If you’re a Dash 8 operator, aircraft MRO, or lessor, this post is for you.
This is your go-to resource for the current major Dash 8 components we have available now or in the near term.
Bookmark this page as it’ll be updated often.
Do you have surplus aircraft part inventory?
This unnecessary buildup occurs when you order inventory in preparation for near term consumption.
When that consumption never occurs. Voila! Surplus inventory builds up.
Here’s the impact that this causes to your operation.
It’s not the price you pay, how business savvy you are, or how excellent your negotiation skills are. This is the MOST IMPORTANT skill you need when purchasing aircraft parts.
Your surplus aircraft material was sitting. Rotting. Wasting away on your shelves.
Slowly eating away at your operational results. Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.
Cash was being sucked down the surplus drain. And the only thing you could do was…
Price. How important is it to you? How often do you try and get the lowest price? I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself, “It’s incredibly important.” and “Every chance I get.” And that’s fair. It’s also common to ask how much something costs. Or to reduce the cost of something. We often use price and cost interchangeably. That’s a mistake.
How many decisions do you think you make in a day? 1. 1,000. 10,000. Think again. It’s estimated that the average adult makes 35,000 decisions…every single day.
Combine that with all the options you have, once you’ve made your 35,000 decisions, and you’ve gone through 100,000 choices.
And that’s the top trend affecting airline and MRO material buyers. Choices. The dire onset of information overload.
I’ve been fortunate to be a part of hundreds, if not thousands of maintenance check projects.
Over the years, I’ve noticed a trend. During the maintenance project, there’s always panicked emails and phone calls. Half of the calls are for material that should have been pre-planned.
It’s guaranteed. It’ll happen. Maybe even today.
Maintenance teams wait too long to purchase the material they need. So when they do purchase, they’re in a frantic rush.
How do you decide on the grease for aircraft wheel bearings?
I recently read an article about how some people, cough-cough, not you, were using automotive grease. From a cost standpoint, this was a great idea. It was cheap! But any old grease will not do.
You want something reliable.
Something that prolongs the use of your assets. And doesn’t cause "you know what" to hit the fan (it rhymes with fit). I’ve seen a lot of questions asking "what type of aircraft wheel bearing grease should maintenance teams use?", so here’s a quick little guide to help you.
Have you ever been AOG for grease?
You may be sitting across from this screen laughing, but I’ve seen it. Seriously!
One of our team members get’s a frantic call. The client panicking.
We’re “AOG” for grease -he clamored. You could tell by his voice someone made a big mistake. He was having to pay for it. They ran out of aircraft grease and didn’t replenish. Whoops!
Do you purchase aircraft material like it was 1995?
You throw out an offer ($$$), cross your fingers, and hope for the best.
You say to yourself, I know it’s 5% of the quoted price but let’s give it a good ‘ole try.
And try you do...
It happened again.
Maintenance requested more expendables for a routine task card and yet again, you haven't dealt with the material since 1999.
Now, you have to go source and purchase this material. And more than likely, maintenance needed it yesterday.
Is processing your aircraft expendable orders like cleaning a toilet?
It’s messy, time-consuming, and there are more productive things you could be doing.
Likely!
But whether you like it or not, these low value, high volume items are an important asset to your fleet.
They’re crucial!
Yet, they take up a ton of time.
The email hits your inbox.
You glance at the subject line and it reads “Need ASAP for XTY-123.”
Maintenance is requesting material for this week’s project.
You anxiously open the document.
It’s expendable and consumable material:
The request is 100 line items.
Some items you’ve never purchased, while others are high volume for you but your inventory level does not meet this maintenance need.
And it’s not that you haven’t done this before.
It’s just damn difficult.
When you hear the 3 letters, A-O-G, it makes you cringe.
Your heart rate starts to race, your palms begin to sweat and you frantically think I-have-to-fix-this-now.
AOG are stressful. But if you're prepared before the AOG, it’ll make your aviation life much easier.
Trace and certifications.
Both topics are confusing.
What do you need, with what type of material, and when?
Questions like these flood your brain. And you’re not alone. Many have the same misunderstandings of what is needed and when.
Whether you were born as a Quality Assurance inspector, trained, or were just thrown into purchasing to “figure it out.”
