Ground_Support_SeptemberP2019 - 12

BUSINESS BUZZ

The ABCs of PCAs

Seeking to educate his team and others in the industry, United Airline's Tim Fox has recently published
an informational whitepaper on pre-conditioned air.
By Josh Smith

any elements of the ground support
industry are nuanced and task specific. So, it can be difficult for someone
new to grasp certain GSE concepts, especially
in a maintenance setting.
A self-proclaimed geek about HVAC
and air conditioning, Tim Fox recognized
this and the program manager - facilities,
engineering and maintenance at United
Airlines took the opportunity to educate
those in the industry by creating a whitepaper offering an overview of pre-conditioned air (PCA) units.
"For 23 years of my 29 1/2-year career at
United Airlines, I was actually a technician
on this fixed gate equipment," Fox says,
noting this hands-on experience working with fixed-gate assets like boarding
bridges, PCAs, ground power units and
hangar assets has been critical to his cur-

rent job duties. "And I have a 35-year background in HVAC and refrigeration."
In his role with the airline, Fox would
often be dispatched to stations where a
perceived issue with a PCA was taking
place. If a PCA unit was the problem, he
would investigate and complete a report.
"Sometimes it would actually come from
someone noticing excessive APU burn at a
gate and investigate why," Fox says.
"In a nutshell, I see some commonalities
of why some of this equipment isn't necessarily performing how we would like it to."
By putting these common issues
together in one location, Fox's whitepaper
allows personnel to troubleshoot more
efficiently.
"One thing that led me to want to do
this is to educate - my own leadership, our
users on the ground and even the people
that manufacturer the equipment," he

12 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE

explains. "'Here's what we're seeing. And
here's what I think we could do to make
this a little bit better.'"
There are also environmental reasons putting pressure on efficient PCA
operation.
"There's a very big push at airports to
not use APUs to cool the aircraft when it's
at the gate. So, these PCAirs have to work
as good as the aircraft's internal climate
control system," Fox says. "At times, very
often, they don't work as well. That unit on
the aircraft works very well, so it's tough
to mimic the performance of that with a
ground machine."
To complete the whitepaper, Fox collaborated with manufacturers of PCAs and
received stellar cooperation. He says GSE
manufacturers are inclined to contribute
to a project like this to assuage potential
complaints from customers.
"They often get called and told their
machine is malfunctioning," Fox says. "In
actuality, it's how the airline or the airport

SEPTEMBER 2019

is trying to use the machine. We're not
always using it correctly, but the manufacturer gets blamed."
The whitepaper was originally written
in a previous form three years ago. Fox
rewrote it with more United Airlines references, so it could be used as an internal
reference tool. Then about six months ago,
he broadened it again to better benefit the
industry.
"I tried to keep it a bit basic, but I did
have to get a little technical when it came
to explaining certain things," he says.
Fox says his career goal is to gain as
much knowledge of gate equipment and
operations as his United Airlines colleague
and mentor, Dick Cloud.
The whitepaper, titled "Pre Conditioned
Air and Providing Comfortable Aircraft
Cabin Conditions on the Ground" can
be downloaded at www.AviationPros.
com/21089654.

Ground_Support_SeptemberP2019

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