Field to Flight

Nineteen forty-seven was a big year in Canadian aviation history. In March of that year, a small firm named Canadian Aviation Electronics Ltd. (CAE) was founded in Montreal, Que. In August, de Havilland Canada’s DHC-2 Beaver prototype made its inaugural flight over Downsview, Ont. And just east of the de Havilland plant, in nearby Oshawa, Ont., Field Aviation opened its doors. 

The post-Second World War environment was ripe with aviation-related opportunities. Petroleum and mining exploration, aerial surveying and mapping operations were taking flight, creating a demand for related aircraft maintenance and modification services. Founded by UK-based parent company Hunting PLC, Field broke into the Canadian market by answering this demand. The company acquired Oshawa’s Weston Aircraft and began retrofitting military airplanes that were returning from the war and entering civilian service. Early on, Field also established a photographic survey company and modified ex-military aircraft for photographic work, heralding the beginning of its aircraft modification and conversion business.

In 1953, Field built new hangar facilities in Calgary, Alta. Western Canada was beginning to boom, and there was a need for aerial survey expertise and aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services. In 1959, the company left Oshawa completely, building hangars on the north side of what was then Toronto’s Malton airport – now Pearson International Airport – to house what would become its aircraft modification branch.

Chris Cooper-Slipper, vice president of marketing at Field, is the company’s longest-standing employee. He began working with the organization in 1966 and has seen a lot of changes over the years, from Field’s long and distinguished history as a Beechcraft distributor/dealer, to its MRO years in Dorval, Que. (a facility that was closed in the early 1970s), to its administration of the Contracted Flying Training and Support (CFTS) program, a joint effort with Bombardier from 1992 to 2005, which provided pilot training services to the Canadian air force. 

REFINED FOCUS 

Today, Field Aviation is still changing with the times. The company has moved away from providing MRO services and it no longer deals extensively in aircraft sales. Its modern-day business plan has two main areas of focus: parts manufacturing and on-aircraft modification and design work. 

“In early 2008, we had a significant management restructuring,” said Cooper-Slipper. “From that point on, we began to map out what Field would look like moving forward, part of which included a new corporate branding. We had an MRO facility in Calgary at the time, as well as a parts manufacturing facility located just off-airport. We decided the MRO would not be part of our future, so it was closed in 2010.”

The Calgary operation is the company’s aircraft parts production headquarters. In June of 2011, Field moved its manufacturing facility into a brand new, 78,000-square-foot facility located close to the Calgary airport. One hundred and thirty employees support two business lines in Field’s parts production facility. They make parts and components for out-of-production aircraft, including the de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo, DHC-4 Caribou, and Dash 7, working closely with Viking Air Ltd., which owns the type certificates on those aircraft. The other side to Field Aviation’s parts business focuses on providing components for in-production aircraft.

“We build about 900 parts for the Bombardier Q400, 200 parts for the CSeries jet, and more than 100 parts for the Lear 85,” said Brian Love, Field’s chief commercial officer. “In addition, with Viking, we have been building parts for the Twin Otter, and the fuselage sub-assembly for the Twin Otter, and we manufacture the landing gear for that aircraft as well. This is where we see the future of our aviation parts manufacturing business, in the production of parts for in-production aircraft.”

The Calgary facility is doing so well that a second shift has been added, with parts being manufactured in large lot sizes to meet growing demand from the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Field still retains ownership of hangar facilities at the airport, but they are all leased, with the tenant base consisting of Calgary-based aircraft operators.

Meanwhile, Field’s Toronto office, where Cooper-Slipper and Love are based, is the company’s on-aircraft modification and design centre. With 40,000 square feet of hangar space, plus 37,000 square feet of shops and offices, the Pearson Airport location is home to 160 employees.

“Here, we have an engineering department with about 25 people on staff, including nine Transport Canada delegates,” explained Love. “Our delegates cover everything from avionics to mechanical, from stress analysis to flight testing. We build the parts we need for on-aircraft mods in Toronto, in much smaller batches than we do in Calgary.”

