PROFILE
Coon says that even though his financial situation took some getting used to, the difference in weather was a little easier to take. “I was working construction in Massachusetts — working in freezing weather pouring concrete and pounding nails in the bitter cold. Once I moved down here to Florida I knew I was never going back.” Coon went through the two-year program at Embry-
Riddle. He earned his A&P and an associate degree. After finishing school, he was ready to go out and get
a job. Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t the best. “Eastern Airlines was just about going under at that time, and there weren’t many jobs available in the industry,” Coon says. “When I was a student at Embry-Riddle, I heard stories from everybody of how the airlines would come in and hire the entire class of graduates. Of course, after I put my two years in, the airline industry was in a slump, and that didn’t happen to our class.” One of Coon’s instructors suggested he stay in school and study avionics. “The thought scared me at first,” he says. “I knew nothing about electricity. Electricity scared the heck out of me. But I decided to enroll in Embry-Riddle’s avionics technology program. It was an engineering/ avionics program. We learned component-level avionics. We studied differential equations and C++ programing. It was quite the program. It was 163 credit hours, and was the biggest program on the campus. Unfortunately they don’t offer it any more.” Coon attended courses year-round, and graduated in
three years with a bachelor degree in science and aviation technologies. He graduated third in his graduating class. Armed with a degree and advanced avionics training, Coon was anxious to start working in aircraft maintenance. The job market was different than three years earlier, and Coon had two job offers. One was working for Delta Airlines at Chicago O’Hare as a night mechanic. The other was from Sanford, FL-based CE Avionics. “I decided I wasn’t leaving Florida,” Coon tells D.O.M. magazine. “So I accepted a job at CE working as an installer for a lot less money than I could have made at Delta.” Coon went from being an installer to working as a bench technician. Then he became a line technician. “I spent most of my time at CE Avionics as a line technician,” he says. “I had a van and I would drive all over the state of Florida to fix aircraft. I went to just about every airport in Florida. I worked independently. There were no set hours – I stayed there until the job was done. I enjoyed the job, and did that for eleven years.”
STARPORT In 2006, Coon took a job at StarPort as its avionics manager. It was Coon’s first management job. He went from work- ing by himself in different locations throughout the state to managing a group of avionics technicians. It was quite the transition for him. “It was a shock,” he says. “It was a big change for me. It took a while to become comfortable with
11.12 2014
8
the responsibility of the position — the hiring and firing, the reprimanding, giving raises, the whole thing. “The biggest challenge for me was dealing with all the
different personalities,” Coon says. “I’m one of those guys who likes to get out there and work shoulder-to-shoulder with the guys. I’m not in the office hiding. I like to teach and mentor.” We asked him if he received any formal training on his
new responsibilities such as budgeting. “No,” he says. “It was trial by fire. I had to learn how to put together budgets and use the software we use to run the business. I had to learn how to quote jobs. I had never done that before. That’s a science in itself. Thankfully, some of the guys here helped me out during the transition.”
TRANSITION TO DIRECTOR OF MAINTENANCE A year and a half ago, there were some management changes in the company, and Coon was asked to take over as director of maintenance. He had to learn even more. “I had to learn every- thing,” he says. “I went from having to know about the avionics shop to having to learn about everything in the hangar.” As Coon gave us a tour around the facility, it was evident
he was extremely knowledgeable about everything going on there. We asked Coon how he has managed to learn so much in the short time he has been the DOM. “I had other managers and supervisors to lean on. They helped me out and taught me everything I needed to know. I also read magazines like D.O.M. to gain more knowledge. I sponge up as much information as I can.” We asked Coon what his style of management is. “I’m a
listener,” he says. “I listen and ask questions. I ask my way through problems. I’m not a yeller. Everyone gets upset, but it’s not worth getting frustrated and bent out of shape over it. Being an avionics person out on the road by myself, I learned not to let things get to me. There’s no reason to get frustrated. Just figure out the solution and move on to the next job.”
A CHANGE IN CULTURE There has been a culture change in the maintenance depart- ment since Coon became DOM. “The previous manage- ment team wasn’t hands-on,” he says. “They weren’t out on the floor. They stayed in their offices all the time. But I am more of a hands-on guy. Just like I did when I was avionics manager, I am out in the shop interacting with the guys as much as I can. I was personally frustrated with the manage- ment team when I was the avionics manager. When I was offered the DOM job, one of the reasons I accepted it was because I really wanted to affect change here. “Part of that change is how we do business,” Coon
continues. “We want to represent honesty, integrity, transparency and attention to detail. I saw the dysfunction of how the previous management team worked. I saw the complacency that was in place in their culture. We want to do things differently.”
DOMmagazine
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68