Airplane detailing

jwgreen6

jwgreen6

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I was wondering if there are any special considerations detailing airplanes? I read somewhere on the internet that there are certain areas you have to be careful when polishing the body of an aircraft. I expect the interior is treated like a typical car or boat.

As far as I know, nobody is doing aircraft detailing in my area (NE Indiana), or at least they're not advertising it. Thanks.
 
I personally cant say maybe some of the experienced aircraft detailers will chime in. I know B&B detailing does and Joe at Superior Shine are very experienced with aircraft. I would send them a PM.
 
Aircraft Detailing is a whole nother ball game man - First off.... the paint is very hard and has no clear (most aircraft anyhow). Second, yes there are areas that MUST be taped down for the protection of the aircraft and the crew! Pitot tubes should be taped and static ports should be taped, especially if waxing and/or polishing. Also, there are areas in the landing gear that are of the utmost importance..... especially the grease in certain areas (looks like it should be cleaned but shouldn't be). Feel free to contact me anytime if you have questions at 615.967.8121 - better to be sure than to risk lives (sounds cliche, but it is true!)
 
Being a Pilot myself, it makes aircraft detailing a lot easier as I know my way around aircraft.

B&B is absolutely right with regard to covering up pitot tubes, static ports and knowing what grease must be left alone etc.

also as he mentioned, aircraft paint is very hard so using the correct products will help a lot.

watch out for rivets, as the paint seems to be thinner on the them

keep in mind that the painted area on an aircraft can be 3 - 4 times (and more) than on a car so adjust your pricing correctly as you don't want to over work yourself.

a creeper is a good investment for when it comes to doing the underside of the fuselage, wings and tail plane etc.

Here is a thread I posted a while back of an aircraft I did. it might give you some ideas :xyxthumbs:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/51006-ravin-500-enhancement-detail.html

every aircraft is different so maybe for starting out, ask the owner/ pilot to walk you round and point out the things to stay away from

hope this helps :xyxthumbs:
 
B&B Tennessee said:
Aircraft Detailing is a whole nother ball game man - First off.... the paint is very hard and has no clear (most aircraft anyhow). Second, yes there are areas that MUST be taped down for the protection of the aircraft and the crew! Pitot tubes should be taped and static ports should be taped, especially if waxing and/or polishing. Also, there are areas in the landing gear that are of the utmost importance..... especially the grease in certain areas (looks like it should be cleaned but shouldn't be). Feel free to contact me anytime if you have questions at 615.967.8121 - better to be sure than to risk lives (sounds cliche, but it is true!)
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M64 said:
Being a Pilot myself, it makes aircraft detailing a lot easier as I know my way around aircraft.

B&B is absolutely right with regard to covering up pitot tubes, static ports and knowing what grease must be left alone etc.

also as he mentioned, aircraft paint is very hard so using the correct products will help a lot.

watch out for rivets, as the paint seems to be thinner on the them

keep in mind that the painted area on an aircraft can be 3 - 4 times (and more) than on a car so adjust your pricing correctly as you don't want to over work yourself.

a creeper is a good investment for when it comes to doing the underside of the fuselage, wings and tail plane etc.

Here is a thread I posted a while back of an aircraft I did. it might give you some ideas :xyxthumbs:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/51006-ravin-500-enhancement-detail.html

every aircraft is different so maybe for starting out, ask the owner/ pilot to walk you round and point out the things to stay away from

hope this helps :xyxthumbs:
Click to expand...

Thanks. I appreciate the input.

Do airplanes require a different approach or chemicals than what we use on cars? What type of mechanical polisher would you use? I've seen photos of drum-style polishers on long poles polishing large areas of jumbo jets. The "BuffPro" polisher comes to mind...
 
jwgreen6 said:
Thanks. I appreciate the input.

Do airplanes require a different approach or chemicals than what we use on cars? What type of mechanical polisher would you use? I've seen photos of drum-style polishers on long poles polishing large areas of jumbo jets. The "BuffPro" polisher comes to mind...
Click to expand...

I've seen those and been interested in them more for RVs but have never used them. I have always used a rotary polisher and aircraft approved products. Many use auto products and have great results and there may be no difference, I always felt that using only aircraft approved products sounds great and covers your rear IMO.
 
I used a DA and it worked fine however a rotary would be better. I use Car products (mostly Meguiars) on aircraft and supply the MSDS sheets if requested by the owner. Also some of Meguiars products are approved by Pilatus.
 
We use rotary to correct the finish and DAs only to apply the sealant. As stated the paint is hard. You will waste lots of time trying to correct with a DA on an airplane.
 
