Professional Pilot, March 2016

64 PROFESSIONAL PILOT March 2016 acquiring equipment and hiring mechanics the dept was able to eliminate 1 aircraft saving the company millions in operating costs Ridings oversees 2 full time A Ps and 3 fulltime line service techs During JHAs Citation days Ridings was a member of the NBAA Technical Advisory Committee The ability to interact directly with the manufacturer and a cross section of operators was a great benefit to our operation says Ridings He is now trying to put together a similar committee for the Phenom 300 JHA mechanics attend initial training at CAE in Dallas Annual recurrent training is done in house and each A P attends enrichment training once a month Once a year they train on FAA human factors Conclusion From its humble beginnings over 35 years ago JHA has experienced tremendous growth due to the innovation dedication and hard work of its people The flight dept has been instrumental in this success Jack and Jerrys motto Do the right thing do whatever it takes and have fun has shaped JHAs corporate culture and continues to do so today the road 250 days a year JHA recognized a way to become more efficient In 1999 the company developed its in house travel agency to work in concert with flight ops and renamed the dept Travel Lisa Goode joined JHA in 1997 as its first full time corporate scheduler and she is now JHA travel ops senior manager Goode previously worked for a travel agency which made that transition very easy Today Goode oversees a team of 16 travel counselors who are responsible for moving thousands of employees and business associates around the country every day on both company and commercial aircraft Everyone at JHA has access to the company Cindy Youngblood holds an ATP license and is type rated in the BE400 CE500 and CE560XL She has extensive experience in both Part 91 corporate and Part 135 charter ops jets says Goode The travel dept examines how many people need to go and the best mode of transportation is utilized JHA executives often travel with an install team Approximately 35 of JHAs flights transport company personnel to small town locations to visit customer 30 of flights bring customers or prospective customers to visit the JHA corporate campus and company executives for business meetings The remaining 35 is comprised of internal and regularly scheduled shuttle trips Twice a week JHA runs a shuttle between Monett and Dallas and once a month the shuttle connects Monett Louisville and Birmingham In addition to increased productivity the JHA flight operation provides a huge sales benefit for the company From the time a customer arrives at the airport enters the hangar and boards an aircraft they see and experience the JHA culture From the aircraft and pilots to the hangar and corporate campus everything is immaculate Before his death in 2007 Jack Henry used to say Most of our selling is done before we start talking Maintenance In 2006 JHA made the pivotal decision to create an in house mx dept and brought on A P Chris Ridings as DOM At the time the company was operating the 5 Citation Encores but 1 was always in maintenance After A P Terry Leech works on 1 of JHAs Phenom 300s The company employs 2 full time A Ps and 3 full time line service technicians L R Travel Counselors Ashley Rivera Ann Kingrey Jennifer Barnett Abigail Crockett seated Christie Dawson Sara Gripka Robin Brodie right side Sami Linebarger seated Missy Paszek Crystal Cottrell Travel Counselor Supervisor Kelly Russow and Julie Logan DOM Chris Ridings joined JHA in 2006 to start an in house mx dept He oversees 2 fulltime A Ps and 3 full time line service techs