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The PT6 engine is a renowned gas turbine engine operating on Jet A fuel, consisting of modular components that function through air. Its standout features lie in its exceptional reliability and popularity, provided it receives regular maintenance. What sets the PT6 engine apart from its counterparts are its various models, sizes and horsepower options, catering to a wide range of aircraft types. Its low maintenance requirements and remarkable durability ensure a long lifespan, making it a preferred choice among aviation professionals.

Mint Turbines is an unparalleled expert in PT6 engines, distinguishing itself from other shops through our comprehensive expertise and unwavering commitment to quality and safety. With a longstanding history in the industry, Mint Turbines specializes in overhauling PT6 engines, boasting an in-depth understanding of every intricate aspect of these engines. Our services extend beyond repairs, encompassing hot section inspections and other critical maintenance tasks. What truly sets Mint Turbines apart is our stringent focus on quality and safety, approaching every task with the utmost seriousness and precision.

Gilbert Palacios, Field Service Engineer at Mint Turbines, holds a PT6 course emphasizing proper operation and underlines the importance of understanding the engine thoroughly. For more information or to sign up for the course, please contact Gilbert Palacios at gpalacios@mintturbines.com.

This quarter, we had the opportunity to sit down with Gilbert Palacios, a seasoned Field Service Engineer at Mint Turbines. With a 16-year tenure, Gilbert graciously shared insights into his career and experiences at Mint Turbines.

What is your title at Mint Turbines, and how long have you worked at Mint?

I have been at Mint for 16 years and now work as a PT6 Senior Field Service Engineer.

How did you start in the aerospace industry and at Mint Turbines? What is your educational background?

I began my journey 30 years ago, transitioning from a background in construction to becoming a mechanic. My interest in aerospace was piqued while considering a position at American Airlines.

What does your typical day look like at Mint Turbines?

My days involve troubleshooting, testing cells, engaging in sales activities, servicing customers, attending meetings and ensuring our operations run smoothly. At Mint Turbines, we offer 24/7 support so my days always look a little different.

Do you travel within your position at Mint Turbines?

Yes, indeed. I recently visited Quebec, Canada, on a customer-focused trip, engaging in various activities related to our services.

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In July, Mint Turbines had the honor of being showcased in the HAI Member Spotlight by Rotor Media.

‘Mint Turbines, LLC, of Stroud, Oklahoma, offers a wide range of capabilities for helicopter engine maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO), as well as testing and other services. Achievements of the MRO center include serving as an FAA/European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Part 145 repair station, an authorized Ozark Aeroworks T53 engine service center, an independent Pratt & Whitney Canada (PW&C) PT6A and PT6T maintenance center, including the correlation of the PT6A test cell, and a General Electric Aviation-licensed T700 restricted-category MRO center. Leading the company is a seasoned team of MRO professionals, each with an average of more than 20 years of experience with engines.’

Read the rest of the story here.

Interview with Shop Lead Jason McNeese at Southwest Fuel Systems.

Can you provide a quick overview of Southwest Fuel’s accessory and component overhaul and repair expertise?
With over 45 years of combined experience, the Southwest Fuel Systems’ shop has expertise in accessory and component overhaul and repair. Southwest Fuel Systems is a Triumph certified on the Ozark T53 engine Fuel controls, governors and RR250 engine HMUs.

What are specific problems or incidents where accessory or component overhaul and repair would be needed?
During the troubleshooting process for the engine, if we identify a potential issue with the fuel control governor, we test and make sure everything is working correctly. Additionally, we perform midlife inspections for the drive shaft components within the fuel control system, which are mandatory according to FAA regulations. These inspections are crucial as they ensure the proper functioning of the pump responsible for fuel intake and such.

What types of customers or projects do you serve?
We of course work with our sister shop, Mint Turbines. Then we have multiple customers that are from all over the world. We also perform work on U.S. Air Force contracts.

Could you explain the significance of housing Southwest Fuel Systems within Mint Turbines’ facilities?
Having Southwest Fuel Systems housed within the Mint Turbines’ facilities saves our clients time and money. Not having to ship parts back and forth makes it easier for us to ensure fast and reliable work.

Explain how the partnership between Mint Turbines and Southwest Fuel Systems works.
Well, Mint Turbines will send us a PO. From there, we open a work order and look at the scope of work. Mint Turbines provides us with information like timing, the issues at hand, etc.

