august2021 - 20

COVER STORY
When a piece of equipment fails or needs
to go into maintenance, they have alternate
units they can utilize, " he adds. " For example,
most FBOs and smaller airports may
only have one tug or one GPU. " Therefore,
when a piece of equipment fails at a FBO,
it can be much more detrimental to the
company/handler. "
Providing more simplistic GSE can
assist support crew at GA locations as less
maintenance may be required.
" They're pretty lean when it comes to
general aviation, " Rocha says, adding GSE
maintenance is also sometimes outsourced.
" From the commercial side, each airline
has their own mechanics, and they scale
up depending on how frequently they're
coming in and out.
" At a hub location, if you look at the
number of mechanics American has at
DFW or Delta has at Atlanta, it's a very
large scale support team, " he continues.
" I don't recall ever seeing that big of a
support team at any general aviation
location. "
Exotic Vehicles and
Rental Cars
With less mechanics and fewer pieces of
equipment on hand, many GA locations
treat GSE differently.
While GSE utilized by commercial
operations may be treated with disregard
like a rental car, Rocha says GA locations
may view their equipment like an exotic
sports car.
" In general aviation, because it's not
a high volume operation, the culture is
very different. They really take care of the
equipment, " he says. " If the owner of the
aircraft also owns the GSE, it's pristine. I
have seen equipment that's been out there
five years that looks better than when it
left the factory. "
" Further, the discriminating tastes of
business jet owners and wealthy private
flyers can place a higher level of demand on
the appearance and cosmetic maintenance
of the equipment, " Rose adds. " Many business
jet owners may not want antiquated or
poorly maintained, or poorly cosmetically
maintained, equipment to be used to service
their airframe. "
" Ground support equipment is a longrange
investment whereas commercial will
swap out GSE in around 10 years, " Rocha
says, adding the purchasing cycle in GA is
significantly longer because wellcared
for equipment can last for
decades.
A lower amount of ground
handling personnel turnover
also benefits the GA
community.
" They're pret ty
self-sufficient, " Rocha
notes.
" The operators of the equipment, most
of the time, are also the guys that do the
maintenance and repair, " Rocha says.
" Once you do one training, they know it
all. They can do the repair, they can do
the maintenance and then they do the
operation. "
" Smaller airports and smaller FBOs/
handlers generally have lower levels of
dedicated training. Typically, as one or
two staff members are the main handlers, "
points out Rose.
For example, if an operation only has
one towing team or one certified equipment
operator, that outfit will only be able
to handle one airframe at a time. But busier
FBOs and GA airports need multiple
personnel and teams to move and handle
several aircraft at once.
" In most fields, training can become
much more important as operations grow
in employee size and aircraft turns, " Rose
says. " The more people, the more potential
there is for mistakes to be made and
damage to the aircraft. Therefore, training
becomes much more important when oversight
becomes stretched as operations grow
and expand. "
20 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE AUGUST 2021
Photos courtesy of ITW GSE
august2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of august2021
