Airline Support Aircraft

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B.Billy
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Airline Support Aircraft

Post by B.Billy »

Good day,

I am currently part of a small operation in Eastern Canada working mostly 604 on a PC-12. I was wondering if any of you know the way to work with airlines in support to their operations.Flying in parts, mechanics, crews and so on. I think our PC-12 would be great for this type of ad hoc flying and provide help at a reduced cost for airlines.

We obviously have a 703 AOC and are only looking in adding a couple of flights per month.

Thanks
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Eric Janson
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Re: Airline Support Aircraft

Post by Eric Janson »

I can't think of any Airline that does this. Doesn't hurt to let them know what is available.

Normally other Airlines are used to do this. AOG parts are sent the same way - or by courier. Airlines also share parts with other Airlines. There are agreements in place for this.

I do a lot of positioning - I get sent wherever I'm needed or where the aircraft is located. All on scheduled Airlines.

During COVID my company used their A321 to position crews and I took an A340 with 65 crew to Australia to relieve crews stranded there. There were no other options in the Summer of 2020.
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Bede
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Re: Airline Support Aircraft

Post by Bede »

I've only seen this happen once. An AC aircraft was stuck in Whitehorse. AC sent a Lear up from YVR with the part. Other than that, airlines use their own airplanes to fly parts up on the next sched flight.
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Brantford Beech Boy
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Re: Airline Support Aircraft

Post by Brantford Beech Boy »

Long time ago (mid aughts) , we used to do this kind of flights quite regularly out of YYC for Delta, AC but mostly Jazz. Lots of taking AME and tires up to YZF. Once took an AME from YYC to YQR just to sign off an MEL ‘M’ procedure in the logbook.

Not sure how frequent this is nowadays. You would be best to be based in one of the main mtce bases for the airline you are looking to service
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co-joe
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Re: Airline Support Aircraft

Post by co-joe »

Make sure you're set up for TDG, at least one instance I can remember, the avionics parts we needed were DG, and limited quantity I think.
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ant_321
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Re: Airline Support Aircraft

Post by ant_321 »

It happens at Sunwing once in a while when shit hits the fan. I’ve been deadheaded in a king air and a challenger. I’d probably book off if I was going to be deadheaded in a single engine airplane. I know PT6’s are reliable but I also know plenty of people who have had them fail. Lol.
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daedalusx
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Re: Airline Support Aircraft

Post by daedalusx »

A charter company out of YYC flew down some WJ Ames with parts to fix a plane that was stranded in Mexico on a Lear35, think it was PVR. That was about 10 years ago ... wasn’t cheap.

As for dead heading in a PC12, I wouldn’t be thrilled either.
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pelmet
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Re: Airline Support Aircraft

Post by pelmet »

Maybe up north. I have seen it more than once where we broke down and a King Air was chartered to bring in the mechanics and parts.
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‘Bob’
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Re: Airline Support Aircraft

Post by ‘Bob’ »

Usually the parts and mechanics and crews come in on the replacement aircraft that’s going to take the stranded passengers home.
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cdnavater
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Re: Airline Support Aircraft

Post by cdnavater »

daedalusx wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 6:45 pm A charter company out of YYC flew down some WJ Ames with parts to fix a plane that was stranded in Mexico on a Lear35, think it was PVR. That was about 10 years ago ... wasn’t cheap.

As for dead heading in a PC12, I wouldn’t be thrilled either.
I seem to recall an AME mentioning that their contract says no single engine rescue missions, very likely be an issue.
As for parts, they don’t care about how many engines, but only one time in 17 years at Jazz they sent a Navajo with parts and AMEs to rescue the morning flight, for me anyhow, I’m sure there have been other times but it’s not common.
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