In addition to its offices in Calgary and Toronto, Field Aviation operates a small avionics sales and service facility at Buttonville Airport in Markham, Ont., as well as sales offices in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Seattle, Wash. 

In April of 2012, a management buyout saw ownership of Field Aviation transferred from Hunting PLC to Amavco, a holding company set up specifically for the purchase. Amavco is an American company, although it has several Canadian shareholders, including Love himself.

“The intent and purpose of Amavco is that Field is the first of many acquisitions over the next number of years, in the aerospace industry,” explained Love. “We are currently looking at a number of different targets in Canada and the United States.”

Field Aviation’s new management team is focusing on investing more profits back into the company, and there have been other exciting changes, like the modernization of the company’s enterprise resources planning (ERP) system. Love said there’s a new sense of anticipation among employees, as the company focuses on growth and future development.

SPECIAL MISSION MODS

Over the last decade or so, work on the classic Dash 8 series (100, 200 and 300 models) has been Field’s bread-and-butter business.

“We’ve had a lot of successes with the Dash 8 product,” said Love. “Of the 45 to 50 major special mission mods done to Dash 8 aircraft over the last 15 years, Field Aviation has done 40 of those.” Sometimes, Field has acted as the prime contractor, while it has been the sub-contractor for other projects.

Overall, 75 to 80 per cent of Field’s annual revenue is derived from exports, with the domestic portion of the business largely driven by parts manufacturing for Bombardier and Viking. Major Dash 8 modification projects completed over the last few years have included 10 aircraft for Australian Coastwatch, eight for the Japanese Coast Guard (with number nine now underway), seven for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, three for the Swedish Coast Guard, one for the Icelandic Coast Guard, and two for Transport Canada, among various other government agencies. 

The aircraft have been modified to facilitate their individual missions, with the addition of such equipment as longer-range fuel tanks, maritime patrol radar, new avionics packages, and even air operable doors. 

“One of our biggest undertakings in the last few years,” commented Love, “is the modernization of the cockpit on the classic Dash 8. Bombardier has extended the life of these planes from 80,000 cycles to 120,000 cycles, and one of the things that goes hand in hand with that is a cockpit upgrade.”

“We have worked closely with Universal Avionics and Ametek Aerospace to use the Universal EFI-890 glass cockpit to update the classic Dash 8 flight deck,” Love continued. “We remove 40-plus different line-replaceable units (LRUs) from the aircraft and replace them with a single part number, five-computer screen, EFI-890 system by Universal. We have completed that upgrade on Dash 8-300s, 200s and 100s. The response to this modification has been has been very gratifying.”

Field’s classic Dash 8 cockpit upgrade has been certified by Transport Canada and EASA, the European regulator. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is expected to certify the modification in the first quarter of 2013, which will allow Field to target American operators in need of the upgrade.

In addition to the Dash 8, Field has also modified other aircraft types, including the Bombardier Challenger 604, the Gulfstream II, the Beechcraft King Air and 1900 series and the Twin Otter and its missionized version, the Twin Otter Guardian. It has also worked on a U.S. Boeing 707 research aircraft several times.

VIP TREATMENT

Field Aviation has refurbished and/or reconfigured the interiors of some high profile regional aircraft over the years, including both older planes and new green aircraft that have come straight from the factory. 

“We take aircraft like the Bombardier CRJ200 or 700s, or Q400s, and modify those into multiple-class configurations with business plus economy class in the rear,” explained Love. “We did the first two Q400 modifications into a three class VIP configuration – actually, the only ones that have been done – which we finished in 2011 for the Government of Angola.”

That particular aircraft is the Angolan version of Air Force One, used when the president is flying within Africa. 

“The other side of our business in Toronto is kit manufacturing, whether avionics related or structural components for an aircraft,” added Cooper-Slipper. “We build and assemble the kits and send them out to our various customers, and have them do the install. As an example, while the initial EFI-890 flight deck modifications that Field has STC’d for the classic Dash 8 series have been installed at the Toronto facility, this too can be assembled as a kit and installed in the field, with appropriate supervision, or by one of the approved facilities we have selected for this program.”

