Ten questions you should ask before beginning the interior completion of your VIP airplane

 Do I have a good understanding of the completion process?

Everyday decisions that you will make in a VIP completion will have a big impact on the final cost and quality of the completion, the operation and maintenance of the aircraft in the future, and the perception of whether you got what you paid for or not.

Who will oversee and validate the decisions that are made every day?

On site representation during each phase of the project is important. If a knowledgeable representative is not present to oversee the numerous decisions that are made every day, the completion center will make them on their own, and in their best interest. Not everything can be clearly written in a specification. This is where experience comes in.

Do you understand the processes in order to manage this type of project?

A VIP completion has its own language and unique processes. Do you understand this language and the process in order to understand their importance in the completion, for example:  Specification, ITCM, PDR, CDR, CMS, BFE, STC?

Do you have the experience to ask the right questions?

If you ask the completion center a question, do you have the experience to know if the answer is true or not?

Do you know how to get what you want or need in dealing with Boeing or the completion center itself?

Boeing and every completion center deal with many different kinds of customers. Many are big customers! Do you know how to work within that system? Can you get what is important to you accomplished on your single airplane project?

Do you understand the certification and operational issues that will affect the operation of the aircraft?

How you intend to operate your airplane is the basis for many certification and regulatory requirements. Translating these requirements into an interior that meets that certification requirement requires experience and a working relationship with your completion center. This is an important consideration when deciding who will manage your project and look after your airplane.

Why hire a completion manager?

A completion manager serves a number of different functions in an aircraft completion. First, the completion manager must be extremely knowledgeable about the many aspects of a VIP aircraft completion including: design; engineering; production processes; use of materials; FAA requirements; certification; flammability; airworthiness compliance; weight and balance; and, of course, the phases, sequencing, and priorities of the completion schedule itself. A completion manager is also in the unique position to understand the customer’s thoughts and position regarding the completion. With the amount of money an average VIP completion costs today, it is imperative that the desires and expectations of such an expensive undertaking are realistic and achievable.

What is the value added to the completion by hiring the right completion manager?

The beginning of the project to the day of delivery requires communication, discipline and oversight in the correct way. If you do not have the assistance of someone who starts you off with the right specification and design, having a project that is on time does you no good. You end up with the wrong airplane and maybe one that cannot be certified. Likewise, day-to-day oversight on schedule and installation is important to a project that is on time, within budget, and meets your requirements.

Isn’t a completion manager just a customer paid resource for the completion center?

No. Above anything else, the completion manager is working for you to ensure that you get what you want from the project and the airplane. The completion center’s goal is to make money on your project while at the same time attempting to translate your desires into a completed airplane beginning with a specification. Your completion manager is there to represent you through the day-to-day decisions that are made over the many months that the completion will take. During that same period of time, the completion center is managing their resources and budget to ensure that they make the money they need to make. If those two goals are at odds with each other, then the completion manager is there to represent you.

Why hire Aviation Consulting Group to manage the completion?

With over two dozen completions accomplished in the last three decades, Aviation Consulting Group is one of the most experienced completion management companies in the world. Collectively we have managed every phase of a VIP project beginning with the build of your airplane in the Boeing factory, to the redelivery of the completed airplane to you. Equally important is the network of experts and companies in this business using our personal relationships to help us whenever we need to. We know whom to turn to, just as the network of people in the completion business turn to us when they need help.