JANUARY 2014 | LIGHT AVIATION 20

A new beginning for Rotax UK

David Newhouse (right) and Customer Service manager Mark Bird stand beside a board of Rotax service tools in CFS’s immaculate dedicated Rotax engine shop

28 LIGHT AVIATION | JANUARY 2015

On 3 December 2014 the Authorised Distributorship for Rotax aircraft engines in the UK, Ireland, Iceland and the Falkland Islands, passed to CFS Aero at Coventry, having previously been held by Nigel Beale’s Skydrive company for over 30 years. When news of the change was announced six months earlier, it sent a shockwave through UK recreational aviation, not least because very few people knew much at all about CFS. And what was happening with Skydrive?

The good news is that the Beale family will continue to be involved with Rotax engines for the foreseeable future. They certainly have the expertise, and also hold large stocks of engines and parts, including the last of the 447 engines produced by Rotax.

CFS has spared no effort in getting to know the recreational GA community; it has exhibited at the LAA Rally for the past

two years, was at Aero Expo last year and recently attended The Flying Show at Telford. On Saturday 6 December CFS opened its doors and invited the GA community to take a look at its operation, an invitation that was accepted by quite a large number of Rotax users.

So, that question, who is CFS Aero? The company was originally set up as a spin off from Air Atlantique to look after the servicing and maintenance of its fleet of classic airliners and GA aircraft. Unfortunately it ultimately went bankrupt about three years ago and business partners, David Newhouse and John Friedman, bought the company with a view to selling off the assets. However, although neither had any previous experience in the aviation maintenance industry, having seen the company and met the few remaining employees, they decided there was

potential to rebuild it into a profitable organisation and have subsequently put in a fair degree of investment.

The business is located in the old Alvis tank works on Coventry airport and is divided into a number of units that undertake specific operations. At the commercial aviation end of the spectrum it maintains and rebuilds the A-LF502/LF507 jet turbine for the BAe 146, and carries out inspections and repairs on the Rolls-Royce Adour for the RAF Hawk. It also has an undercarriage shop that can handle anything from a Cessna 150 to a Boeing 737, and a propeller overhaul shop that ranges from light GA fixed and CS props up to the C130 Hercules.

On the piston engine side it has an overhaul facility for the Continental and Lycoming ranges but also takes on older engines, including a very interesting Gipsy Queen which is currently in the shop and

C F S A e r o r otA x

CFS AeRo RotAx

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CFS AeRo RotAx

MARCH 2014 | LIGHT AVIATION 49

The propeller shop is typical of the entire

facility, clean, tidy and well organised. It

inspires confidence in any organisation.

An interesting Gipsy Queen rebuild that will be fitted right way up to run in a WWI Bristol replica. It requires a number of

alterations to the oil system to accommodate the change.

being rebuilt and converted into a ‘right way up’ engine for a full-sized Bristol Fighter replica being built in Australia.

new opportunitieSThe Rotax opportunity presented itself when Rotax was seeking a Part 145 operation to take on its UK Distributorship, and having secured the business CFS has built a dedicated Rotax engine overhaul shop to accommodate it. Attached to the engine overhaul shop is a lecture room where Tim Paget will be running Rotax iRMT courses to ensure that owners and maintenance engineers out in the field are up to speed on approved Rotax procedures.

There is also a dedicated Rotax parts store, where a comprehensive inventory of 912/914 series and 582 (the only two-stroke now in

production) engines and spares is kept. The company has confirmed that it will also hold spares for the older two-stroke 447, 503 etc, and on that subject I had the opportunity to talk to Rotax's Thomas Grabner, who was over from the factory. He confirmed that although legally Rotax only had to maintain spares production for the 447 and 503 until 2017, it was most likely that it would continue well beyond that date due to the enormous numbers of those engines still in regular use.

There’s no doubt that when you see a distributorship moved from a relatively small ‘cottage industry’ facility to a much larger organisation (CFS currently employs 33 people), there will be concerns that ‘somebody’ will have to bear the cost of the rather grander facilities. Thus far, such concerns have been dispelled, as the cost

of engines and spares has proved to be very competitive. CFS’s Rotax Customer Support manager Mark Bird commented that owners should register with CFS by giving them their engine type and serial number, whereupon they will receive the latest Service Bulletins etc.

It has to be said that you would have found it difficult not to have been impressed with CFS’s operation. Its facility is clean and tidy, and the personnel trained and willing to help. It has engaged with the industry and wants to build relationships with owners, repairers who are working out in the field, and organisations like the LAA and BMAA; to be honest I cannot see what else it could have done to set off on the right path. Time will tell of course, but it is up and running from a very good start, I’m sure we all wish them well. ■

History in the making. Farry Sayyah (centre) from Bristell UK

with customers John Strong (left) and Steve Wade who collected the first CFS engine sale, a 912iS, for

their Bristell taildragger

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