West Star Aviation recently completed a major structural repair to an Embraer Legacy 650E fuselage. The project also included a new exterior paint scheme. The FOD incident occurred as a result of metal objects being launched by a military helicopter landing next to the aircraft while in Peru. The aircraft was evaluated and subsequently ferried to West Star's full-service MRO facility in East Alton, Illinois for repairs. West Star is an authorised Embraer base maintenance service and warranty provider for most models at its East Alton, Grand Junction, Colorado and Chattanooga, Tennessee locations.

“Significant structural damage occurred to the fuselage skin, frames and ribs,” says Bob O'Leary, Embraer business development manager. “We coordinated closely with Embraer on the engineering required for the repair, along with the corresponding parts recommended.”

“We are very grateful for all the effort made during this complex process. I emphasise factors such as service, agility in response, availability whenever necessary and, of course, unquestionable technical knowledge. Among all the options that were given to us where we would have to quickly decide who we were going to deliver our aircraft to, West Star accepted the challenge and besides the most important thing that after completing all the service we left with the certainty of having followed the best choice,” adds S. Almeida, the aircraft's captain.