Precision Aviation Adds Turbomeca Certification

Determined to increase its share of the highly competitive MRO market, Atlanta-based Precision Aviation Group (PAG) announced a new agreement as a certified maintenance center for Turbomeca (Safran) at PAG’s location at Atlanta Regional Airport Falcon Field. Under the new agreement, PAG subsidiary Precision Aviation Services (PAS) will perform level 1 and 2 maintenance on Turbomeca’s Arriel 1 and 2 as well as the Arrius 1 and 2 turboshaft engines.

This is the latest certification for PAG (Booth N2116), which has been marching toward a broader range of certifications and services over the past two years. In that time, its PAS subsidiary has become a licensed service center for Airbus Helicopters, MD Helicopters and Robinson Helicopter. The work is performed at the 40,000-sq-ft PAS facility at Falcon Field. Alongside the engine service center, PAS offers field service and a full-service avionics shop.

“Customers will now be able to have their entire aircraft and engines serviced from the convenience of our facilities,” said PAS president David Ford. “Our expanded capabilities, MRO services and experienced team makes PAS the ideal location for a Turbomeca service center in the Southeast.”

PAG employs approximately 228 people at eight locations around the world, according to PAG v-p for strategic accounts and marketing Ketan Desai. The company maintains a parts inventory valued at more than $32 million (cost, not retail), providing combined parts distribution and MRO services.

“We call it inventory supported maintenance repair and overhaul–ISMRO,” Desai said. “That allows us to keep critical components ready to deploy within minutes of receiving a call to minimize downtime for mission-critical operators, supplying those parts and the surrounding services on a just-in-time basis. The bottom line is, we stock what we service.”

That inventory includes parts from 80 OEMs, and these are warehoused at facilities throughout PAG’s global area of influence, he said.

A major part of that business is servicing and supplying accessories for Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PT6 series.

PAG acquired Aviation Controls in 2014, and since then PAG has made capital investments in the company’s MRO capability by expanding into the Honeywell PT6 engine accessory product line. “In that one move, we not only became a major player in the PT6 market, but we also added hundreds of years of experience on the part of the Aviation Controls technical staff who are remarkably familiar with the Honeywell line,” said Desai.

He described the rotary- and fixed-wing MRO and parts supply business as extremely competitive. “There are hundreds of companies out there doing what we do,” he said. “So we differentiate ourselves by providing our trademarked ISMRO philosophy and exceptional customer service. You can buy a widget from any of our competitors. It’s a combination of our customer service, availability, locations and technical expertise that keeps our phones ringing and customers coming back.”