Long known for its aviation parts supply business, Chesterfield, Mo.-based Avmats is enhancing its jet support division’s MRO services, underscored by FAA approval in April of a composite shop created to support the company’s expanded focus on custom repair solutions. “The biggest thing we’ve concentrated on is doing one-off repairs and one-off parts with respectable prices,” said Matt Crimm, manager of structural sales at the company’s facilities at Spirit of St. Louis Airport (KSUS). “Everybody else wants to send [parts to be repaired] to the manufacturer and wait six months.”

The shop is under the direction of Corpair Composites v-p Bill Kener, at the company’s Corpair FAA- and EASA-certified repair station in O’Fallon, Mo. The composites facility has dedicated clean rooms, hot bonders, and a 25- by 8- by 8-foot curing oven accurate to within one degree. “Anything from fairings to flight controls can fit in there,” said Kener. The shop can also fabricate composite wing overlays, speed brakes, interior panels and custom ducts, while a new CNC machine the division added this year further boosts its parts-making capabilities for Beechjet, Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault Falcon, Gulfstream, Hawker and Sabreliner aircraft.

Among these types, Hawkers are a growing area of attention as the company has been reskinning the leading edge of wings of older models. “At some point, the way these leading edges were made, the skins do corrode,” Crimm said. “Service Bulletins are out. It’s just a matter of time.” For Beechjet 400 operators, whose aircraft are prone to develop wrinkles in the door skin, Avmats is providing alternate solutions to factory replacement door skins. Crimm said the Avmats solution is available at half the OEM’s price.

Bombardier’s Challenger 600 series is another type on which Avmats claims significant experience, such as in repairs to aft wing-to-fuselage fairings. “We can repair almost catastrophic damage,” Crimm said. The company’s on-site engineering staff ensures all necessary skills are in house and keeps projects and budgets on track, Crimm noted. He expressed eagerness to hear from prospective customers with challenging needs. “As long as I can get the tech data and approval to do a repair, I’m going to quote it,” said Crimm.

Corpair Composite’s solutions aren’t limited to aircraft parts. The medevac industry uses a carbon fiber sled with “low damage tolerance” that costs $25,000 to replace. “We developed a repair that exceeds [manufacturer’s] limitations, for around $5,000,” Kener said. In another project showcasing Avmats’ craftsmanship and creativity, company personnel are restoring an original non-flying mockup of a McDonnell Douglas AV-8 Harrier the company owns to “as new” condition, for eventual donation to a museum.

All told, Avmats facilities occupy more than 10 acres at four locations, with 46,000 sq ft of hangar space and shops, 100,000 sq ft of warehouse facilities, 20,000 sq ft of component and accessory overhaul space and 42,000 sq ft of engine and APU shop space. The company’s signature parts business remains strong. A pioneer in dismantling airworthy aircraft for their parts, Avmats recently began parting out a GV. “It happened to be airworthy, but it was seeing the end of its life,” said Jason Noll, director of marketing, explaining the rationale for chopping up a working jet. “Some parts you just can’t get, or they take six to nine months [for delivery].”