Planning Ahead to Serve the Customer… Saving Them Time and Money!

April 1, 2025

True servant leadership goes beyond performing work right the first time, on-time and on-budget. It also means thinking outside the box to maximize efficiency and save the customer from unnecessary time and expense.

Roy Lischinsky, vice president of operations for King Aerospace Commercial Corporation, noted his team always looks for ways to proactively align inspection and maintenance tasks to maximize efficiency whenever an aircraft arrives for servicing.

For example, several additional tasks may be performed after removing the auxiliary fuel tanks for scheduled inspection on a Boeing Business Jet. “While we’re in there, I’ll suggest they also replace the HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filter, because that also requires removal of the forward aux tanks to access the mixing bay,” Lischinsky says.

“And let’s also take the time to verify your cargo fire bottles are all in sync,” he continues. “If one of the low release discharge (LRD) bottles needs replacement, let’s send the other LRD and the high release discharge (HRD) bottles out, too. Also, check the squibs on those bottles. Those are 10-year [replacement] items, but if one’s coming due soon, let’s replace them all now.”

Removal of interior paneling, carpeting, seats and equipment is also required to inspect the vapor barrier, wiring harnesses and upper and lower ‘exogrid.’ “If we’re already working in the area of the center wing box, I’ll ask the customer if they also want to pull the center fuel tank and floor panels to perform the overwing inspection,” Lischinsky says. “We’re already in there, right?”

That offers another opportunity to make the customer’s service visit more effective and efficient. “All of those actions require pulling out the aux tank and interior,” he notes. “Let’s get those cycles aligned so we don’t need to take out those tanks and interior again to perform maintenance we could’ve done at the same time.”

Eliminating the need to pull the interior again also minimizes wear and tear on interior components and greatly reduces the potential for damage. It could also save the customer $100,000 or more in labor on a future service visit.

“So, if I need to pull the interior out for an inspection item, and there’s another inspection due a year from now that will also need the interior pulled… Let’s do everything now!” Lischinsky adds.

Teamwork Keeps Planes in the Air

In some cases, operators may provide Lischinsky with details of their aircraft’s maintenance program to plan the best way to maximize the efficiency of each service visit.

“One of our repeat customers emailed me recently, saying he’d never had to plan a 144-month check,” he says. “I sent him examples of what that has required on other customers’ aircraft, and he had me go into his system to plan his maintenance for him and see what’s coming due.”

That revealed a new issue. “All four of his door slides were out of whack,” Lischinsky says. “None of them were on the same replacement cycle; in fact, one was already expired, and you’re only allowed to extend things a certain amount of time for the Boeing requirements. Fortunately, we were able to secure a spare from another operator so he wouldn’t be grounded.”

Once that issue was resolved, Lischinsky urged the customer to send all four slides out for replacement so all would be on the same, three-year replacement cycle. “That way, he wouldn’t go into panic mode and get grounded for something that could’ve been handled on a set schedule,” he explains.

Company President Jarid King lauds this proactive approach. “We want our customers to return to King Aerospace time and again for their aircraft maintenance and repair needs,” he says. “We do that by fostering their trust not only in the quality of our work, but also in the value of our recommendations.”

For Lischinsky, it comes down to “keeping our valued customers in the air as long as possible,” he concludes. “Time in the hangar means time they aren’t flying.”