PROFILE
he says. “We were very busy at the time — working 10-hour days, six days a week. We were a Beechcraft sales facility, a charter operation, fl ight school and we had maintenance and avionics shops. I started off doing 100-hour inspections on Musketeers, Sierras and Sundowners. I then advanced to the twin-engine piston line and within a year was working on King Airs. Along the way, I was promoted to night shift supervisor.” After four years at Bill Woods Beechcraft, Priest was transferred to a contract assignment with South Central Bell, where he helped establish its corporate fl ight department. They bought four aircraft and set up a fi ve-state shuttle operation. That’s where Priest got his fi rst taste of business aviation. “It was a totally diff erent environment,” he tells D.O.M. magazine. “Sure, we were still working on aircraft, but that ownership aspect came in. Those were my airplanes. I was directly responsible for those assets. It required teamwork, leadership and interpersonal skills — not just mechanical skills. We were a tight- knit group of pilots and technicians. Our mission was to fulfi ll the transportation needs for a multi- state organization. We had scheduled shuttle service with two aircraft fi ve days a week and executive transport on demand. I was the chief of maintenance and had a team of four mechanics working with me.” In 1984, after four years working on the South Central Bell contract, South Central Bell and Southern Bell were consolidated under Bell South. The company moved to Atlanta, and Priest chose to stay in the Birmingham area. He got a job as the director of maintenance for a company that did charter fl ights and critical care transport. He was there
for 2 ½ years until he decided to take a break. “That was an extremely tough environment,” Priest says. “The airplanes, especially the air medical aircraft, fl ew a tremendous amount — 75, 80, sometimes over 100 hours a month, and there were just three of us maintaining the entire fl eet. So, I took a step back and went to work part-time in a corporate hangar in Birmingham maintaining fi ve airplanes with another mechanic. I also worked in the automotive insurance environment doing fi eld auto claims. I still worked on aircraft — I just needed a sanity break.” Priest jumped back into aircraft maintenance full-time in 1988 when he took a job with AMR Combs in Birmingham, where he managed a maintenance operation with 26 mechanics. The company had a fl ight school, charter operation and performed on-demand work for the airlines. “In the peak season, we ran as many as 50 diff erent airplanes through the facility each week,” Priest says. “It could be an oil change on a Cessna 150 or an MD-80 that needed a windshield changed. Part of our concept was that we tried not to say “no” unless we couldn’t work on the aircraft. We always looked for a way to get it done safely and in accordance with the regulations.” Priest worked at AMR Combs for
six years. He then took a job with Health South, where he was part of a team that started its corporate fl ight department from the ground up. He was involved in the building of two corporate hangars and the acquisition and disposal of airplanes. At the peak, the fl eet consisted of 15 airplanes with fi ve diff erent manufacturers. After 10 years at Health South, the
fl eet was downsized. Shortly thereafter, Priest went to work as the DOM for McWane, Incorporated. They operated
four aircraft — a G3, two Lear 45s and a Cessna 172. He worked there for 10 years until the company chose to close the fl ight department and use Netjets for its travel needs. Priest and his team lost their jobs.
PIONEER AVIATION
MANAGEMENT Priest decided it was time to take another career path. He wasn’t ready to quit working, but at his age he wasn’t ready to jump into a large maintenance environment again. He had been involved in NBAA’s Maintenance Committee. He knew that there were many small corporate fl ight departments that could use some help. “My company grew out of what we were seeing in the NBAA Maintenance Committee,” he shares. “Looking at the association’s demographics, a high percentage, perhaps 70-75%, of the association membership, consists of small fl ight departments with one or two aircraft and no maintenance staff . You have a pilot overseeing and managing the maintenance function. It was a concern brought up by several board members because they wanted the maintenance committee to look at how we could better serve smaller fl ight departments. So basically, Pioneer Aviation Management was formed to serve those smaller fl ight departments. We provide oversight and asset management for smaller fl ight departments. We take on the role of the traditional DOM and provide the asset and resource management for the aircraft. Whenever possible, the people that we use to do this asset management or onsite technical work are FlightSafety certifi ed Master Technicians in the aircraft that they are working on or overseeing.”
12
DOMmagazine.com | oct 2019
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 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92
