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.
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.
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.
Quality Assurance manuals are boring.
Most people skim or skip and don’t read it. And if they’re not reading it…it’s ineffective.
The 100-page document is a snoozefest. A sleeper. A book that’ll knock you out from boredom in 5 seconds.
Care to dare this hypothesis? Test someone. See for yourself.
It’s the cold hard truth. Yell and scream if you’d like. But the document itself isn’t engaging. It’s a sleeper.
It needs help. It requires engaging training and coaching. We’ll dig into this in a minute.
But right now…
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.”
Just like aircraft part trace, knowing what type of certifications you need is downright maddening.
Every operation is different, making QA standards difficult to apply to everyone, in every country, in every operation.
You spend hours sourcing and processing material orders to find out the certifications you received were wrong.
It’s frustrating. And a big contributor to your material processing costs.
To help combat this, let’s define what the various certifications are and some quick tips to use with your trusted material advisor.
What is aircraft part trace? Why do you need it?
Trace ensures that quality, trustworthiness, and professionalism follows aircraft material through its various supply chains.
It is not a form of airworthiness. It’s a record of who had what and when.
Do you feel overwhelmed having to manage your aircraft component repair process?
You deal with hundreds of assets, dozens of MROs and the logistics that has to happen to and from your MRO partners.
And that’s just the beginning. You then have to approve, deny, or cry over the work order quotes you receive. Hoping. Pleading, that nothing was overlooked.
It’s a complicated process. You have to notice all the small details, ask questions, and trust the partners you’re working with.
And maybe this situation sounds all too familiar to you...
Are your repair turn-around-times (TAT) a mess?
They’re a headache.
Believe it or not. You’re not alone. The problem remains the same for everyone. Whether you’re a large airline or a small aircraft MRO. You feel the pain.
We recently spoke with The VP of Maintenance at Japan Airlines and he mentioned the same issue. He’s frustrated. Even with the contracts that he has in place, working with the largest OEMs and MROs, repair lead times and quality are a constant frustration.
How does that make you feel? He pays premium prices and still has the same problems as you. See. It could be worse.
It is no secret that additive manufacturing is the hot topic, especially in our fast paced aviation world. Many companies are exploring this new frontier of technology because of its unbelievable benefits. Pratt and Whitney are a perfect example of the new exploration in this uncharted world with manufacturing engine brackets using 3D printing. They have embraced two of many additive manufacturing techniques to make engine components, engine brackets specifically. Instead of using expensive slabs of steel to shape aircraft parts, the process of additive manufacturing enables Pratt and Whitney to layer materials together using absolutely no waste.
This trifecta of efficiency is what the aviation industry is raving about and why companies like Pratt and Whitney and even GE Aviation has adopted this new technique in manufacturing.
GE has adopted laser-powered 3-D printers and inking machines to make aircraft parts that seemed like science fiction long ago. GE likes to call this next chapter in manufacturing the next step in our Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution was a transition from new manufacturing processes in the period that started in 1760.
The additive manufacturing process can increase the tempo of production, reduce waste, and produce designs that seems almost impossible with last generation manufacturing processes. Unusual brackets, new age propellers, and even new engine designs are now open door ideas with this new technology.
However, this new revolution for the industry is growing at a crawl. Additive manufacturing techniques will need to be improved before the entire market adopts the technique with open arms. Glitches and muddy precision is still very common unless a finer and more expensive 3-D printer is purchased.
It makes sense why our industry is an early adopter of this new technology in manufacturing.
This process is taking off with no emergency brake and is beginning to grow exponentially.
In 2016, GE Aviation will unveil 19 3-D printed fuel nozzles in a combustion system that can only be made using this method. They will lead the aviation industry with the first solid models of these unique parts. This exciting time is being called the new or 3rd industrial revolution and companies like GE and Pratt and Whitney are paving the way for others to lead.
In the fast paced, non-stop world of aviation, problems happen and they happen often. Most people look at problems as a bad thing. They're afraid of them. It controls their every move. The more they're afraid of the problems, the bigger, more complex the problems will become.
This is the very reason we've adopted a core value here at Skylink, "Accept Problems, Then Solve Them." Sitting at our desk worrying about a problem does nothing. Getting to the root of the issue and solving it does. There are a number of ways we tackle problems.
We're active listeners. 
If it's a client showing concern, we listen. If it's a team member who has a problem, we listen. If it's a supply chain partner explaining a delay, we listen.
By listening, we hear the other person and can effectively translate what they are saying into solutions.
The art of listening is the first step to proper communication and problem solving.
If we're not listening, then we're not solving. And if we're not solving, we're not practicing what we preach.
This concept isn't new for us but the methodology and practice will be a reoccurring topic in our daily communication.
We are a self-managed organization giving people autonomy to make decisions as they see fit. The only requirement when making a decision is to seek advice from the people who will be directly affected and people who have knowledge in the subject.
The advice process isn't the "manager" making the final decisions but instead it's the collective group working together for the best viable decision. The person leading the team then formulates the responses to output the right solution.
The simple question "why" is a great concept to actively engage a problem.
When a problem comes up at Skylink, we tackle the issue by asking "why."
Stubborn and recurrent problems are often symptoms of deeper issues. A "quick fix" may seem convenient, but it's really just a temporary solution and it may solve only part of the problem.
To solve it properly, you need to drill down through the symptoms to the underlying cause.
The 5 Whys is a simple, practical tool that is very easy to use. When a problem arises, simply keep asking the question "why" until you reach the underlying source of the problem, and until a robust counter-measure becomes apparent.
The 5 Whys uses "counter-measures," rather than solutions. A counter-measure is an action or set of actions that seeks to prevent the problem arising again, while a solution just seeks to deal with the situation. As such, counter-measures are more robust, and are more likely to prevent the problem from recurring.
Each time you ask "why," look for an answer that is grounded, in fact: it must be an account of things that have actually happened – not events that might have happened. This prevents the 5 Whys becoming just a process of deductive reasoning, which can generate a number of possible causes and, sometimes, create more confusion.
Keep asking "why" until you feel confident that you have identified the root cause and can go no further. At this point, an appropriate counter-measure should become evident."
We make hundreds of decisions every day. One of the ways we expedite problem solving is by having contingencies in place at every level. Or at least know the worst case scenario.
A good example is in repairs. If we have a repair in process for a pooling rotable and the units goes BER, what's our backup? If we already have the contingency in place when the units goes BER then we've expedited the resolution process.
Contingencies are crucial throughout our entire operation.
It's very important that everyone on the Skylink team knows and understands how to accept problems and solve them. We live and breathe this and when were all in sync, problems are a mere speed bump into the flow of the Skylink way.
