by admin on May 18, 2010, under Aviation Comics
Here’s a look at the lighter side of in-flight announcements…
“Your seat cushions can be used for flotation; and, in the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments.”
“As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses.”
An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, smile, and give them a “Thanks for flying our airline.” He said that in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally everyone had gotten off except for a little old lady walking with a cane. She said, “Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?” “Why, no, Ma’am,” said the pilot. “What is it?” The little old lady asked, “Did we land, or were we shot down?”
by admin on May 14, 2010, under Leading Edge Aviation Press Release
The company’s stripping and paint hangars take in more aircraft that any of its previous 20 years in business.
Santa Ana, Calif. (PRWEB) May 14, 2010 — Leading Edge Aviation Services, Inc. (LEAS), the world’s largest commercial aircraft painting company, announced it anticipates another record year of growth in 2010. This follows a year in which the company stripped and painted more than 500 aircraft, keeping its five facilities at full capacity.
As the commercial aviation market begins to emerge from an economic downturn, Michael Manclark, LEAS’ Chief Executive Officer, foresees continued growth for the company through 2010. “We will exceed our initial projections this year,” he says.
The Santa Ana, Calif.-based firm can claim consecutive growth each year of its existence. “We were especially proud to achieve record success on the year of our 20th anniversary,” says Manclark. The company celebrated its two decades of service in April 2009.
Over the past 20 years, Leading Edge has evolved from being a small California aircraft detailer to an aviation giant, serving virtually every major airline and achieving revenues totaling more than $42 million a year. In addition to painting aircraft, LEAS provides a wide range of efficient, on-call services in support of their airline customers.
Over the previous five years, Leading Edge’s highly trained workforce of over 500 employees has painted more than 2000 aircraft. Its customers include virtually every major carrier or regional airline in the U.S. and Canada, as well as a number of overseas carriers.
Although LEAS takes in large fleet-wide jobs for commercial, regional and cargo carriers, it still finds time in its schedule to complete the “one off” job. For example, in 2009 it painted one of the F/A-18 Hornets flown by the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels demonstration squadron. The aircraft is now on public display at the San Diego Air and Space Museum.
Manclark also attributes the company’s success to its improved turn-around times in completing aircraft. “It used to take 14 days to strip and paint a Boeing 747, but we now have that process down to eight days,” he reports. “When you consider a 747 generates approximately a $1 million a day in revenue, a fast turn-around becomes very valuable and important.”
LEAS carries out its painting and fuel system support at five U.S. facilities, in Victorville, Calif.; Amarillo, Texas; Greenville SC, Miami, and Greenville, Miss. Through a partnership with Malaysia Airlines, the company also has a facility in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where one of the projects in 2009 was painting Northwest B757s in Delta colors.
LEAS is capable of stripping and painting aircraft offsite, as well and has a full service capabilities in support of MRO’s worldwide. A specialized “Away Team” has been established to complete aircraft at customers’ facilities anywhere in the world.
About Leading Edge Aviation Services
Headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif., with facilities across the United States, Leading Edge Aviation Services, Inc. is one of the most advanced, commercial aircraft services companies in the world. Specializing in commercial, private, and military aircraft painting, the company also provides a wide range of commercial services, including fuel system servicing, mod-center support, contract labor, line-turn maintenance, composite and sheet metal, long and short term aircraft storage, field audits, fleet assessments, interior deep cleaning, and strip and painting services to various branches of the United States Military. For more information, visit www.leadingedgecorp.com.
by admin on May 13, 2010, under Leading Edge Aviation Press Release, Travel News
It may be hard to say, but electrocoagulation is really making things easy for Leading Edge and the local environment.
Electrocoagulation is a state-of-the-art process in which heavy metals, oils, grease and other contaminants are broken down and extracted from waste water, rendering it so harmless that the water can be flushed into a regular sewer system. As the world’s largest aircraft painting company, Leading Edge uses an incredible amount of water from both the stripping and treatment processes. That water contains trace amounts of heavy metals and other hazardous substances that must be treated in special facilities.
