Eight full-time technicians have been assigned to Gulfstream Aerospace’s airborne product support program. Previously the company asked for volunteers to handle each occurrence. “The system was a bit random and the technicians were not always ready for immediate dispatch. They are now assigned to duty shifts and are packed and ready for immediate dispatch,” a company spokesman told AIN. Technicians have extensive training in Gulfstream aircraft systems and were selected by a panel consisting of service-center operations managers, quality managers and technical operations representatives. The round-the-clock operation also has four dedicated flight crews and a full-time manager. A G100 midsize twinjet assigned exclusively to airborne product support flies technicians and flight-essential parts to airports within North America, Central America and the Caribbean in support of Gulfstream aircraft under warranty. If an operator’s aircraft is disabled outside the G100’s range of service, Gulfstream flies the necessary parts and technicians to an airline hub so they can travel to the customer’s aircraft via commercial flights. When not deployed, the technicians support troubleshooting and system tests on aircraft in the Gulfstream Savannah Service Center. Gulfstream fared very well in this year's AIN Product Support Survey, results of which were released on Monday.