Tour a GA manufacturer

With the manufacture of avionics, engines, components, and airframes scattered all around the country, there’s a good chance a fascinating factory tour is within a short flight. Tours can be grand and dramatic, such as the now long-gone Hawker Beechcraft jet line, or small and intimate, such as Aspen Avionics when it first started in a small office complex in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The best part? Many are open to the public, and some even give away freebies!

Hawker Beechcraft, as it was called on my visit in 2007, stands out in part because it was my first time visiting a manufacturing facility. Never much of a tinkerer, I assumed these visits would be somewhat tedious and repetitive. Oh look, another rivet gun. Thrilling…. What I discovered instead was that general aviation factory tours become more fascinating the more time you spend on them, and that comparing one facility to the next gives great insight into a company’s philosophy, past, and future.

Despite my visit occurring 12 years ago, the Hawker line would still be considered ahead of its time today. The company took a massive gamble on transitioning to composite airframes, one that helped to seal its fate years later. But during the brief time it was making Premiers and Hawker 4000s, the manufacturing was a sight to behold. Small teams sat producing smaller composite components and fabric interior parts as the fuselage silently spun while a machine created the main fuselage components. Each piece was then transported to a large autoclave (oven) to bake and cure.

Walking through a few more doors we came upon the King Air facility, a more traditional assembly line abuzz with workers riveting, banging, and shouting to each other. The contrast couldn’t have been starker, and it showed how challenging it can be for a manufacturer to pursue distinct product lines.

Some facilities are hot, smell of chemicals, and seem crude. Not surprisingly, engine manufacturing appears particularly ancient in its processes. Other facilities are bright, open, and spotless. Robinson Helicopter Co., for example, has a cavernous facility that houses manufacturing, overhaul, parts support, customer delivery, engineering, and more, all under one roof. It’s one of the few places you can see a company making components out of raw material. Because many of today’s aircraft are built with supplied components, much of what you see at big aircraft companies is more like kit building or putting together Legos. But at Robinson and a few others, you will find bricks and sheets of aluminum and steel that will turn into gears, panels, rotor blades, and airframe structure. For that reason, it’s more satisfying than most tours.

Each manufacturer sets its own policy in terms of tours. Most GA companies offer them, although some, such as Cessna, only grant access with certain customer training or sales operations. They blame September 11, 2001, for the restrictions. Funny because it hasn’t stopped others from offering tours.