RECIP TECHNOLOGY
A Look at the Typical
Maintenance FBO
The structure, challenges, and trends of the backbone
of the General Aviation maintenance industry
A
David Boudreaux
David
Boudreaux
is currently
the owner of
Boudreaux
Aviation
Services, a
general aviation
FBO located in
Orange, TX,
at the Orange
County Airport.
32
s you travel across the country
today you will discover
that there are thousands of
airports to visit large and
small, public and private. A
significant number of these airports will
offer numerous and various amenities one
of which possibly being a general aviation
maintenance facility known as FBOs or a
fixed base of operations.
From a maintenance perspective it has
always been my understanding that an
FBO was a base of operations for an aircraft
inspector, but often I find that what many of
these airports call an FBO today is nothing
more than an airport terminal building with
facilities for pilots and no maintenance staffing or capability at all.
When I use the term FBO I am referring
to a maintenance facility that is typically run
November/December 2013
by a licensed A&P; mechanic with an inspection authorization (IA) endorsement. At many
smaller county or municipal airports, the staffing may be just the mechanic or the mechanic
and one helper. At the larger airports with
an adequate customer base (30 aircraft minimum), there is usually the business owner or
operator (the IA), one to three A&P; mechanics,
one or two helpers or trainees, and perhaps a
secretary or book keeper. The IA alone is the
backbone of these organizations. He or she
is responsible for everything that happens at
the facility including aircraft logbook entries,
training of employees, AD research, safety
issues, FAA and EPA regulations, and proper
maintenance practices to name a few.
Challenges
The key to running a successful FBO is
customer satisfaction, which is generally
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