B&B Tennessee said:
Aircraft Detailing is a whole nother ball game man - First off.... the paint is very hard and has no clear (most aircraft anyhow). Second, yes there are areas that MUST be taped down for the protection of the aircraft and the crew! Pitot tubes should be taped and static ports should be taped, especially if waxing and/or polishing. Also, there are areas in the landing gear that are of the utmost importance..... especially the grease in certain areas (looks like it should be cleaned but shouldn't be). Feel free to contact me anytime if you have questions at 615.967.8121 - better to be sure than to risk lives (sounds cliche, but it is true!)
Click to expand...

I didn't realize this thread is a year old already!

What about insurance? I know detailing cars you need liability and perhaps garaging insurance, but what about aircraft insurance? After all some planes may be worth more than some third-world country's GDP. I expect most aircraft are detailed at an airport thus super-anal Federal regulations must be considered, too.

One more question, how do you formulate the cost of detailing an aircraft? Thanks. -- Jim
 
Oh how I love aircraft detailing! Im the MAN

Witchcraft_0288.JPG



Some airports are tough on insurance. Other couldn't care less.

It is a matter of being a responsible business owner to carry adequate coverage no matter if anybody checks or not. The best person to ask is your insurance agent about price and coverage.

I came up with cost two ways... 1. Call around and find out the going rate. 2. Once you land jobs track your hours and cost and adjust your price as needed to make certain your profitable. I can't say I made big money on my first few jobs but after I knew how long it took us to do the services I got profitable!!
 
I too, am interested in pricing for an exterior polish and wax.

Anyone pitch in on what they charge?
 
I detail planes weekly helping a company when I have a free day. I will have to disagree with somethings paint is not very hard and its a single stage with no clear due the weight. You can use a DA with no problem we do every week. We did 4 helicopter this week and the paint wasn't hard really at all. For products you should really be using aircraft approved products that are antistatic. The windows most people who never detail aircraft ruin them all the time. I hear complaints all the time from owners and pilots how people clean the windows going in circles or side to side and your only suppose to go up and down when cleaning them.
 
If you don't have basic aviation/aircraft knowledge then I would not try tackling even the smallest recreational aircraft without someone giving you a thorough walk-around, while taking plenty of notes. If you can shadow another detailer that details aircraft that would probably help a ton.
I was in Naval Aviation for over 10 years and can tell you half the time you are cleaning things to make the spotless just to cover them with some petroleum based product to lubricate and/or protect them. And as far as covering/masking things on an aircraft, you better make sure you remove all that masking before you turn the aircraft back over to the owner. Making checklists and posting them with the aircraft is a best practice to make sure nothing is missed. A lot to think about and know. Insurance is a must! Get some training and take a class or two before even trying to land a job detailing an aircraft.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using AG Online
 
ShaunD said:
If you don't have basic aviation/aircraft knowledge then I would not try tackling even the smallest recreational aircraft without someone giving you a thorough walk-around, while taking plenty of notes. If you can shadow another detailer that details aircraft that would probably help a ton.
I was in Naval Aviation for over 10 years and can tell you half the time you are cleaning things to make the spotless just to cover them with some petroleum based product to lubricate and/or protect them. And as far as covering/masking things on an aircraft, you better make sure you remove all that masking before you turn the aircraft back over to the owner. Making checklists and posting them with the aircraft is a best practice to make sure nothing is missed. A lot to think about and know. Insurance is a must! Get some training and take a class or two before even trying to land a job detailing an aircraft.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using AG Online
Click to expand...

:iagree: The company I help they all certified to detail any kind of plane and jets. They only use aviation approved products which really do matter when doing planes and jets. I don't know
how many times I here from owners that get auto detailers trying to do planes and have no idea what their doing. So before you start doing planes make sure you get some training first.
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
Hey Joe,

What about rivets and raised edges where panels overlap? Is the paint pretty much already burnt through these areas by the time you get to them so it's not a concern?


:)
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Raised edges on anything is something to be careful about. Most aircraft we do have flush rivets. Some have half and half. Keep in mind the standards for aircraft detailing is much less than with road driven vehicles. Lots of areas need to be polished by hand or DA in order not to damage the paint which is harder to do on an aircraft because........

I am going to stick with my statement that paint (MOST OF THE TIME) is hard. There are probably 100s of paint systems out there on aircraft. You will encounter much more hard paint than you will soft as compared to land driven vehicles. If it's factory paint and not a custom it will almost always be very hard paint and respond better to an aggressive correcting/polishing method.
 
Make sure you have adequate insurance, take the time to learn about how to prep the aircraft and work smart; one wrong move on your behalf could be disastrous for the pilot and his passengers.
 
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