industry spotlight Manufacturing
DAS technician inserting a bagged GIV Engine
Cowl (composite part) into the autoclave after it
comes out of the clean room.
Reengineering
for the Future
So why does this world-wide company
choose North Texas as its home?
A
“ People don’t realize how much business
aviation is here in North Texas.”
– Mike Manning, DAS Co-owner.
fast-growing, middle-class suburb south of Dallas, Cedar Hill, is home
to a brand-new, custom-built, 50,400-square-foot facility, for Dallas
Aeronautical Services (DAS). This is no ordinary warehouse. Instead of
boxes, shelves and conveyor belts with dirt and dust, it houses
a controlled environment clean room, a large walk-in oven, a full
Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) lab, a
transmissivity test range, two autoclaves,
two custom paint centers, and a complete
four- and five-axis high-speed Computer
Numerically Controlled (CNC) machining
center. Obviously, it’s not for repairing lawn
equipment in this quiet North Texas suburb.
DAS is an FAA Part 145 Repair Station
that offers overhaul and repair of aircraft
composites, structures and assemblies. The
company specializes in thrust reversers,
control surfaces, engine cowls, pylon and
floor panels, as well as radome repair
and testing. DAS’s clients are a “Who’s
Who” list of aircraft manufacturers and
operators including Bombardier Learjet and
Challenger, Gulfstream, Embraer, Piaggio,
Boeing, Hawker, Beechcraft and Beechjet.
Basically -- very basically -- DAS takes
aircraft parts that have been flying 10-15
years, overhauls them and sends them back
to customers all over the world. One client
in the United Kingdom regularly fills large
containers with aircraft parts, ships them to
DAS, where they’re repaired or overhauled,
packed back in the containers and then
sent home. In fact, a lot of their work is
from the U.K.
So why does this world-wide company
choose North Texas as its home?
“People don’t realize how much business
aviation is here in North Texas,” said D L)