Situation
When technical issues were identified with their aircraft in a remote location in Africa, our client (the Operator) had the immediate requirement to get the aircraft back to base in the Middle East for maintenance. The problem? Remote locations, tight timescales, inclement weather, COVID restrictions and aircraft tech issues.
Solution
We worked with the operator and their safety team to identify the restrictions on the aircraft due to the technical issues that had been identified. Safety is always the priority for any flight, so having a clear and detailed understanding of the problems and how this could affect the flight is critical for safe and efficient planning. The aircraft could only take fuel in its main tanks, no fuel could be entered into the auxiliary tanks, and we needed to consider this when planning the journey.
Our team then took to Identifying routing and alternate routing options, organizing permits, and producing flight plans. Our preferred route was to take a one stop flight up the Indian Ocean however, weather did not permit this. For safety we took a 2-stop route through an African and Middle East location, avoiding the weather but introducing the hurdles of COVID restrictions and insurance exclusion zones.
Result
Benefiting from extensive operational knowledge and working closely with the operator and their insurers, we identified a route that avoided the insurance exclusion zones that was safe, efficient, and successful – all while adhering to COVID travel restrictions. The myairops operations team managed to get landing permits for 2 countries that normally require 3-days’ notice, a departure permit change for a country that would usually take a minimum of 48 hours and for a final destination that would usually take at least 48-hours.
Our fast-moving team identified the route, planned the safest and most efficient journey for the operator, and the aircraft was on its way back to the Middle East within 18 hours of the call coming into the operations team – this could have been even sooner, but the operator was held up because of crew flight duty time limitations.