“We’re installing this technology at all our facilities now so we can treat the water on site, significantly reducing our environmental footprint,” said Mike Manclark, CEO, Leading Edge. “It reduces 1,000 gallons of contaminated wastewater to a mere half a gallon. It’s a remarkable process that’s helping to save the environment while helping us become greener. It’s a win-win situation that we’re really proud of. “
Already used by many government agencies and the Military, this is the first time the technology has been employed for use in America’s commercial airline industry. “We take innovation very seriously here at Leading Edge,” added Manclark. “And when it comes to the environment, we’re setting the pace for the rest of the industry. It’s just one more example of how we’re leading at Leading Edge.”
by admin on May 11, 2010, under Leading Edge Aviation News, Travel News
2008 marked nearly 14 years that Leading Edge had been painting Northwest Airlines. Over this period hundreds of aircraft were
painted by Leading Edge through the old livery known as the “Bowling Shoe” to the new silver mica that debuted in 2006. In mid-2008 painting of the fleet was halted as negotiations for a merger with Delta became serious and in December 2008, Leading Edge got the call that would launch the most aggressive livery transition in commercial aviation history. The task: transform the entire Northwest fleet to Delta colors by early 2010—an aggressive goal that many in the industry deemed impossible, even for the world’s largest aircraft painting company.
“When Delta came to us just over a year ago, it was probably the single biggest and most aggressive piece of business that we, and the industry, had ever seen,” said Dave Patterson, Executive Vice President, Leading Edge. “To achieve that kind of volume within that short of a time frame is virtually unheard of. To take on that challenge with an already solid list of bookings takes a lot of commitment, creativity and capacity—capacity that only Leading Edge could handle.”
Working closely with the Delta team, Leading Edge stepped into high gear configuring its facilities for this aggressive program and began the monumental task of converting over 350 Northwest aircraft to Delta colors. The logistics of spooling up the facilities, employees, and the sheer volume of materials required to flow every day was a huge undertaking. Utilizing the company’s 16 bay capacity for narrow bodies and three wide body hangars including a hangar in Malaysia, the project operated around the clock, working through all holidays 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Leading Edge base customers, as well as the Delta project, operated per plan and on schedule for 14 months.
“It certainly was a test for us, but we successfully transformed the entire fleet in just 14 months without compromising our ability to service our existing customer base,” said Patterson.
For a time-lapse perspective of how Leading Edge painted the aircraft, visit www.leadingedgecorp.com/deltavideo
“Although this merger was conceived in the boardroom, in many ways it was born here in our hangars as a steady stream of NWA emerged with freshly-painted Delta schemes,” said Mike Manclark, CEO, Leading Edge. “This is an achievement unrivaled in the aircraft painting industry. It’s been hard work but we are proud of ourselves for the performance on this project.” With the help and assistance of the amazing coordination of the Delta team this project achieved a feat that may never be repeated.
by admin on May 10, 2010, under MRO - Aviation Week
Leading Edge Aviation Services continued to celebrate its 20th year anniversary at the 2010 MRO Americas conference, and we would like to sincerely thank all of you that came by our booth to toast our 20th year. It was good seeing all of our old friends and the new ones we made. For those of you who could not make it, the conference was held the 20th – 22nd of April 2010, at the Phoenix Convention Center. The show had a tremendous turn out and virtually every company involved in the support of the commercial and military aviation industries attended.
The MRO show is a great place to see everyone we deal with throughout the year and some we just get to talk to on the phone. Getting together to share ideas, new requirements, and build on the relationships we have are an important and vital part of this show and why we look forward to it all year. This show is also a great place to see the latest technologies available, and in our ever continuing drive to be innovative and stay way ahead of our competition, this year was no different in that we came away with some great ideas that will improve our services and product.
Again, thank you to everyone that came by and it was great seeing you! We are already planning for Miami next year and will as always have the Leading edge twist to mix business with fun! We’ve created a photo gallery to share our favorite moments of this year’s show. So if you haven’t done so already, please check out our photo gallery HERE.
Thank you again for your interest in Leading Edge at MRO, and we look forward to seeing you again at MRO 2011 in Miami, Florida.
Sincerely,
Dave Patterson
Executive Vice President