How are quality and adherence to industry standers upheld during the overhaul and repair process?
We perform mandatory audits regularly. We also always have someone checking our work and signing off to make sure that everything is done up to standard.

Could you share any notable success stories or achievements that highlight expertise in accessory and component overhaul and repair?
Just in the last year, we’ve doubled our sales and have continued to grow. We have been able to hire many more people for our team. I think our biggest success is knowing our clients trust us, which leads to growth.

What does Southwest Fuel Systems do when it comes to Accessory and Component Overhaul and Repair that sets it apart from the few others in the country?
Our experience and commitment to quality are qualities that are hard to find elsewhere. Also, having Mint Turbines and Southwest Fuel Systems in the same shop again leads to less time and money.

Jason McNeese is a crucial member of Southwest Fuel Systems, a sister shop of Mint Turbines. In 2019, Southwest Fuel Systems made the strategic decision to relocate from Tucson, AZ to Stroud, OK, where they moved into the same building as Mint Turbines. This move was aimed at taking advantage of the synergies that naturally arise when two complementary operations are in close proximity to each other. Southwest Fuel Systems is Triumph certified on the Ozark T53 engine Fuel controls, governors and RR250 engine HMUs. Here at Mint, we value our partnership with Southwest Fuel Systems and the people like Jason that ensure that quality and safety standards are met in the shop. Learn more about Jason in with Q&A below.

How did you get started in aerospace and at Southwest Fuel Systems?
What is your educational background? I started in aerospace in 2000 when I went to school for aircraft structures in Tucson, Arizona. I took night classes for around a year and a half. While I was in school, I got a job working on fuel controls and governors, which is the same thing I do today. So even though I got my certificate of completion for what I learned in college, I never actually went to work in the structure side because I found that I enjoyed the engine side.

What does your day look like at Southwest Fuel Systems?
Well, they keep me busy! We do evaluations on assets that are coming in for overhaul, repair, testing, etc. I spend my time in the shop, so it is very hands-on. I am a shop lead, but I do the work with my team.

What is the benefit of being partnered/housed with Mint Turbines?
Having both the engine and accessory shop in the same place is convenient. We can troubleshoot a lot more in less time. Not having to ship components is a perk and saves our clients’ money and time.

What are some of the most memorable projects you’ve worked on during your time?
We did around 12 fuel controls and governors for the United States Air Force in around two months, which was neat. It was exciting that we were able to get that much work done very quickly. We felt very accomplished. There have been some pretty huge contracts in my time that were an honor to work on.

How do you handle the identification, tracking and traceability of parts during the overhaul repair process?
Everything is set and organized. We have a very specific system. We have multiple inspection sheets for disassembly and assembly. This keeps us organized with serial numbers for each part. We have lists from when we receive the work to when it gets shipped out and everything in between. We also have technicians and inspectors to stamp off the work they’ve done and completed.

What are the quality control measures and standards you employ to ensure the reliability and performance of accessories and components after overhaul repair?
We are ISO and FAA certified, so keeping those certifications is very important to us. We keep ourselves to a high standard.

What is your favorite thing about working at Southwest Fuel Systems?
It is one of the best places that I have worked so far in this career field. When I started with this company in Arizona, we were named something else. When we became a part of M International, they moved our shop here to Stroud, Oklahoma. I had family in Arizona, so I did not initially decide to move with Southwest Fuels. However, I came back to do some contract work and decided I wanted to come back and work full-time. So, my wife and I packed up and moved to Oklahoma!

I love that at Southwest Fuels and Mint Turbines, we feel like a big family. There are no questions that you can’t ask, and I always feel comfortable coming to work. We get to work on some neat projects and do it next to our friends and family.

What are you doing when you’re not at work?
My wife and I are usually at the lake. We love to go boating and fishing. If we’re not on the lake, we’re outdoors or traveling. We love to take long weekends to Branson, MO, and recently took a trip to San Antonio, TX.

Congratulations to Gage Wilson, Kileigh Mixon and Paige Baker, the 2023 Robert Ruck Scholarship recipients. These three powerful Stroud High School seniors have been awarded $2,500 each to support their higher education pursuits. The scholarship, renamed after M International’s President and COO Robert Ruck, recognizes these outstanding students.

With an increase from two to three winners this year, Mint Turbines stays committed to empowering the future workforce. Gage, Kileigh and Paige’s remarkable achievements, leadership and dedicated community involvement make them deserving awardees. Mint Turbines is honored to celebrate their success and wishes them continued excellence in their educational journeys.

