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IKHANA delivers first Vistaliner to Grand Canyon Airlines

Oct. 21, 2013, Murrieta, Ca. - IKHANA Aircraft Services announces the delivery of a DHC-6-300 Vistaliner Twin Otter aircraft modified with IKHANA’s RWMI DHC-6 Re-Life Fuselage, RWMI DHC-6 Re-Life Wing Boxes and RWMI DHC-6 Re-Life Flight Controls Supplemental Type Certificates (STC) to Grand Canyon Airlines of Boulder City, NV.


October 21, 2013  By Carey Fredericks

IKHANA’s RWMI DHC-6 Re-Life Fuselage is an FAA approved Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) providing NEW 66,000 hours/132,000 cycles structural fatigue life to an otherwise life expired aircraft. “Our RWMI DHC-6 Re-Life Fuselage STC returns full capital value back to a Twin Otter that would otherwise be salvage value,” states Mr. John Zublin, President/CEO of IKHANA. “This is exactly what the product was intended to do: provide a path to turning an aging fleet back into an essentially new aircraft.” Alan Stephen, Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Grand Canyon Airlines states “We have a long relationship with the IKHANA team and its predecessor, R.W. Martin Inc., since development of the first Vistaliner aircraft. Incorporating the IKHANA Re-Life Fuselage STC helps Grand Canyon Airlines maintain both safety and value in our operation.”

The original DHC-6-100, -200, and -300 Series Twin Otters, produced from 1965 to 1988, have a fuselage fatigue life limit of 66,000 hours/132,000 cycles. The RWMI DHC-6 Re-Life Fuselage STC, allowing NEW 66,000 hours/132,000 cycles of fatigue life, was awarded by the FAA in November of 2011 and is applicable to all of the DHC-6 Legacy Series Twin Otter airplanes. IKHANA’s predecessor, R.W. Martin Inc., modified the first DHC-6 Twin Otter into a Vistaliner in the mid 1980’s and has modified over forty (40) Twin Otters as Vistaliners. IKHANA has been a key provider of enhancements for the worldwide DHC-6 Twin Otter fleet with products including the RWMI DHC-6 Re-Life Wing Box, RWMI DHC-6 Re-Life Fuselage, RWMI DHC-6 Re-Life Flight Controls, RWMI DHC-6 Re-Life Nacelles, increased gross weight, enhanced air conditioning, upgraded avionics, VIP amenities, cargo handling, camera hatches, paratrooper provisions, and integration of surveillance/patrol systems. IKHANA’s modifications support a variety of customers in executive transport, regional/commuter airlines, and special missions operations.

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