True Flight Aerospace, type holder for several Grumman American models including the Tiger, Cheetah, and Yankee, has won FAA approval to become a factory repair station. The company is located in Quitman, Ga.
“With our quality system approved and certificate in hand we are now setting up to perform as manufactured repairs on ‘Grumman’ light aircraft using manufacturing data, tooling, and equipment previously unavailable to the legacy fleet. This will enable us to provide better support to owners and local repairmen in the field,” said True Flight President Kevin Lancaster.
“The repair station certificate represents a whole new level of accountability,” said Lancaster. “Although we have been performing standard maintenance and repairs for some time, we are excited to be adding this capability.”
Grumman American employed a manufacturing process developed and used by Boeing on military aircraft to hot-bond honeycomb and conventional metal structures. Currently repairs may be made to these components by combining cold bonding with conventional riveted repair methods. However, True Flight will now be able to make repairs implementing the process originally used to manufacture the airplanes without using rivets that call attention to the repair.
The company is preparing to put the Tiger back into production but is proceeding slowly given the current economic climate. The firm recently moved into new facilities.
