 27 July to identify and attempt to resolve issues with compliance with the new regulations and will continue to do so.

hSt applicability on ad-hoc charters CBAA president & CEO Rudy Toering, CBAA members and tax experts met in August with

Director General, Excise and GST/HST, Danielle Laflèche, Canada Revenue Agency, to resolve the Toronto CRA office’s decision to assess cross border charter flights (retroactively) as a transfer of personal property rather than a transportation service, and therefore subject to the full 13% HST. This action has surprised all members affected since there was no warning of any change in administrative policy to existing practice. The CBAA has had the opportunity to provide Ms. Lafleche and her colleagues with factual information that will help

The CBAA has joined other members of the aviation and airport communities requesting a moratorium on Ontario’s 150% aviation fuel tax hike. As business aviation is a key input for Ontario manufacturers and exporters, the tax grab is both short-sighted and counterproductive.

other active files Over the past few months, CBAA has made representation and met with government officials regarding Flight Attendant Ratio Regulations, new CBSA requirements for ETA and IAPIS, the Nav Canada Runway Safety and Incursion Prevention Panel. CBAA has also been representing Canadian business aviation on the EU-ETS, Europe’s new Third Country Operations regulations among others.

CBAA-ACAA News Brief

eVeNTs CALeNdAr

eBaa & eaSa to hold tCo Seminar September 24, 2014 Cologne, GR nBaa 2014 October 21 - 23, 2014 Orange County Convention Center Orlando, FL Info: www.nbaa.com northern alberta & the territories Chapter Meeting November 11th 2014 Sponsored by – Innotech-Execaire

EvENTS ANd mEETiNgS

highlights of CBaa 2014 With record-breaking attendance, and a highly successful exhibit and static, CBAA 2014 in Edmonton has set a new standard. Thanks to everyone who participated in Canadian business aviation’s biggest event.

Another way to be airborne at Edmonton Night Breaking the ice at the opening reception

Southern alberta Chapter Meeting November 12th 2014 Sponsored by – InnotechExecaire eBaC 2015 May 19 – 21, 2015 Palexpo and Geneva International Airport Geneva, CH

Duelling pianos entertain at Edmonton Night

CBaa 2015 June 16 – 18 2015 Diamond Sponsor AVFUEL CYHU H-18 Services St-Hubert, QC

Gary Banks(left) Receives the CBAA Lifetime Achievement Award from Andrew Hopkins

Rudy closes the convention with great prize give-aways

Rudy Toeing (r) presents a $25,000 cheque to Doug Keller-Hobson, Hope Air

Netwo rking at Sig Flight natur Suppo e rt’s re ceptio n

Air for Hope Swinging ment a rn ou T at Golf

CBAA-ACAA News

Getting dow

n to busines

mEmbErShip

evolution of “Business” airports as CBaa Members

raditionally, associate membership in CBAA has been confined to FBOs, fuel suppliers, manufacturers and corporate aviation departments. In an effort to offer seamless and high value service to business aviation, both Boundary Bay Airport (CZBB) and Lake Simcoe Airport (CYLS) find value in CBAA membership.

believes that collaboration between business aviation airports can lead to better customer service, joint marketing, education programs, improved regulations and ultimately service excellence. Both Boundary Bay and Lake Simcoe airports offer uncongested airport infrastructure and airspace,

Collaboration between business aviation airports can lead to better customer service, joint marketing, education programs, improved regulations and ultimately service excellence. This allows airport staff to focus on all aspects of business aviation operations and tailor their airports to meet and exceed corporate expectations. Martin Lamprecht (who handles marketing for Lake Simcoe) refers to this class of airport as “Corporate Jetports.” He

fast and convenient highway access, 24/7 operations, Port of Entry with Canada Border Services, modern terminals with pilot lounges, board rooms and offices, full range of ground support equipment and services, modern hangars, fully serviced and un-serviced airside lots and

Boundary Bay Airport, BC

growing lists of locally based jet and turbine aircraft. They serve the Vancouver and Toronto metropolitan areas respectively and can offer better rates and more convenience than their International sisters. Business aircraft landing at CZBB and CYLS can expect fully customized service with a ‘VIP touch’ as they bring in the most important type of clients the two airports serve. Katherine Mesho, Supervisor of Boundary Bay Air Services, outlines some of the advantages of a business aviation orientated airport. She is able to offer fully integrated landing and ramp

fees, has access to airside and groundside parking, restaurant and ground transportation services, has airport management support and can set priorities for apron and terminal use. She invites business aviation customers to “come and experience the difference” and enjoy the advantages of a fully dedicated business aviation orientated airport. Both CZBB and CYLS intend to continue their partnership through CBAA and invite other business aviation-orientated airports to join them in their focus on advancing service excellence for business aviation.

