Plan Ahead –  Challenger 604 7800-Landing Inspection

The 7800-Landing inspection for the Bombardier Challenger CL604-series of aircraft is one of the most extensive and detailed inspections performed during the aircraft’s service life, and more and more aircraft are reaching this milestone as time goes on.

Most operators are familiar with the requirements of the 96-Month/192-Month inspections including the detailed inspection (initial 96M) and subsequent restoration of the landing gear at the 192M interval and beyond. However, the 7800-Landing inspection includes many more areas of inspection.

To perform the 7800-Landings inspection  a majority of the main aircraft parts and components need to be removed including: Engines, forward and aft fuselage fuel tanks, the APU, the majority of flight controls , thrust reversers etc. – which is not done during usual inspections after 48 and 96 months of aircraft operation.

Non-destructive tests (NDT) such as x-ray, ultrasonic, eddy current and magnetic consist of up to 30% of the inspection tasks.

The NDT is a major and most crucial part of all the maintenance tasks. If NDT-related tasks historically make up to 3% of all maintenance works scopes, they will account for over 30% during the 7800-Landing inspection.

West Star Aviation has the unique ability to perform all of these tasks in-house with a dedicated and experienced crew with many years of experience on these airframes.

Operators who are approaching the 7800-Landing threshold should plan well in advance of the anticipated inspection window to ensure hangar and manpower availability. This is not something that can be planned and executed within a month or so of the due date. 

Owners and operators should also consider that there will be a significant savings if other work is performed at this downtime, while the interior is completely removed and the aircraft is accessible and static while the landing gear is being overhauled. 

Significant savings can be also be achieved by combining other inspections.

Many operators choose to perform full interior refurbishment, CMS upgrades, LED cabin lighting, floor plan seating changes, Collins Fusion cockpit upgrades and paint refurbishment to take advantage of aircraft downtime.