First Follow-On Caravan to Receive TKS® Conversion

CAV Ice Protection is beginning the first follow-on single engine turboprop TKS Ice Protection System for the Cessna Caravan at the Salina Aviation Service Center.

The installation follows announcement that CAV Ice Protection worked with Cessna on the Service Bulletin leading to FedEx Express upgrading its fleet of Cessna 208 Caravan cargo aircraft with the TKS Ice Protection System. FedEx Express owns a fleet of approximately 250 Cessna Caravan aircraft.

The first follow-on Caravan TKS Ice Protection System conversion will go to Superior Airways, a chartered air service based in Red Lake, Ontario, Canada at Red Lake Airport. Superior Airways flies cargo, fishermen, hunters, firefighters, First Nations individuals, medical patients and law enforcement to and from remote communities to the north in Northwestern Canada.

Extreme Weather

The 27 First Nations communities north of Red Lake only have ice road access for a six-week period during the winter. The extreme arctic weather conditions and terrain are unforgiving. Red Lake is the northern terminus of the highway system in the region. Consequently, the flights provided year-round by Superior Airways are a crucial life preserver for area inhabitants.

“We can be 200 miles from the nearest airport and you don’t know if the weather suitable anywhere at that point. There is no ATC and it’s all uncontrolled airspace. So, what are you going to do at 2:00 AM when you start picking up ice in-flight?” said Mike Misurka, president of Superior Airways. “I’m a pilot myself, so I can’t put myself or my staff in a position where they don’t have an option to continue safe flight.”

Reliable and Proven

“We are pleased that Superior Airways is our launch customer for these Caravan ice protection conversions,” said Kevin Hawley, president of CAV Ice Protection. “Soon Superior Airways will join the operators of 6,000 aircraft around the world that use our proven TKS Ice Protection System.”

“I asked Kevin Hawley and CAV Ice Protection to install its Flight Into Known Icing (FIKI) TKS Ice Protection System for the Caravan we recently acquired for a couple reasons,” said Misurka. He added that the “number one reason among those was they are reliable and know what they are doing. I wanted the same system that is going into the new Caravans from the factory under a Service Bulletin Installation Kit. And CAV Ice Protection can give me that as a Caravan TKS Repair Center.