AIRFRAME
then help them find a successor,” jokes Campbell. However, after a great first year, the CEO of Intrawest called him up and said, “Forget the three years. I want as many years as you can give me — just give us a 12-month notice when you want to retire.” Campbell’s mandate now involves some serious growth
plans, but he is quick to add, “Whatever we may do in the future to expand, we will ensure our core principles are em- bedded, and our customers always come first.”
Shop capabilities “Just about everything you can do to a Bell Helicopter, we can do,” advises Neil Baycroft, Alpine Aerotech shop general manager. Its capabilities include everything from routine to major maintenance checks and aircraft completions, avion- ics installations, repairs and aircraft re-wiring; a full service paint shop, a component overhaul shop with capability on just about every Bell model, a specialty welding shop and a grow- ing composite repair shop.
Alpine Aerotech specializes in structural repairs — every-
thing from field sheet metal repairs to major fuselage and tailboom fixture or “jig” repairs. Not only does Aerotech own and use jigs, it is the largest manufacturer of Bell-approved fixtures, having made and sold more than 30 fuselage and tailboom repair fixtures for other shops around the world, including Bell Helicopter subsidiaries. In addition, Aerotech built to print the 407 and 427 production cabin splice fixtures for Bell Helicopter Canada’s aircraft production line. “Our engineering and manufacturing capabilities are a major differentiator between us and most other MROs”, says Campbell. In addition to airframe fixtures, Alpine Aerotech has a catalogue (available on its Web site) that showcases its engineering and manufactured products — everything from Bell 212/412 exhaust ejectors to a number of mission and operational convenience items. Some high-tech equipment, along with authorizations for some exotic welding and manu- facturing techniques, allow Alpine Aerotech to manufacture high-quality items economically and right here in North America. Its maintenance expertise and helicopter operations background allow it to design improvements and innovation into everything it adds to its catalogue. “We’ve always had a great relationship with Bell helicopters, and that is what lead to our expansion in the manufacturing side of the business,” says Campbell. “We went to them asking ‘Where can we help you?’ As a result, we are manufacturing a number of parts for them, which are included in the Bell illustrated parts catalogue and are on new manufacture of aircraft like the 412s.”
Shop specialties When pressed to name one key specialty that Alpine Aerotech is known for, Campbell offers, “If I had to narrow that down to one specialty, it would have to be taking a worn, tired, or bent and broken helicopter and making it ‘new’ again. By that I mean bringing it economically back to ‘like new’ condition, and adding any customer desired upgrades or additions along the way. To do this well, we have to rely on all of our indi- vidual specialties and expertise, so it’s one specialty, and it’s all of them, too.” To make it new again, Alpine Aerotech follows a tried
and true process. Whether it’s an older, worn helicopter that is coming due for a major inspection, or if it has had a mishap and needs rebuilding, the first step, which starts well before the aircraft comes through Alpine Aerotech’s door is preparing a workscope and cost estimate for the customer. Where possible, it will send an engineer to view
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HelicopterMaintenanceMagazine.com October | November 2013
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