Bobby Moffitt, a father and key player in Mint Turbines’ success, started at Mint Turbines in 1995. His career has let him play many roles in the aerospace and aviation industry, leading him to the role of Quality Assurance Manager. Bobby ensures the company meets different regulations and policies, as safety is paramount in the industry. Learn more about Bobby with our Q&A below.

How did you get started in the aerospace and aviation industry?

Well, I started getting into aerospace when I was 16. As soon as I graduated high school, I worked for a couple of years at an airframe shop in the town I grew up in. I’m relatively local. I grew up just 30 miles from here in Wellston.

How have you seen Mint Turbines grow since you started? 

When I started, I referred to it as a mom-and-pop shop. It was privately owned, and we were happy if we worked on ten engines a year. Of course, it made the people grow close. Seeing the growth throughout the years, Mint has steadily grown to where it is now, with almost 60 employees and roughly four times the working space. What keeps a person here is the people we work with, the employees and the management we have. Our goals line up, and it’s just an awesome place with a bunch of awesome people.

What does a day at Mint Turbines look like as a Quality Assurance Manager? 

It’s totally different every day for the most part, and that’s part of what I enjoy about it. You never know what to expect day-to-day. The main focus of my job is to keep everybody in line with different regulations, whether it’s FAA, ISO compliance, AS compliance, etc. Things are constantly changing, especially with growth and expansion. All your policies have to expand and grow with that. The day-to-day work varies—there is a lot of paperwork. I take care of all the engine log books and records like that, ensure they’re completed, and everything’s well documented and answer questions for the guys on the floor. I answer questions on interpreting technical data when needed.

Why is it important to have somebody as a Quality Assurance Manager in the overall operation? 

For the shop, safety is number one. We work in an industry where safety is paramount, and people’s lives are on the line. Anytime you’re dealing with aircraft, quality and safety go hand in hand. If you build a safe, quality product, people are less likely to get hurt. Aviation companies, or any company, could not survive without quality control. Everything we do centers around the quality assurance of the product. Every product you’re putting out the door has to meet the customer’s expectations, whoever that customer might be.

What is your favorite part about your job and working at Mint Turbines? 

By far, what’s kept me here this long is the people. I love what I do. I have a passion for it. After 28 years, I look forward to getting up and coming to work in the morning. I’ve always loved aviation and the people that work here. I would compare it to a family. We spend all day at work together, and there are times we spend weekends together. We help each other out even outside of the shop. Everybody knows the employees, their family members, and their kids. A lot of them are local, so kids play ball games together and things like that.

Are there any specifically memorable projects that you have worked on? 

A big project was obtaining our ISO and AS registration for the AS 9100 and the AS 91-10 standards. Quite a few of us had our hands in on that one. Anytime a company grows and brings on new engine lines, it’s remarkable to see how that comes together. I’ve been involved in accident investigations, FAA, and NTSB in the past for projects that I found interesting.

What steps do you take throughout the day to ensure that inaccuracies are caught and corrected? 

Yeah, we have a staff of quality inspectors who inspect the part that is going in the engine as they’re disassembling or assembling it. We have quality progressive inspectors standing there with them to inspect their work as they go. The technician will assemble a component and fill out his paperwork, then that component gets reviewed by a quality inspector. They have to sign off on the paperwork before moving on to the next phase. Documentation is critical, any key points of interest have an inspection point that gets inspected for product safety. We have a tool control program that monitors our tooling, how it’s used, how it’s stored and all that good stuff.

What do you do when you’re not at work?

I spend a lot of time with my four grown kids and three grandkids. One grandkid is on the way! Over the last few years, my wife and I built our own house on a farm. We have the little hobby farm that keeps me busy. Outside of that, I’m always helping somebody do something like remodeling houses and fixing things around the house. It keeps me busy in the evenings and all weekend.

Mint Turbines is an industry-leading FAA/EASA certified Part145 Repair Station, providing world-class service. For over 40 years Mint Turbines has provided maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for operators worldwide. Mint can provide professional service from a team of experienced technicians with an average of 20 years combined experience, industry-leading customer support and a quality assurance team.

Mint Turbines is now offering a PT6 Training Course, it is FAA Approved and qualifies for IA Renewal. The course duration is three days and can be done on the customer site or at Mint facilities. Hot Section Training can be done on the customer site, during an inspection.

