Australia is a big country. That’s obvious to the millions of people who live there, but for those of us who haven’t had the privilege to visit, its size is often underestimated. Roughly the same land area as the continental United States, getting people and packages from one corner to the other is best done by airplane, and Twin Commanders do a lot of the heavy lifting.
The GAM Group is based in Melbourne, with executive offices in Brisbane, and the company operates 25 Twin Commanders, which make it one of the biggest operators of piston and turbine-powered Commanders in the world. With 20 500S, pistons make up the largest portion of the fleet. They are supported by two 680s, and three 690s. “And we could probably do a couple more,” said CEO Carl Jepsen.
Among Twin Commander Factory Authorized Service Centers, the GAM Group is unique for its extensive use of Commanders. Their primary mission is moving cargo all around the country. Both the pistons and turbines are outfitted primarily for that job, with basic avionics and spare, or even absent, interiors. The company flies 22,000 legs a year, with a 99.6 dispatch reliability rate within the bounds of the service agreement. “That’s an awful lot of moving parts,” Jepsen said.
The senior team recently spent time surveying the marketplace, looking at the full range of new and used piston and turbine single and multiengine airplanes available since they began operating Commanders many years ago. They were trying to determine if their fleet was still the most efficient and reliable they could find, and the answer was clear. According to Jepsen, nothing else competes.
“We did a full market survey and found nothing could do the same job, especially the low operating cost. Others fell short on cost and performance. We also doubt the longevity will be there with a lot of the new airplanes.”
In addition to the freight work, the company has four dedicated camera ships with the built-in camera port. Jepsen said they would buy another 690 with a camera port if they could find a good one for sale. All the work is subcontracted through companies that collect the mapping data and then sell it to tech companies for a variety of uses. They also have a 690 on a contract as a fire spotter, but will quickly swap it in for freight duty if they need it. Finally, they do a little bit of charter in the 690, but it’s not their area of focus.
To support such a busy operation the company also has a full paint shop, avionics shop, parts sales, and maintenance operation. They work on their own fleet, completing inspections, solving AOG issues, and performing other line maintenance tasks. They are also in the midst of a long and thoughtfully designed upgrade and refurb program. Each airplane gets a modest amount of upgraded avionics, new paint, new engines, and a thorough inspection. GAM owns the STC to upgrade the engines to the more reliable Lycoming IO-540-M1A5s, which are fitted as part of the upgrade. “They come out the other end looking brand new,” he said. The company has refurbished five airplanes thus far, and they are scheduled to do another one or two a year going forward until the entire fleet is done.
In addition to in-house maintenance, GAM also serves outside clients, including many Twin Commander owners around Australia. They also handle the maintenance for Sharp Airlines and its fleet of Metroliners. Jepsen said they can handle almost any job, except for more modern avionics. For Garmin work they send the airplane out to another shop. They are experts at working on original equipment in a Twin Commander, an art he says is dying and will probably only be around for a few more years. After that everything will be digital.
It takes roughly 100 employees to keep this massive operation humming along efficiently. Jepsen said the worldwide pilot shortage hurts them as much as it would an operator in the United States or Europe. That’s partly because as soon as a pilot builds the time, they are snatched up by an airline, often in the United States. They are seeing young pilots coming through the door, but he said many aren’t very qualified, and they must spend a week in training on basic multiengine and instrument skills before they can send them out on their own to build that coveted multiengine pilot-in-command time.
The story is a little better with technicians. GAM runs a formal apprenticeship program. Every year they take on a few young people, send them to college to get qualified on airframe, engines, and avionics, and then they return and work their way up in the shop. GAM’s head of maintenance is relatively young, and Jepsen said many technicians stay on for many years, whereas they are lucky to hold onto a pilot for a year.
“We have a really good culture,” he said. “We’re mindful of succession, and we offer a great experience at GAM.”
They also keep Australia humming, transporting packages, people, and pets from one corner to the other of the world’s sixth largest country.