You’re Invited... to gather with CBaa members, showcased at our Canadian pavilion at the 2014 nBaa Convention and exhibition A great opportunity for you to network and build lasting business relationships.

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CBAA-ACAA News Brief

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FINAL Marc-André O’Rourke | guest columnist

Give geese a chance

How aviation makes jobs, trade and tourism soar

74 WINGS | September/October 2014

already has one of the world’s safest air transport systems in the world. This achievement is not the work of chance but is the result of a comprehensive approach to safety taken by all industry stakeholders. As continuous improvement is essential, a more responsive regulatory framework is required to enable airlines to take full advantage of emerging industry best practices and technologies and to optimize safety and environmental efficiencies. • Reducing our environmental footprint. The development of aviation biofuel is crucial to the industry’s efforts to meet the global goal of carbonneutral growth by 2020. While we have seen very positive developments on this front, there is no question that significant advances in commercializing biofuels are still needed. Consequently, increased collaboration between industry and government is important. Emerson and his team are expected to provide their final report in December 2015. We believe they have a tremendous opportunity to strengthen the aviation sector in Canada to connect more communities, attract more visitors and help more Canadian businesses compete globally. In other words, all we are saying is: give geese a chance. | W

Aviation has an economic footprint of nearly $35 billion in GDP and supports more than 400,000 jobs.

•

Canada points out, “the question now arises as to whether air transportation policy and the extent to which user-pay policy is applied – and potentially user “overpay” – should be reviewed to ensure the sector is achieving its potential.” While we believe the 100 per cent userpay model needs to be revised in several areas, at the very least, if we are going to have elements of a user pay system then it better be a true user-pay system. This means all revenue collected from the industry must be reinvested in industry. Increase trade and tourism. Given air transportation’s role in expanding markets, improvements to Canada’s visa process have significant impact on trade and tourism. Minister Chris Alexander’s recent introduction of CAN+, a program to expedite visa processes for certain Mexican and Indian travellers, is a novel step forward. Used to its full potential, the upcoming electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) program presents another opportunity to increase air travel and economic cooperation. For example, we could facilitate travel for citizens of partner economies such as Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina by asking for an eTA instead of the more burdensome visa. Responsive regulations. Canada

Marc-André O’Rourke is the Executive Director of the National Airline Council of Canada. WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO: AIR CANADA

ike the fabled goose, Canada’s aviation sector needs a viable environment to keep providing its golden eggs – jobs, trade, tourism and revenue – for government. That’s why news that the upcoming Canada Transportation Act (CTA) review will pay special attention to aviation’s competiveness is welcomed by the nation’s airlines. Launched by Transport Minister Lisa Raitt in June, the CTA review will be chaired by former federal minister, David Emerson. The panel has been asked to examine how to ensure the vitality of Canada’s aviation sector in light of cost factors and competitive global markets. For the nation’s airlines, this is a great opportunity to make the case for an environment that allows aviation to do what it does best – stimulate business, trade and tourism. Canada’s aviation sector already provides important benefits. Aviation has an economic footprint of nearly $35 billion in GDP and supports more than 400,000 jobs across a broad spectrum of industries. These benefits are significant. But we can do more. Over the past 20 years, the aviation sector has repeatedly been told that the imposition of a new tax or charge “will only add a small amount” to the airfare and will have no impact on demand. This approach has resulted in Canada having the dubious distinction of being one of the least competitive jurisdictions in the world. Only an ostrich – incidently a bird that does not fly – would believe that such taxes and fees do not have an impact on demand and the economy. We don’t need to look much further than the jobs and dollars that are leaked across the border because of the more than 5 million Canadians who choose to fly out of U.S. airports. Canada needs a new flight path to enable the aviation sector to realize its potential. This new course must treat the sector as an engine that drives our economy, trade and tourism. Simply put, we need to make it easier and cost competitive to fly, visit and do business in Canada. Here are some key elements: • Revisit user-pay. The current user-pay approach was implemented more than 20 years ago in a very different time and place. As the Conference Board of

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