Aircraft Maintenance Technology

JAN-FEB 2017

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BUSINESS AVIATION 42 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY West Star Aviation's Director of Sales Marty Rhine talks about avionics in the business aviation segment. By Ronald Donner MARTY RHINE NEXT GEN, ADS-B, FLIGHT DECK UPGRADES, cabin connectivity, STCs, and approvals are only a few topics regularly heard in the circles of business aircraft owners, operators, and those who maintain these sophisticated aircraft. To get a better view of these issues, Aircraft Maintenance Technology (AMT) Magazine spoke with West Star Aviation's Director of Sales Marty Rhine. Rhine has been with West Star since 2005. West Star's three U.S. maintenance facilities and another three satellite locations position them to install, repair, and update many avionics systems used today. West Star Aviation is an FAA-Certified Class I, II, and III avionics repair station. AMT: First, for the benefit of me and our read- ers, I'd like to frame-up the avionics work that your company is currently involved in. Can you describe West Star's avionics business in terms of shop/bench work, new flight deck upgrades, routine avionics and electronics work, line or in-ser vice aircraft work, cabin connectivity projects, etc. WS: Yes. With the exception of bench work, we are doing all of the above; we are still doing a lot of WAAS/LPV, ADS-B, Wi-Fi, SATCOM upgrades, CMS, retrofits, and LCD upgrades. We have completed several FANS/CPDL-C upgrades too. AMT: What would you say are a few of the more significant avionics and electronics related issues the industr y as a whole is faced with today? WS: Wow, that could be answered one of sev- eral ways. From a technology standpoint, I would say that we are always chasing the commercial off-the-shelf market as it applies to phones and Wi-Fi connectivity. Whoever it was that coined the phrase "office in the sky" has really put us at a disadvantage in the avionics world today. From an implementation standpoint, ADS-B is without a doubt our biggest hurdle. Jan. 1, 2020 will quickly be upon us. As I stated before, we are doing a lot of installs today. Our quote activity has significantly increased over the last six months. In speaking with some of my colleagues/competitors we are not capturing enough installs at a rate necessary to get all of these airplanes compliant. Lastly, our biggest problem is the experience of our avionics technicians. It takes several years for an avionics technician to come up to speed, in many cases these technicians are getting promoted before THE BUSINESS OF BUSINESS AIRCRAFT AVIONICS AND ELECTRONICS

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