Exterior Dry Wash at Augsburg (EDMA)

Who books a dry wash at Augsburg, and how often?

Two groups dominate the work: aircraft in long-term maintenance at the on-site Augsburg Air Service base—Embraer, Citation, Beechcraft, Hawker types—and transient business jets making regular fuel or crew stops on routes between northern Europe and the Mediterranean. For the maintenance customers the dry wash is part of a scheduled appearance programme, typically every three to four weeks, timed to coincide with a phase inspection or a test flight. For transients the trigger is usually a visible accumulation of exhaust soot around the APU or bug residue on the nose and leading edges after a busy summer flying block.

Because Augsburg is a customs airport of entry with border-police clearance on site, international operators clear here directly rather than routing through München, and that makes it a natural staging point for fleet programmes that want one consistent detailing crew across several aircraft. A quarterly or monthly dry wash keeps the paint clean without the logistics burden of a full decon and polish, and on a daytime-only field the shorter duration—three to eight hours depending on size—means the aircraft is back on the line before the evening curfew.

What changes at Augsburg?

The airport sits at 1,515 feet elevation, seven kilometres north-east of Augsburg city centre, with a single 1,594-metre runway oriented 07/25. Published operating hours are Monday to Saturday 07:00–21:00 local, Sunday and public holidays 09:00–21:00; any movement before 07:00 (09:00 on Sundays) or after 21:00 requires a chargeable PPR arranged with the airport in advance. That daytime-only rhythm shapes every detailing slot: if you want an early-morning start or an evening finish, the PPR must be filed days ahead, and the airport will invoice the extra hours separately.

Hangar space exists—airport hangars of 75 by 25 metres and 75 by 20 metres accommodate aircraft up to 6.50 metres tall and 25 metres long, heated and unheated, plus a newer business-aviation hangar built in 2014—but free slots are sporadic, so we cannot assume indoor workspace. The dry wash is designed for exactly this constraint: we work on the stand in any weather short of freezing rain, and because the process generates no runoff there are no drainage or environmental approvals to negotiate. The Augsburg Air Service maintenance hangars occupy several buildings on the field, and aircraft moving in and out of heavy maintenance create a steady flow of AOG and phase-check work that we fold into the recurring schedule.

How does a waterless wash compare with a traditional rinse at a regional field?

A traditional hose-and-bucket wash needs a designated wash bay with effluent capture, or at minimum a concrete apron with controlled drainage, plus a reliable water supply and permission from the airport environmental office to discharge. At a business-aviation field like Augsburg, where there is no airline ground-handling infrastructure and no permanent wash pad, arranging all of that for a single aircraft is rarely practical. The dry wash eliminates every one of those dependencies: aviation-approved waterless emulsions lift dirt into suspension, we wipe with microfibre cloths in overlapping passes, and there is no runoff to manage.

The trade-off is duration. A hose wash on a super-midsize jet might take ninety minutes if you have good water pressure and two people; the same aircraft dry-washed will occupy the crew for four to five hours because every square metre is hand-wiped twice—once to emulsify, once to buff. For an operator that means blocking half a day on the ramp, but it also means no coordination with airport ops, no wait for a wash-bay slot, and no risk that the handler will refuse the work because the apron drains into a taxiway.

What does the process look like on the Augsburg ramp?

We arrive airside with all consumables—waterless cleaner, separate degreaser for the belly and gear, microfibre cloths, brightwork polish—in sealed containers that have been through the handler's security check the day before. The aircraft is positioned on stand with GPU connected if the turnaround is longer than four hours; pitot covers and static-port plugs go on before we start, and we note any open or missing panels in the tech log so the flight crew knows the status before walkaround.

The sequence is top-down: fuselage crown and upper wing surfaces first, then the cheat line and cabin windows, then nacelles and belly. Bug residue on the nose and leading edges gets a pre-soak with the waterless cleaner—typically five minutes—before we wipe; exhaust staining around the APU outlet and nacelle trailing edges needs the degreaser and a second pass. Brightwork on leading edges and nacelle lips receives a light polish if oxidation is visible, but we do not attempt to restore heavy corrosion; that is single-stage work done indoors. Gear bays and the underside of the belly are degreased with a citrus-based product that breaks down hydraulic film and carbon dust without attacking seals or composites.

Total duration ranges from three hours for a light jet to eight hours for an ultra-long-range type, and we leave the stand clean—no puddles, no overspray, no towels left behind. The airport names Finest Care GmbH, located at Flughafenstrasse 2, as the on-site interior specialist for business aviation, so if you want cabin work done in parallel we coordinate timing with them to keep the aircraft in one slot.

When does a dry wash make sense versus a full decon and polish?

The dry wash is interval maintenance, not restoration. If the paint still has reasonable gloss and the only issue is surface contamination—bug strikes, exhaust soot, dust, light hydraulic mist—the waterless process will return the aircraft to clean without touching the clear coat. If the paint is oxidised, if there are water spots that have etched the surface, or if you see chalking when you run a finger along the fuselage, you need a decon and at minimum a single-stage polish, which means indoor workspace and a full day on jacks.

We recommend a dry wash every two to four weeks for aircraft in regular service, with a decon and polish every six to twelve months depending on how the paint ages. For an aircraft that sits outdoors at Augsburg through a Bavarian winter—freeze-thaw cycles, road-salt drift from the surrounding motorways, occasional de-icing if the aircraft moves during a cold snap—the dry wash every three weeks will slow oxidation and keep the hydrophobic layer active, but it will not reverse damage that has already penetrated the clear coat. The maintenance-base aircraft typically get a full decon in the hangar once a year as part of the annual inspection, with dry washes every month in between to hold the appearance standard.

What do handlers and airport ops expect from a third-party detailing crew at Augsburg?

Handling agents present at the airport expect the same airside discipline they would from any contractor: current airside passes for every crew member, high-visibility vests, no unsupervised movement outside the designated stand, and all equipment accounted for before we leave the ramp. Because Augsburg has no scheduled airline service and the traffic mix is entirely business and general aviation, the handler is usually managing only one or two other movements during your slot, so communication is direct—typically a mobile number for the duty supervisor and a call when we arrive and again when we finish.

The daytime-only curfew means the handler will not accept a job that risks running past 21:00 unless the PPR is already filed and approved. If your dry wash is scheduled for a six-hour block starting at 14:00, the handler will ask for a realistic end time during the morning briefing, and if weather or an equipment delay pushes you past 20:00 you are expected to call airport ops yourself to confirm the PPR is still valid. The airport charges for movements outside published hours, and the handler will not absorb that cost on your behalf.

On the environmental side, the absence of runoff makes the dry wash invisible to airport ops—no drainage permits, no effluent testing, no coordination with the fire service—but you are still responsible for any FOD you generate. We police the stand for dropped towels, empty product bottles and packaging before we sign off, and we carry a small bin for consumables so nothing blows across the apron. The handler appreciates that level of housekeeping because it means they do not have to file an FOD report or send a sweeper truck after you leave.