SERVICE CENTER PROFILE At the Center

Legacy Aviation Services outside Oklahoma City is located in the center of the country, and with its wide range of maintenance and upgrade options, the team looks to be the center of the Twin Commander world as well.

“We have approvals from everybody,” says CEO RJ Gomez. He rattles off the list: FAA certified repair station, approved by the Mexican AFAC, Transport Canada, EASA, and more. Gomez said they sell parts all over the world, and customers bring their airplanes from nearly every part of North and South America.

You’d think a shop with such a strong reach would be huge, on the scale of a massive MRO facility, but Gomez is proud of their personal touch. There are seven technicians. “It’s quality over quantity,” he said. “The difference is experience.” He estimates the team has 300 years of combined experience, and some of his technicians are renowned in the Twin Commander world for their sheet metal or hydraulic component overhaul expertise.

The facility now known as Legacy Aviation Services has been in business for more than 20 years, and many of the techs date to the preceding owner, also a Twin Commander Factory Authorized Service Center. Over that time, they’ve worked hand-in-hand with the factory and third-party partners to help develop a number of improvements to the airframe. They’ve also been integral to developing complex repairs that served as the foundation for airworthiness directive compliance, and they serve as subject matter experts when the factory needs additional technical support.

Legacy has a full slate of services, including an FBO, Twin Commander maintenance and inspections, STC upgrades, basic engine work, avionics upgrades, and parts sales.

The parts department supports the shop and customers around the world. Over the years they’ve learned what to stock in order to get an airplane in and out as efficiently as possible. With experience comes the knowledge of what usually gets replaced on an inspection, and with those items ready to go, an owner won’t have to wait when a common replaceable item must be changed.

They also sell parts to a wide range of both domestic and foreign customers, all of which is supported by two dedicated employees. Part of the benefit of being a Twin Commander Factory Authorized Service Center is the relationships with the other businesses in the network. When one needs a windshield, they check with each other. Gomez said he has both benefited and been a benefactor in those relationships, knowing that the cooperation strengthens everyone.

A large portion of Legacy’s parts stock is its collection of rotatables that they can drop ship the next day. Some of that stock comes from Legacy Aviation’s unique position in the network as the single source of hydraulic overhauls.

Thanks to an acquisition a few years ago, Legacy is the only shop in the world approved to work on Twin Commander landing gear and other hydraulic components, roughly 20 different types of assemblies. “We service the whole fleet,” Gomez said. They keep many of the common gears and hydraulic components on the shelf ready to go, including hydraulic accumulators. And when another service center calls in need of a part, it’s shipped almost immediately. “When we see another service center sending landing gears parts here, we understand they have an airplane in their shop up on jacks,” he said. “We give them priority because we know they have a customer waiting to get back in the air.”

Despite their global reach, Gomez said he sometimes feels like Legacy Aviation is the Twin Commander world’s best kept secret. They have many repeat customers, and more than a few who have tried other facilities. With such highly experienced technicians, type-specific parts knowledge, and an on-site hydraulic repair and overhaul facility, Legacy Aviation continues to have a vast reach, all from the center of the country.

Legacy Aviation Services – Award winning Factory Authorized Service Center 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Phone 405-350-2100