STL Flight Maintenance: Raising the Standard of Customer Care in General Aviation

By Carmelo Turdo

STL Flight Maintenance provides comprehensive aircraft maintenance services to corporate, fleet and individual customers at their St. Louis Downtown Airport location. On any given day, their highly experienced A&P technicians and IAs can be seen working on a wide range of general aviation single and twin-engine aircraft in the newly renovated West Terminal hangar and performing engine run-ups and taxi tests on the adjoining apron. With the new year came a new name, and a new brand, along with a new level of customer care for the general aviation and fleet operator markets.

The Aero Experience recently met with STL Flight Maintenance Managing Partner, Josiah Bridges, for an update on the transition from the Big River Aviation legacy to the STL Flight family, which includes STL Flight Training also located in the West Terminal. Bridges brings his background, experience and expertise managing and maintaining private and corporate jets to general aviation. This systems approach, along with the experienced staff already working at STL Flight Maintenance, has made a great aircraft maintenance operation even better.

"The level of quality and customer service is unparalleled in the world when it comes to private jet maintenance," Bridges told The Aero Experience. "We are bringing that incredibly high level of customer service, quality and eye for detail to our general aviation maintenance services. We add value through our policies, programs and systems to grow STL Flight Maintenance at this airport."

STL Flight Maintenance A&Ps and I/As are equipped to perform the range of required annual and periodic fleet inspections along with engine repairs and replacements, exhaust system upgrades, electronic ignition installations, airframe repairs and related services for most general aviation aircraft including the highly capable Cessna 400 series twins. AOG services can be applied at off-site locations and for turbine aircraft when needed.

STL Flight maintenance is focusing on two processes that are key to providing this next-level customer care: annual inspections and maintenance approval/billing. Since annual inspections are required on most general aviation aircraft, this is an important first step on the path to gaining efficiencies for the customer and the technicians in the hangar.

As a new IA doing general aviation annual inspections, Bridges was concerned about the wide range in estimates quoted to aircraft owners. These quotes included the recommended maintenance items identified during the annual inspection, and aircraft owner/operators were often overwhelmed with the situation presented to them. He thought that there must be a way to streamline the process and perform these inspections in a more consistent way as specified in the FAA regulations. 

The annual itself is a very straightforward process, consisting of the inspection activity only, and it is separate from any maintenance work that may be recommended to the owner by the IA. The annual is now completed and billed separately, and after a meeting among the maintenance staff, the list of discrepancies is presented to the owner as airworthiness issues or recommended work. The owner then has the option to address the remaining airworthiness issues as he or she sees fit, retaining the responsibility to operate the aircraft according to FAA regulations. This practice helps to standardize the shop time and cost associated with the annual inspection process.

Once the decision is made to proceed with a maintenance or repair action, either resulting from an annual inspection or through normal operations, clear communication with the aircraft owner is critical to the success of customer satisfaction. Josiah Bridges and his staff are introducing a new approval and billing solution to make these decisions seamless.                                                                                                                  
"We are raising the standard of customer care in general aviation, and one way we are doing this is through Quantum MX software. We get digital approval for everything before we touch your airplane. This maintenance software allows us to track all of our planes, all of our customers, all of our work orders. From the customer side, it allows us to detail out every single thing we are going to do on the airplane, estimate it out and send it to the customer. You get a customer portal, you are able to log in and review every single line item, approve or decline each one and sign the estimate right there knowing what the total is going to be before we even get started. We want to avoid any kind of surprises."

The long-term prospects for STL Flight Maintenance are bright, and Bridges continues to look for ways to continue exceeding customer expectations as he works with airport management for growth opportunities. 

"We have a really good relationship with the airport management, and we're super excited to see a long and fruitful partnership with St. Louis Downtown Airport. The airport has shown nothing but support for us, and it's been absolutely amazing. We are continuing to invest and grow here."

Visit STL Flight Maintenance at the newly-remodeled West Terminal at St. Louis Downtown Airport or contact them online to schedule your aircraft maintenance consultation.

