StandardAero’s Springfield, Ill. facility (SPI): The Essence of MRO One-Stop-Shopping
With over a quarter of a million square feet in office, shop and hangar space, more than 60 years experience in business aviation service excellence, full support capability on airframes (including structural repairs, paint and interior modifications), avionics and engines, StandardAero’s Springfield, Ill. facility (SPI) represents the essence of business aviation one-stop shopping.
Established in 1947 as Capitol Aviation, and later a key center of excellence in Garrett Aviation’s array of quality MRO service centers, StandardAero Springfield employs over 200 highly skilled technical, sales and administrative professionals and is one of StandardAero’s four business aviation MRO “super-sites.”
“Few companies can provide our level of comprehensive services in one company, let alone one individual site,” said Mike Menard, vice president and general manager, Springfield. “Our ability to perform the types of services that we do here provides our customers tremendous convenience which helps get them back in the air in the shortest time possible.”
SPI’s airframe services department is a Class 4 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) repair station. While this repair station class covers all metal construction aircraft, SPI focuses on market-leading business aviation aircraft from OEMs such as Bombardier, Hawker, Westwind, Cessna and Gulfstream. StandardAero SPI is also a Dassault Falcon, Authorized Service Center (ASC). The facility has full non-destructive testing (NDT) capability, can perform aircraft recoveries and conduct heavy airframe checks.
Springfield’s avionics capabilities include being an authorized dealer on Honeywell, Rockwell Collins and Aircell avionics products. In addition, SPI offers a full line of avionics services as well as major modifications and cabin management systems.
SPI also provides an extensive array of engine service capabilities to provide customers with a true one-stop-shop experience. Engines supported include Honeywell’s TFE731, CFE738, ATF3, and Auxiliary Power Units (APUs). Springfield also can conduct warranty work, inspections, and engine removals/reinstallations. In addition, SPI offers a complete line of airframe support, including exterior paint capabilities and interior modifications and refurbishments. Working inside-out, SPI’s interior modification and refurbishment capabilities include full vertical integration from engineering and design, to fabrication of interior cabinetry, furniture and soft goods.
Ensuring unparalleled exterior paint finish, SPI has dedicated nearly 39,000 square feet of the facility’s 143,000 square feet of hangar space to painting. SPI's paint facility comprises three paint bays: a strip bay; a prime/prep bay; and a climate-controlled (temperature, humidity) downdraft final paint bay. The external paint facility is capable of accommodating aircraft up to the size of a CRJ900.
The capstone to Springfield’s full line of business aircraft services is its Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification as an Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) on Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs). This designation enables StandardAero to approve design data, tests, and analysis as well as make a finding of compliance to the regulations which allows Springfield to sign an STC on behalf of the FAA, for a wide range of aircraft alterations.