Fort Lauderdale, FL - When it comes to missing pieces of a puzzle, you can count on the Banyan team at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport to be your expert puzzle masters. Banyan's team of structural, maintenance, and avionics technicians are credited with rebuilding a Cessna 206 that encountered major nose and tail damage. The fuselage and other aircraft pieces arrived at Banyan on a flatbed truck.
Over the following months, Banyan's structural technicians, Anthony Bessellieu, Lewis Hankins, and Alberto Jinete, rebuilt the damaged and missing sections of the Cessna. Once that was completed, maintenance technician, Curtis Florio, had the task of reassembling the aircraft. "The plane was in so many pieces and had such extensive structural damage when it arrived at Banyan that this was a challenging project, much like putting a puzzle together," stated Florio.
The Banyan team was congratulated when the first test flight revealed only minor avionics squawks. "Thanks to our dedicated and skilled technicians, this Cessna came in by truck and is now back where it belongs, in the air," stated Dave Valenta, Banyan's Director of Maintenance and Avionics Install.
In addition to expert structural repairs and modifications, Banyan's maintenance department offers comprehensive aircraft maintenance services, including turbine airframe and engine maintenance, avionics installations and support, interior refurbishment, exterior painting and parts sales and distribution. Banyan's full-service maintenance department consists of a 26,000-square-foot hangar with an on-site engine facility, a sheet-metal shop, and non-destructive testing rooms; a 20,000-square-foot avionics hangar, and a parts distribution division with an inventory of roughly 20,000 parts. The heavy maintenance facility specializes in King Air, Citation, Hawker, and Lear inspections and modifications. In addition, the location is both FAA and EASA approved repair stations, and holds Venezuelan, Argentinean, and Brazilian government maintenance approvals.