StandardAero Gives Supply Chain Update at GSLBAA Quarterly Luncheon

By Carmelo Turdo

The Greater St. Louis Business Aviation Association held their quarterly luncheon March 15 at the Centene Corporation hangar, St. Louis-Lambert International Airport. The event was a great opportunity to visit with association members and learn about new products and services from industry exhibitors and an expert guest speaker. The food was also a great reason to attend! 

  

A valuable part of the quarterly luncheon is the business aviation showcase featuring exhibits from local area aviation companies. Here we have a brief look at the lineup at this first luncheon of the year. 

The expert guest speaker for the luncheon was David Pearman, VP/General Manager at StandardAero in Springfield, IL. StandardAero provides comprehensive maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for business, commercial and military aviation customers worldwide, with over 200 employees working at the 265k square-foot Springfield facility. The effects of the recent labor and component shortages are still plaguing the industry, and the solutions are slowly making their way through the supply chain. Pearman noted that  StandardAero has used multiple sourcing strategies and economies of scale to alleviate some of the wait time for parts and service, though the increase in demand for business aviation will continue to affect the system for years to come. For specific inquiries, contact StandardAero for more information. 

An added bonus for the quarterly luncheon was the beautiful Gulfstream on display in the Centene hangar. During breaks at the meeting, anyone in attendance could get their photo taken with the jet, a service sponsored by The Aero Experience. Photos will be delivered this week on an individual basis. Here we take a tour and feature our friend, Kimberly, striking a pose! 

The Aero Experience thanks the Greater St. Louis Business Aviation Association, StandardAero, the industry exhibitors and everyone who attended the quarterly luncheon. We look forward to the next one, scheduled for June 21. In the meantime, we encourage you to get registered for the upcoming 48th Annual Business Aviation Association Memorial Open, with all proceeds benefitting the Association's Educational Foundation and Wings of Hope.  

Spring STEM Career Fairs Held in the Greater St. Louis Area in March

By Carmelo Turdo

Spring STEM career fair season is in full swing for high school students across the greater St. Louis area, and here we highlight three events held over two days in mid-March. The Aero Experience partnered with the Gateway Youth Aeronautical Foundation to participate in two of the three events, generating strong interest for the Intro to Flight program. We thank the STEM career fair sponsors and participants for providing these opportunities for the Foundation to share the vocational opportunities available in the aviation industry.

On March 13, the Gateway Youth Aeronautical Foundation attended their third consecutive annual O'Fallon Township, IL High School Skilled Trades and Career Fair. The Foundation was joined by a wide variety of vocational training schools, labor organizations, first responders, military recruiters and aerospace product manufacturers eager to meet with the next generation workforce. Held in the school's Panther Dome, the event was available to students who rotated through at regular intervals between 10:00 A.M and 1:00 P.M. to visit with exhibitors. 

 

Also on March 13, an AIAA St. Louis Section event, STEM & the Navy in St. Louis, was held at the Boeing James S. McDonnell Prologue Room. Hosted by Dr. Kelly Remijan, the program included an outstanding panel of speakers from Boeing, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Transportation Command at Scott AFB and special guests from the U.S. Naval Academy. Six Midshipmen were part of the Academy contingent, and it was a nice surprise to see them again the next day at the third STEM career fair featured in this post. 

Our third event, on March 14, was STEM314 Day at the Legacy Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing enrichment programs for students and continuing professional development for educators in the St. Louis area. Students from four area middle schools attended the event, which included exhibitors from youth organizations and local businesses providing STEM activities pertaining to their career fields. As mentioned above, the U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen were there to guide the students through some fun science demos, and the Gateway Youth Aeronautical Foundation attended their second event of the week. A special feature of this event was the hands-on drone flying sessions hosted by Yolandea Wood representing the Hugh J. White Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Intl. 

The remaining spring months will provide more opportunities to participate in STEM events, including the upcoming SOAR Into STEM sessions and Career Fair running March 30 through April 27 at Wings of Hope. Full coverage coming soon on The Aero Experience.