Professional Pilot, May 2019

36 PROFESSIONAL PILOT May 2019 Brent Bundy has been a police officer with the Phoenix Police Dept for 27 years He has served in the PHX Air Support Unit for 17 years and is a helicopter rescue pilot with nearly 4000 hours of flight time Bundy currently flies Airbus AS350B3s for the helicopter side of Phoenix PDs air unit and Cessna 172 182s and 210s for the fixed wing side From the outset the Schweitzer flight department has been based near the world headquarters in Pullman WA All aircraft are housed in privately owned hangars a necessity with the harsh Washington winters The Cessna Citation X flightdeck is equipped with the newest upgrades for the Garmin G5000 avionics suite a thoroughly modern yet easy to use system In 2008 after graduating from Utah State and a year and a half with Sky West Airlines Udys dream came true when he was hired as a pilot by SEL This company has been amazing to me From the time I was 17 they wanted to give a young local guy an opportunity to learn And that has not stopped I continue to learn and grow with SEL Scoring Xs in maintenance Another area of the SEL flight department that has been made a bit easier with a homogeneous fleet is the maintenance In charge of this is Aviation Maintenance Manager Greg McCann From the town of Calumet OK Mc Canns 1st interest in aviation was from a neighbor who was a founding member of the Flying Farmers of America I saw his Piper J 3 Cub in the barn and I was mesmerized by how it all worked McCann reminisces Later while in junior college he worked as a line tech at a small airport He went on to earn his A P and was hired by Halliburton in Duncan OK working on a Gulfstream I and a Bombardier Dash 8 A year later he moved to Dallas TX to work on Halliburtons Gulfstreams and Hawkers He spent 11 years with Halliburton as a flight mechanic on international flights including with then chairman and future US Vice President Dick Cheney Over the next several years McCann worked as director of maintenance for various companies in addition to a stint as a boat captain before receiving a call from SEL in 2007 I researched the company and it almost seemed like theyd written the job just for me It was everything I was already doing at the time so I moved to Pullman he says When McCann joined he was the only maintenance person working on the 2 Citation Xs and the Bravo As expansion continued SEL brought on 3 more techs which McCann feels is the perfect number for their current fleet even with the nearly 3000 hours flown each year Most work is completed at the home base with 2 and 3 year items being sent out to Textron For maintenance tracking in 2017 SEL signed on with Flightdocs and has been completely satisfied It was a big decision but weve found that their innovation and support has been wonderful McCann sums up what makes SEL different than other companies hes worked for when he says At SEL its all about the culture It comes from the top down that we are all involved in the big picture This company is innovative and forward thinking and it treats people like they want to be treated Superb scheduling With flight schedules akin to a regional airline it takes a strong team to keep it all organized That team includes 6 schedulers 3 in charge of SEL jet travel and 3 managing commercial travel for SEL employees Aviation Dispatch Manager Kori Whitcomb emphasizes the value of close collaboration between private and commercial scheduling We often combine private and commercial services to ensure our employees get where they need to be Whitcomb explains We may fly someone on 1 of our aircraft to an airport where they can then connect a nonstop commercial flight to their final destination Our 2 travel groups work together to make the most efficient use of our planes and our employees time A Pullman native Whitcomb previously spent 8 years as a travel agent and another 4 as a scheduler on a leased aircraft aptly preparing her for her current position She joined SEL in 2001 when it owned just 1 plane and has been involved in the growth over the years Shortly after being hired Whitcomb attended her 1st NBAA Schedulers Dispatchers Conference of which she is now on the Scholarship Subcommittee Whitcombs infectious enthusiasm is quickly revealed when asked why she works for SEL Because this company is amazing she says I love being able to get our people to our customers especially when our customers need our help But also the community support that SEL gives through Corporate Angel Network transporting cancer patients and other programs is incredible SELs values truly do match my own I just love coming to work Charging ahead While the past 10 years have been a difficult period for business aviation Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories took that time to analyze and finetune the flight department to best suit its needs In doing so SEL has created a robust effective program that has reflected the growth of the company they support With a modern fleet of 4 Cessna Citation X aircraft upholding an organization focused on customer service Ed Schweitzer and his team have put together a successful equation to handle whatever the years ahead may present