At the end of April, Alexis Tierny, Associate Director, accompanied by Mourad Nasri, Paint Manager, and Florian Morata, Paint BT Agent, visited the BA 125 for a special tour. They were welcomed by lieutenant-colonel Delaye, who is in charge of restoring the BA 125 Museum, with a specific project in mind: to restore a symbol of the French Air Force, which will celebrate its 80th anniversary in 2024. In June, the rudder of Mirage IV n° 57 was brought from BA 125 to our facilities to spend the summer and regain its original aesthetics. For three months, our teams worked on its restoration. After being stripped, it was then handed over to Thierry, our sheet metal manager, to perfect the structure and achieve a unique finish before being entrusted again to our paint team. This time, the legendary rudder will receive layers of P50, P05, and CA primers before the final paint job, which will recall the emblematic colors of the French Republic, and a varnish. Finally, on Monday, December 9, 2024, during the inauguration evening in front of the members of the RAPACE125, the Mirage IV rudder was revealed. A big thank you to our teams in charge of the project who have beautifully restored this symbol of aviation.
Thursday was a big day for H225 Airbus Helicopters and its return in offshore operation. It’s during dawn that the first Westair Helicopters operated H225, maintained by JJGK Aero, flew off from Istres to Namibia. The crew, composed by Westair’s pilots and JJGK Aero technicians, will pass through Spain and Africa before arriving in windhoek Namibia. JJGK Aero is proud to be part of the aircraft development in collaboration with Westair for the Oil & Gas sector.
Yesterday, Santa Claus made an appearance in our premises! For the joy of young and old alike, the magic of Christmas was once again present at JJGK AERO. Amidst castles and inflatable games, some of the children were having fun while others were at the creative workshop coloring or drawing. Meanwhile, at the face painting stand, many children were lining up for the chance to become a fox or Spider-Man, while the more indulgent ones enjoyed crêpes and hot chocolate with their families. To wrap up this beautiful afternoon, Santa Claus, dressed in his finest coat, handed out gifts. This convivial moment is a wonderful way to thank our teams, and conclude a year filled with projects.
Looking back on the VSM day. On October 7th, at the Jean Sarrail Aeronautical Center in Istres, our team participated in an immersive “Sea Survival” training session organized by VSM Training Services. Created 37 years ago, VSM is a Small-Medium Company located on the Pôle Aéronautique d’Istres, offering formations to aircraft’s crew members through real time simulation of specific situations like “Survival at Sea”. In a wave pool, plunged into darkness and under a simulated storm, Olivier Long, a B1.3 mechanic who joined us this summer, rose to the challenge successfully escaping from a submerged cabin.
As part of the dismantling of an H225, the JJGK-AERO team is working on various stages: dismantling the tail boom, testing the gauge rods and validating the electronic box of the emergency buoyancy system are on the day’s test programme.
After a few days of hard work, the aircraft’s paintwork is complete. Our painters started by stripping the aircraft using a few solutions. Then, thanks to the expertise of our painters and the quality of our paint booth, we managed to achieve our goal on time.
Last year there were less than 10 of us. Today, we’re more than 25. JJGK Aero has grown and we will continue to develop with more staff, more resources and more helicopters!