FPI – Better than New:

It has been seven years since FPI was reconditioned and the dirt and scratches of hundreds of flying hours have taken their toll.

After the rigours of aerial photography, skydiving and bush flying, I considered tackling the interior with soap and water.

Also, although I don’t take the President’s Trophy Air Race seriously enough to actually polish the plane, I reckoned that, what with having a tough handicap and the extra drag of the new ELT aerial, a professional polish would be nice.

I asked around and Shaun Blackmore-Reid of Aerenew was recommended. Shaun and partner Dustyn Geldenhuys came over to inspect FPI and I proudly showed them how smart she still was. They looked unimpressed. “It’s not just the interior that needs work. Look at the faded paint on the horizontal tail and the dirty windows.”

The interior work was done when the seats and carpets were removed for the installation of the ELT. Then there was a pause while Aerocolour updated the paint scheme. Finally Aerenew got the plane back – just two days before the Air Race. No problem they said.

On the day of the Air Race I was astounded to find that the old cliché of being better than new for once applied. The paintwork gleamed, the windscreens and side windows were flawless and the interior was pristine.

Shaun pointed out that most aircraft painters do not polish the paint to the same finish as a car. However, after the attentions of the crew at Aerenew the paintwork glowed. All painted surfaces had been de-oxidised, polished and sealed with a protective coating. The complete service comprises what they call, somewhat phonetically, InneRenew, OutteRenew, LeatheRenew, MetalRenew and WindoRenew.

If you take pride in your plane, or perhaps want to sell it, an investment of around R4 500 with Aerenew should pay huge dividends in either postponing a respray of increasing the aircraft’s value. Aerenew accepts all types and sizes of aircraft, including helicopters.

See: www.aerenew.co.za

Call Operations: 082-738-7903