Brightwork Polish at Munich (EDDM)

What changes at Munich?

Munich sits at 1487 feet elevation with two parallel runways, each 4000 metres, and the General Aviation Terminal 28.5 kilometres from central Munich. The GAT closes at 22:00, and its hangars shift to maintenance and parking outside operating hours; any work beyond the 06:00–22:00 window is on request only. Night restrictions run 22:00–06:00: only 'bonus list' aircraft may move between 22:00 and midnight or 05:00 and 06:00, and the core night—midnight to 05:00—is reserved for mail and survey flights. Business jets therefore spend the night on stand, which creates natural windows for brightwork without pulling the aircraft off schedule.

Five handling agents work at the GAT: ExecuJet Europe, Lufthansa Technik, MAS Munich Aviation Service, Signature and AHS München. ExecuJet lists cleaning among its own offerings, so we coordinate as a third-party crew through whichever handler holds the slot. Short-term hangar rental can be ordered up to three hours before arrival, useful if you want the aircraft inside for the first polishing pass. There is no public transport to the GAT; we bring equipment via the adjacent short-term parking or P35, then clear airside with the handler's escort.

How do you schedule brightwork around a multi-leg trip?

We start the morning after arrival if the jet is staying two nights or longer. Leading edges and inlet rings take the longest—each surface is worked by hand through progressively finer compounds until it mirrors—so we block one full day for a super-midsize and up to three for an ultra-long-range airframe with extensive bare metal. If the next departure is late afternoon on day two, we finish polishing by midday, apply sealant, then photograph and return the aircraft to the handler in time for refuelling and pre-flight. For tighter turnarounds we focus on the most visible surfaces—wing leading edges and inlet rings—and defer spinners or exhaust to the next stop.

Munich is slot-coordinated, so any delay in releasing the aircraft can cascade. We send a morning progress report to the handler and to your ops team, then a final walk-round with the tech log entry and photos an hour before you need the jet back on the apron. If weather interrupts—summer convection or winter de-icing queues—we pause, cover the work and resume once the stand is clear.

What does the handler expect from a third-party detailing crew at the GAT?

The handler wants three things: proof that we hold current airside passes for Munich, a clear scope of work so ramp staff know which panels we will open, and a mobile number for the lead technician. We send those details when you confirm the booking, and we check in at the handler's desk the morning we start. Ramp access is always escorted unless our crew holds a Munich-specific pass; the handler assigns someone to walk us to the stand, then collects us at the end of each shift. If we need GPU or external lighting after dusk, we request it through the handler at least two hours ahead.

We bring our own trestles, polishing compounds, sealants and lint-free cloths. No water runoff touches the apron—brightwork polish is a dry process, and any residue is captured on cloth and binned airside. At the end of each day we stow equipment in the handler's designated area or, if the jet is in a hangar, inside the hangar itself. The handler also expects a final sign-off: we photograph every polished surface, note the work in the tech log, and hand both to the handler's duty manager before we leave the GAT.

Which surfaces do you polish, and what stays untouched?

We polish any bare-metal surface the airframe manufacturer left unpainted: wing and horizontal-stabiliser leading edges, engine inlet rings, spinners, exhaust cones, thrust-reverser petals and window surrounds. Some operators also ask for polished cheat-line trim or winglet leading edges if those were delivered bright. We do not touch painted surfaces, composite fairings or any area within ten centimetres of a static port or angle-of-attack vane. Pitot probes are masked before we start, and avionics bays remain closed.

The process is mechanical—compound on cloth, worked in overlapping passes until oxidation and micro-scratches disappear—so it takes time. A single inlet ring on a Rolls-Tyce or Pratt engine can need forty minutes if it has sat through a European winter. After polishing we wipe the surface with isopropyl alcohol, then apply a thin coat of sealant that fills the microscopic texture of the aluminium and slows the return of oxidation. The sealant cures in thirty minutes; after that the surface can be touched, washed or flown without special care.

How do you document the work for the flight department?

We photograph every polished surface before we start, then again after sealant application. The before shots go into a numbered folder with the aircraft registration, date and a GPS stamp from the camera; the after shots follow the same naming convention. Both sets are uploaded to a shared link and sent to your flight-department manager and to the handler's ops email by close of business on the final day. If you prefer a PDF report we compile one overnight, with a summary table listing each surface, the compound grades used, and any areas we noted for future attention—corrosion bloom around a fastener, a leading-edge dent that needs sheet-metal work.

The tech log entry is hand-written and signed by the lead technician: 'Leading edges, inlet rings, spinners and exhaust polished and sealed IAW operator specification,' followed by date, registration and our company stamp. If the handler requires a separate ramp log we fill that as well. The goal is to leave a clean paper trail so the next maintenance event knows what was done and when the brightwork will next need attention.

When should brightwork be repeated?

We recommend polishing two to four times a year, depending on where the aircraft spends its time. Jets that winter in central Europe or operate frequently into coastal airports show oxidation faster; those based in the Alps or the Middle East stay brighter longer. If the leading edges have turned chalky or the inlet rings show a grey bloom, the interval has stretched too far. Polishing at that point takes longer because we start with coarser compound to cut through the oxide layer before moving to finer grades for the mirror finish.

Many operators fold brightwork into an annual or six-monthly Complete Detail, so the entire exterior is addressed in one visit. That approach works well at Munich if the jet is scheduled for heavier maintenance at the GAT or if you are using a hangar slot for interior work. Outside a detail cycle, brightwork is often triggered by a pre-sale inspection or a charter client who expects the aircraft to look as it did at delivery. Either way, the earlier we start the less time we spend cutting and the more time we spend polishing.