Story ID: 583
Dallas Aeronautics Experiencing Phenomenal Growth
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: Texas-based DAS specializes in composite repairs for business aircraft.
Word Count: 460
Dallas Aeronautical Services (DAS) has been repairing business aircraft composite and metal components for nearly 12 years and last year opened a new repair station in São José dos Campos, Brazil, to supplement its Texas facility. In addition, in 2014 DAS built a new 4,682 square-meter (50,400-square-foot) facility at its headquarters in Cedar Hill, about 32 kilometers (20 miles) south of Dallas.

DAS vice present Mike Manning and president Donald Snodgrass had worked for a variety of repair stations before deciding to open DAS. “We thought we could do this better,” said Manning, “and we focused on business jets right away.”

The company now has expertise in repairing flight control surfaces, radomes, thrust reversers and engine inlets as well as many other components. A DAS specialty is engine inlets–for example, the company owns the only set of Bombardier Challenger 300 inlets available for exchange.

“We have OEM-style tooling,” said Manning, “and we completely remanufacture them, we don’t just repair them.” DAS can turn around a set of Challenger 300 inlets in only 14 days, he added, and can repair Gulfstream G200 inlets as well-although it doesn’t stock an exchange set of those.

In Brazil, there is less business aircraft work, so DAS Brazil also bids on commercial aircraft repair jobs, as there is little local competition. The Brazil facility is both an ANAC and FAA repair station, enabling it to serve operators of Brazil- and U.S.-registered aircraft using the same engineering and repair approvals developed at its Texas facility. “As far as we know, this is the first time that the Brazilian government has done this,” Manning said. DAS (Booth H109) also holds EASA repair station approval.

DAS has built up a capable set of tooling and equipment for composite and metallic repairs, including full heat-treating, in-house anodizing and welding and two autoclaves, one measuring 1.5-by-six meters (five-by-20) feet and the other 2.7-by-6.7 m (nine-by-22 ft). “They’re made of high-carbon steel so they don’t expand and contract,” Manning explained. “We’re pretty self-sufficient. Each part has to look like it’s brand new. That’s the thing about the business aviation industry. High quality is very important.”

With more owners and operators of older business jets hanging on to their airplanes longer, DAS is experiencing continued growth. “Business is phenomenal,” he said. “We’re on track to have 22 to 23 percent growth this year, compared to last year.” More buyers are generating pre-purchase inspection business, too, and this helps DAS because its experts can tell maintenance shops what to look for then assist with any needed repairs.

DAS is also seeing a lot of insurance work resulting from bird strikes, hail damage and ground incidents.