Wherever Possible, Service Calls Are Virtual


One of the world’s responses to COVID-19 has been to replace in-person meetings with virtual encounters online. For the helicopter maintenance industry, this hasn’t been a great solution. Maintaining helicopters is a hands-on business, as trying to tell clients how to do repairs is a poor second to being there and doing repairs on their behalf.


“Zoom or Skype meetings don’t have the same overall effect when it comes to communicating with our customers, and we’ve had to adapt to this technology,” said Aerometals’ Symon. “Personal visits certainly help both us and our customers, and we’re hopeful that this can safely return to normal sooner than later.”


In many cases, in-person service calls have continued during the pandemic, simply because there is no practical alternative. Still, with cancelled airline flights and other COVID-19-related issues, executing these calls can be difficult. “Varying travel restrictions across many different territories have posed the greatest challenges,” says Bell’s Schaefer. “We managed these risks with use of PPE and by segregating our maintenance teams to avoid overall group exposure across the organization.”


“The biggest hurdle has been travel,” agreed PAS’s Tyler. “We have been on travel restrictions, so it’s difficult to visit customers. It’s also difficult for customers to return home after delivering aircraft to us. The rental car business has all but disappeared locally, and airline flights are limited.”


“ 60 Jan/Feb 2021


Suited for the Storm


There’s an old sailors’ saying that goes, “It’s an ill wind that blows no good,” which means that opportunities exist in almost every calamity. In the case of helicopter maintenance and COVID-19, aviation management software provider WinAir has prospered during the pandemic because its web-based WinAir Version 7 software has been built for online users.


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“We offer helicopter operators a browser- based solution that can be accessed instantly from either the hangar or in the field, and that has the power to handle a variety of helicopter-specific maintenance tasks,” explained Kyle Vergeer, WinAir’s managing director. “Because our software is web-based and easy to use, it has played a leading role in helping our customers adapt to this new working environment. In actuality, we have experienced an increase in new business since the pandemic began.”


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