Field Aviation takes pride in offering a full service experience to its clients. “We can help a customer identify their requirements, locate an aircraft, choose a platform, and select the sensors that meet their needs,” continued Cooper-Slipper. “We can do the design work, kit build, the installation on the aircraft, the flight test, and the certification for that modification. Afterwards, we can support it with our customer service department.”

In fact, Field Aviation’s customer support division has grown due to the number of aircraft the company has serviced. “We support the modifications we’ve done,” said Love. “We have a 24-hour help desk and a dedicated customer service organization. Any Field Aviation parts on an aircraft can be manufactured in fairly short order. As well, we act as intermediary between the system manufacturers and the end users.”

Field Aviation performs all its work in Canada, although Love said the company wants to have a larger presence in the U.S. However, he added that the engineering and certification side of the business will stay north of the border. “From a production perspective, we can see additional facilities in the U.S. and Canada, but we want to maintain our footprint in Canada. We want to grow, not just move,” he said.

Love added that the company is considering a number of American locations, all of them near clusters of U.S. Defense spending.

NICHE DEVELOPMENT

Although Field will continue its work with the classic Dash 8 series, the company is turning its focus to new product development for other aircraft types. 

“We’re working closely with Viking on the Twin Otter Guardian platform,” said Love. “We’ve also identified the Q400 as a good potential special mission aircraft, maybe in slightly different roles than the classic Dash 8, more as a P-3 Orion [CP-140 Aurora] type of replacement. It could replace maybe 70 to 80 per cent of typical P-3 missions.”

Love explained that business development drives Field’s engineering department. A market is identified based on customer need, and then company engineers look at what needs to be done to modify an aircraft to meet that particular need. In the case of the Q400 filling a P-3 mission, one of the first steps would be adding another 9,000 to 10,000 pounds of fuel on board for increased range.

Field Aviation is also working with Viking on its submission of the next generation Buffalo as a contender in the competition for Canada’s next fixed-wing search and rescue (FWSAR) aircraft. Prior to Viking obtaining the Buffalo type certificate, Field Aviation had actually looked at re-engining that aircraft, so a fair bit of background work in that area has already been done.

These days, Field Aviation is moving forward, focusing on what it does best while exploring new opportunities at the same time.

“Most people in the Canadian aviation industry remember Field as an MRO facility, but we haven’t been that for a few years,” said Love. “Our main focus is on aircraft modification and parts manufacturing as well. We can do the whole program, from sourcing an aircraft through to the end of flight test and certification, and that’s rare for a company of our size. We have a niche where we can do a one- or two aircraft program, because we can do that competitively. And often, those small programs turn into larger ones.” 

During its 65 years of operation, Field Aviation has made a lasting impact on the industry, through its innovative products and engineered solutions, all designed in response to operator needs. It is a proudly Canadian company, now with American owners, and a global reach. 

“We’re very proud of the fact that aircraft we’ve modified have played significant roles in types of surveillance,” said Cooper-Slipper. “The Icelandic airplane, for example, was a great help during the volcanic ash situation a few years ago. That airplane was also the only available aircraft that could play a significant mapping role in the Gulf oil spill. And the Swedish planes played a big role in monitoring air piracy off the coast of Somalia a few years ago in a UN operation.”

Field maintains strong ties to a number of suppliers and system manufacturers, among them Bombardier, Hawker Beechcraft, Universal Avionics, Viking, and Raisbeck Engineering, which produces performance-enhancing systems for King Air aircraft.

Those ties, along with aggressive expansion plans and experienced ownership, make Field Aviation a great Canadian aviation success story. “We do a lot of business at home, but we’re also a medium sized Canadian company that has does very well internationally,” said Love. “We’ve competed against some of the biggest names in the business and had a lot of successes.”