BY JOE ESCOBAR
Tyler Hayes is the chief of maintenance for Harley-Davidson Flight Operations. At 32 years old, Hayes is a true professional and one of the youngest maintenance managers I have had the privilege of meeting. Hayes’ quick rise in his career has a lot to do with his positive attitude and his constant desire to learn as much as he can — to “soak it in like a sponge,” as he would say. His career advancement also has a lot to do with the introduction of the 300 a little more than 10 years ago. I’m not talking about the 2006 movie “300” that told the story of King Leonidas and his 300 Spartan warriors who fought the Persian army of Xerxes I at Thermopylae (although Spartan did play a role in his career). I’m referring to the introduction of Bombardier’s Challenger 300, which entered service two years earlier in 2004. This is Hayes’ story. Hayes grew up in Harvard, IL, a
suburb northwest of Chicago with a population of around 9,000. His family has owned and operated a commercial produce business, Twin Gardens Farms, since the 1950s. He worked on the farm when he was growing up, and always had access to the farm machinery, dirt bikes and four wheelers. His interest in all things mechanical began to grow as he got older. “I was curious about how things worked even as a small child,” says Hayes. “I was known as the kid who would tear something apart, even if it was in perfectly good working order, just to see how it worked.” As he entered his teenage years,
Hayes got into cars. His first vehicle was a 1986 Jeep CJ7 that his older brother gave to him. He enjoyed maintaining and modifying it. He is a self-described car fanatic. He says he has owned and worked on 15 cars in the last 16 years. Hayes took four years of building trades courses in high school but
wasn’t sure what he would do after graduation. He worked on houses doing everything from foundations and structures to roofing, dry walling, cabinetry, and detailed trim work. He also took drafting and CAD courses in school. He considered pursuing a career in architecture, and looked into attending Milwaukee School of Engineering. Then, just when Hayes thought he had a plan for his career, fate stepped in. He received a post card in the mail at his parents’ house from Spartan School of Aeronautics (now Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology) in Tulsa, OK. The post card piqued Hayes’ interest. “I started to think about a career in aviation maintenance,” says Hayes. “I was always curious about aviation, but had never considered it as a career.” The family of one of Hayes’ close high school friends, Pat Dacy, owned Dacy Airport in Harvard. He grew up around the Dacy family watching Pat’s uncle, Dave Dacy, perform wing walking shows with his Stearman, and often hung out at the airfield. He talked to Pat and his family about aircraft maintenance. This furthered Hayes’ interest, and before he knew it, he and his parents were driving to Tulsa to visit Spartan to see what it was all about. As Hayes and his family walked
around Spartan, he was excited by what he saw. He cast aside his thoughts of becoming an architect and decided to enroll at Spartan. He started the application process, was accepted, and started school three weeks after he graduated from high school in 2002. He graduated from Spartan 18 months later.
THE FIRST JOB After graduating from Spartan in December 2003, Hayes moved back to Harvard and started his job
search. He decided to go against the school’s advice. “Back then, schools were encouraging students to go into the regional airlines,” says Hayes. “I knew the style of who I was – a perfectionist and an organizational freak. I didn’t want to be ‘a number’ for the airlines. I started to do some research on other career opportunities in aviation maintenance.” After consulting with his family and close instructors from Spartan, Hayes thought he might want to pursue a career in business aviation. “I had never been around corporate aviation, but I felt it would be interesting based on the reading I had done online during my research and my discussions with the Dacy family. My family helped me put a resume together. I decided to go knock on some doors and see what happened.” Hayes decided to visit T-Bird
Aviation, a Part 135 operation at DuPage Airport, 37 miles west of downtown Chicago. He put on a suit, grabbed his resume, drove an hour down to the airport and knocked on T-Bird Aviation’s door. He talked to the person at the front desk and introduced himself, explaining how he had just graduated from school and was looking for a job. He ended up meeting Jim Rezich, the director of maintenance for T-Bird Aviation. Rezich talked to Hayes and gave him a tour of the facility. “I had never been in a corporate aviation facility or Part 135 operation before that point,” says Hayes. “I’ll never forget that moment when Jim opened up the door to the hangar and the nose of a GIV was right in front of me – I was in awe. There were nine business aircraft in the hangar and it was as pristine as a doctor’s office. I was excited.” Rezich called Hayes back the next
day and told him that he didn’t have any maintenance job openings, but he did have a line service job available and offered it to Hayes to help him get his foot in the door. “I didn’t even
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