Paul Bristow, engineering director of Gama Support Services, has been around King Airs since way back in the 1980s, when he and a colleague ran Plymouth Executive Aviation, which at the time was an authorised Beechcraft service centre in the west of the UK.

In 1984, Gama ceo Marwen Khalek flew into Plymouth with his King Air and a second long-standing relationship was born, which led to an invitation to join the Gama Group in 2000, the company becoming Gama Support Services in 2002.

Bringing the story up to date, GSS is now located within Gama's Farnborough head offices but with a satellite base at Fairoaks and also now at Glasgow.

The company specialises in the King Air and Baron range and the acquired expertise over the years had led to the company being able to make significant improvements to the aircraft.

For example, GSS developed a modification for the PT6A engine installation on both the King Air 200 and 300 series aircraft which has introduced a drain tube for the exhaust duct. This became necessary after an engine re-design resulted in the potential for water to remain in the duct after compressor washing, with the very real possibility of front reduction gearbox casing corrosion if the existing drain plug is not removed.

A compressor wash used to take half an hour but following engine modification was now averaging three hours due to having to remove the cowlings to gain access to remove the exhaust gas drain plug. The GSS solution added a drain tube which eliminated the need to remove the cowlings during engine wash, saving time, money and reducing wear and tear.

Bristow suggests that the shared vision that he enjoys with Marwen Khalek has been key to GSS's success, as has the engineering division's role in looking after Gama's own King Air fleet.

Most recently, the Scottish Air Ambulance contract has created a need for 24-hour call-out and a more robust AOG facility, which then becomes available to other King Air operators.

Looking forward, Bristow says there has been a huge resurgence in special missions and is enthusiastic about the new look Beechcraft organisation – which has recently led to GSS once again becoming an authorised Beechcraft service centre for King Air, Baron and Bonanza aircraft.

And is there anything else that the King Air expert still wants to do? Yes, he says he'd like to undertake a centre section change on a King Air. Although, as this is such a major job, he doesn't think it is going to happen soon.