The Training Course provides the technician with the skills to troubleshoot engine problems after understanding the theory of how the turbine engine works. This would also cause less downtime due to improved technical knowledge. On-site Hot Section Training enables the students to experience hands-on knowledge of the tooling required for the inspection, inspection requirements as well as learning requirements of the Maintenance Manual. Periodic inspection and maintenance requirements are also covered in the course to provide students with the skills required for line maintenance.

Mint Turbines strives to provide the best customer experience, with a high level of quality and competitive pricing. Contact us at www.mintturbines.com , or email us at CustomerSupport@mintturbines.com or call (918) 968-9561.

Mint Turbines has signed a new agreement with Ozark Aeroworks, LLC (“OZARK”), to be an Authorized Ozark Model T53 Service Center. This authorization allows Mint Turbines to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul services for T53 series engines. The agreement, signed at the annual HAI HELI-EXPO event in Atlanta, Georgia, in March, is for a period of five years.

OZARK recently acquired the T53 Type Certificate from Honeywell in 2022 to become the new Ozark Model T53 OEM. OZARK’s acquisition of the T53 Type Certificate has further strengthened its commitment to providing high-quality products and services to its customers.

Mint Turbines has been an authorized T53 Service Center for the last ten years and is one of only three authorized service centers in North America. Its experienced technicians are highly trained and certified to provide the best possible maintenance, repair and overhaul services to T53 series engines. This partnership with OZARK further strengthens Mint Turbines’ commitment to providing its customers with the highest level of service.

The T53 series engines covered under this agreement include the following:

Commercial Engine Models | Commercial Applications

• T53-13B: Bell 204, Bell 205
• T53-17A: Bell 205
• T53-17A-1: Kaman K1200 (K-MAX)
• T53-17B: Bell 205
• T53-17BCV: Bell 210, Eagle Single

Military Engine Models | Military Applications

• T53-L-13B: UH-1H Huey, AH-1H Cobra
• T53-L-703: UH-1H Huey, Huey II, AH-1H Cobra

“We are thrilled to partner with OZARK as an Authorized Ozark Model T53 Service Center,” Mint Turbines Vice President and General Manager David Norton said. “Our team of experts is dedicated to ensuring that T53 engines operate at their optimum level. We are confident that this new partnership will further enhance our ability to serve our customers’ needs.”

Headquartered in Stroud, Oklahoma, Mint Turbines has provided service for the Ozark Model T53 and Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A & PT6T series of gas turbine engines for more than 40 years, including maintenance, repairs, overhauls, exchanges, rentals, testing and field service support.

For over 40 years, Mint Turbines has been an industry-leading, FAA/EASA-certified Part 145 Repair Station offering full-service gas turbine engine Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services that support operators worldwide. We have a team of seasoned veterans in the industry, each possessing on average 20 years of individual experience. At Mint Turbines we take great pride in our customer service, Turnaround time (TAT), and unsurpassed quality assurance.

The aftermarket engine R&O industry is currently plagued with supply chain issues, labor shortages, and higher material/labor costs that drive both increased Engine overhaul costs and shop times. In a time where the industry average engine overhaul, TAT is 85 days Mint Turbines is proudly maintaining an industry-leading overhaul TAT average of 63 days and consistent overhaul event costs.

We attribute this high level of performance due to our updated facility/streamlined assembly line, operating efficiency, knowledgeable staff, agile part sourcing, and sublime subcontract vendor management—all this while providing top-notch quality engine overhauls that are synonymous with a Mint Turbines tag.

Our overhaul TAT is not only setting the standard, but this applies to our engine repairs and hot sections as well.

Many engine overhaul shops add weeks to TAT to embody higher cost new materials—on the contrary, Mint Turbines has internally developed FAA-approved DER repairs and maintains strong partnerships with aftermarket parts suppliers and component repair companies that allow us to utilize OHC materials, exchange components or repaired customer parts to keep the engine overhaul cost down for our customers.

In addition, lower engine overhaul TAT keeps aircraft downtime to a minimum, reducing customer need for rental engines. In turn, this eliminates tens of thousands of dollars of associated costs such as rental engine hourly and daily charges, engine removal and replacement, shipping and insurance.

Mint Turbines produces the best customer experience possible, with the highest level of quality, at the best price.  Find out more at www.mintturbines.com, email us at CustomerSupport@MintTurbines.com  or call us at (918) 968-9561.  We look forward to hearing from you!