Professional Pilot, July 2018

ing with later Phenom 100s and 300s and incorporated in the newer Legacy 450 and 500 models communication of the data can be in real time via WiFi Cessna Diagnostic Maintenance System and Aircraft Recording System Cessnas programs are similar in that you can select some or all of their coverages Ultimately if you want everything covered other than corrosion damage and cosmetic refurbishment you can do so And of course as a leader in our industry Cessna on their newer offerings provides data analysis and information as described via these 2 programs As with all these programs the objectives are to provide real time information about a planes performance and problems share it with the OEMs technicians and ultimately to provide predictive analysis that anticipates problems Both Dassault Falcon and Bombardier offer maintenance programs to cover their aircraft Of course Bombardier was one of the early providers of such programs with their Smart Parts program going back to the 1980s Unfortunately I was unable to confirm current information in time for this article so I am reluctant to make any statements about their status However a trip to their websites for contact information will answer any questions you might have So far we have focused on programs provided by airframe avionics and engine OEMs whether stand alone or as with Gulfstream bundled as a single payee program As most of you know there is an alternative provided by Jet Support Services Inc more commonly referred to as JSSI or Jessey There are a number of factors that differentiate JSSI from the OEM programs and they all stem from the fact that JSSI is a financial instrument not a direct service provider The single greatest advantage this affords is the ability for an aircraft owner to transfer their contract and some 16 PROFESSIONAL PILOT July 2018 or all of its residual value to a different plane In all cases when one sells a plane that is on an OEM program the program goes with the plane And this will be true also for a JSSI covered plane most of the time But lets say you have an old plane that even on a program is only worth 15 million It has been on JSSI so long there is a 15 million residual built up in the contract Since you could transfer this residual to the plane you are buying you have 2 advantages First your old plane has some scrap value even without the program so your net sales price is lets say 100000 plus the 15 million value of the JSSI program The bigger advantage is that you can now shop for replacement planes that arent on programs All else being equal these sellers will be forced to take a lower price You have gained on both ends of the transaction One must accept that on an actuarial basis you are going to pay a higher direct cost for these services than if you took the entire risk of providing your own maintenance But according to Tony Kioussis at Asset Insight Hourly Cost Maintenance Programs HCMPs especially engine programs definitely add value and increase selling prices versus the same plane without In fact valuation guides such as Vref net value certain planes under the assumption they have paid up and transferable engine HCMPs and call for a significant deduction in value for those that dont Perhaps more importantly planes with these programs sell faster spending less time on the market The resulting cost savings can be significant Tony points out and I would add that with the efficiency gained from predictive maintenance information sent ahead to enable servicing the plane upon landing the potential efficiencies of having OEM technicians involved in diagnosis and a host of other time saving benefits the combination of direct and indirect costs could easily be lower than without maintenance programs If you also factor in better financing terms improved logistics for scheduled and unscheduled maintenance and lower training costs this is almost guaranteed So are these comprehensive maintenance programs here to stay Regardless of their actual costs whether greater or lessor than self maintenance the answer is yes They provide greater security for lenders They require an owner to employ fewer maintenance people They provide better information up to and including in the future predictive maintenance mitigating both cost and risk And from the providers side especially for an OEM they enhance the strength of the marriage between company and customer Textron now has 21 company owned MROs located around the world to take care of Beech Hawker and Cessna needs Factory trained techs provide general mx inspections parts repairs flightdeck upgrades cabin connectivity installations and refurbishments Servicing at Bombardiers new hangar at BQH London Biggin Hill Airport UK officially began on December 1 2017 with a Global 6000 Falcon business jets at Dassault Aircraft Services in Little Rock AK This class I II III and IV airframe repair station also performs scheduled and unscheduled maintenance and aircraft pre purchase evaluations