Schmitz (right) at the AFCEA trade show with colleagues Work Hard And Always Keep Learning
In fact, that fascination happening over his head led Schmitz to leave school in 10th grade to begin a three-year airframe mechanic apprenticeship at Airbus in Hamburg, Germany, where the young man learned the basics of aircraft manufacturing. Driven by his stated philosophy of “work hard and always keep learning,” he returned to high school to get his diploma/ticket to apply to engineering college. While engrossed in his university studies, the German government drafted him for public civil service. Schmitz served by driving a street ambulance, and witnessed what EMS aircraft could do in action on accident scenes. After serving, he completed his college days writing his dissertation as an intern at Eurocopter (now Airbus) in Texas. When he joined Eurocopter- Donauwörth in Germany to begin his career in earnest, he was exposed to different departments that allowed him to interact with the OEM’s international operations and worked himself back to Grand Prairie, Texas. There he ran the aircraft maintenance organization for some time, and later acted as the executing program manager for the HH-65 Dolphin U.S. Coast Guard re- engining program.
It was an auspicious start to a burgeoning career, but that beginning was eclipsed by another beginning when Schmitz met and married his wife Deborah. (The couple now has two young children, Annika and Henning.) During those eventful days, Schmitz found time to
earn his MBA from the University of Dallas before being called back to Kassel to run the Eurocopter/Airbus maintenance facility where he’d originally done his internship during high school. The Schmitzes desired to return to the States, but Eurocopter/Airbus had no matching American job opportunity for him then. So on 31 December 2007, Schmitz officially left his employer of the past nine years (not counting internships) and moved to the States with Deborah, who had a job lined up; that enabled them to make the move. Schmitz consulted for the first few months back and then secured a position with Becker Avionics to head its U.S. subsidiary and focus on the rotary market.
After that, OnTime Networks, which provides rugged Ethernet networking equipment tailored to the aerospace and defense industries, employed him for seven years to run its U.S. business. For the first time in his career, Schmitz wasn’t working closely with the rotorcraft industry, except for occasional projects with rotary- wing test flight teams.
A little over a year ago, Axnes Inc. offered Schmitz the opportunity to return to his familiar rotorcraft industry family. Axnes’ stated mission is to develop, manufacture and support professional wireless intercoms to provide customers with increased mission capabilities, enhanced situational awareness and safety, “It’s been like going back home,” he says.
rotorcraftpro.com
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