Ceramic Coating at Toulon-Hyères (LFTH)

Why does ceramic coating make sense on the Côte d'Azur?

Salt is the enemy. Toulon-Hyères sits on the Mediterranean coast, and every sea breeze carries sodium chloride that settles on leading edges, nacelles and belly panels the moment you shut down. Left untreated, that salt draws moisture, accelerates oxidation and leaves a haze across the cheat line that no rinseless wash will shift. A ceramic layer changes the surface energy: contaminants sit on top of the coating rather than bonding to the paint, so each wash takes half the time and uses a quarter of the chemistry.

The second pressure is ultraviolet. Summer apron temperatures at sea level push fifty degrees on the upper surfaces, and UV breaks down wax and sealant in weeks. Ceramic is a cross-linked silica matrix; it does not evaporate, does not oxidise, and maintains its hydrophobic behaviour through two hundred wash cycles. For an aircraft spending May to September shuttling between LFTH, LFMN and LFMD, that durability translates to lower detailing costs and higher residual gloss when the time comes to sell.

What changes at Toulon-Hyères?

The airport shares its apron and taxiways with the French Navy's Base d'aéronautique navale Hyères-Le Palyvestre, so airside access follows military-airfield protocols. Every technician carries a government-issued pass; every vehicle is logged; every movement is coordinated with both civil ATC and the naval operations desk. For a three-to-six-day ceramic project that means advance notice: we submit the crew list, the registration, the hangar-occupancy window and the departure slot request at least five working days before the aircraft arrives.

Two runways serve the field—05/23 at 2,120 metres and 13/31 at 1,902 metres—both more than adequate for the super-midsize and ultra-long-range types we coat. The civil side is managed by VINCI Airports, and business aviation moves through the Terminal Affaires at the airport entrance; turn left at the signpost and you will find the dedicated lounge, customs, border control and the handling-agent desk under one roof. Handling agents present at the airport coordinate GPU, potable water, lavatory service and towing to our hangar, which sits airside within two minutes of the stand.

Elevation is 13 feet, so density altitude is rarely a constraint, even in July. There is no published curfew in the data we hold, but noise-abatement procedures and slot coordination with naval traffic mean that early-morning or late-evening movements require prior permission. For ceramic work the timing is less sensitive—you drop the aircraft, the crew takes ground transport into Hyères or Toulon, and we call forty-eight hours before completion so the return leg can be filed.

What happens during the three to six days?

Day one is decontamination. We clay-bar every painted surface to lift embedded iron, tar and salt, then inspect under LED for oxidation, scratches and areas where the clear coat has begun to fail. Any defect deeper than five microns is wet-sanded with 3000-grit, then machine-polished through three grades of compound until the paint reads consistent on a depth gauge. Brightwork—nacelle lips, windscreen frames, winglet tips—is polished to mirror finish; ceramic bonds only to a clean, level substrate.

Day two and three are coating days. We mask the pitot probes, static ports, antennas and any no-touch avionics bays listed in the tech log, then apply the first ceramic layer by hand applicator, panel by panel, working from the nose back. Each section flashes for fifteen minutes before we buff the residue and move to the next zone. The second layer goes on twelve hours later, once the first has cross-linked. Windows and brightwork receive their own formulation—higher silica content, lower friction—so that rain sheets off the windscreen above eighty knots and bugs release with cold water.

The final days are curing. We hold the aircraft in the hangar at twenty degrees and forty per cent humidity while the coating reaches full hardness. During that window we photograph every surface under polarised light, write the maintenance plan—wash intervals, approved chemistries, recoat schedule—and prepare the warranty document that travels with the tech log. When you collect the aircraft the paint will feel slick to the touch, water will bead into spheres, and the first post-coating wash will take fifteen minutes with a pressure washer and pure water.

How does airside access work at a shared civil-military field?

Every person and every vehicle entering the apron requires a security pass issued by the Préfecture and countersigned by both VINCI Airports and the naval base command. Terso's permanent team holds year-round passes; if you send your own crew chief or a contract inspector to observe the work, we need their passport details, a letter of authorisation on company letterhead, and ten working days to process the application. The alternative is an escorted day pass, which we arrange on seventy-two hours' notice but which restricts the visitor to our immediate work area and requires one of our staff to remain within sight at all times.

Vehicle movements are logged at the airside gate. Our support van, the polishing cart and the pressure-washer trailer each carry a numbered permit displayed in the windscreen; if we need to bring in a scissor lift or a larger generator for a cabin project, we file a temporary-access request with the handler twenty-four hours in advance. The system sounds bureaucratic, and it is, but it also means that once the aircraft is on our stand no one without a legitimate reason—no line crew, no refueller, no catering truck—will approach the jet while we are working.

When should ceramic coating fit into the maintenance calendar?

The ideal moment is immediately after a repaint or a complete detail, when the paint is already corrected and the surface is as close to perfect as it will ever be. Applying ceramic at that point locks in the finish and extends the interval before the next major polish from eighteen months to three years. If the aircraft has just come out of heavy maintenance and the painter has laid new clear coat, we recommend a thirty-day wait for the solvents to fully evaporate, then bring the jet to Toulon-Hyères for coating before it re-enters service.

The second window is mid-life, when the paint still has good thickness but is starting to show fine scratches, water spots or exhaust staining. We measure the clear coat with an ultrasonic gauge; if there is at least eighty microns remaining we can correct the defects, polish to a uniform gloss, and coat over the top. That buys another two to three years of protection and defers a full repaint by as much as five years, which on an ultra-long-range airframe represents a six-figure saving.

Operationally, winter is the low season on the Côte d'Azur. November through March the apron is quieter, hangar availability is better, and the lower humidity helps the ceramic cure faster. If the aircraft is scheduled for a C-check at Marseille or Nice, we can coordinate with the maintenance shop to bring the jet to LFTH immediately after sign-off, complete the coating while the tech log is still open, and have you back in service within the same downtime window.

What documentation do you provide, and why does it matter?

Every ceramic project closes with three deliverables. First, a logbook entry that records the date, the products used, the areas treated and the curing conditions; this satisfies the auditor during pre-purchase inspection and proves to the next owner that the protection was applied by a qualified shop. Second, a maintenance plan that lists the recommended wash interval—typically every four to six weeks—the approved shampoos, the recoat schedule, and the conditions that void the warranty, such as using an automatic brush wash or a solvent-based degreaser on the belly. Third, a warranty certificate that covers delamination, discolouration and loss of hydrophobic performance for twenty-four or thirty-six months, depending on the product tier.

We also deliver a USB stick with two hundred high-resolution photographs taken under polarised light before, during and after the work. Those images serve two purposes: they document the pre-existing condition of the paint, which protects both you and us if a dispute arises about a scratch or a panel edge, and they provide a baseline for the next detailer. When the aircraft arrives for a maintenance wash in twelve months' time, the technician can compare the current state against the post-coating photographs and see exactly where traffic patterns, exhaust residue or de-icing fluid have worn the coating thin. That allows targeted recoating of the nose, the wing roots and the nacelle interiors without redoing the entire airframe.