O.W.L.

Chris Boggs has always had a passion for aviation.  While in high school he also attended a local trade school and completed ground school in his junior year and completed his flight training at a local airport in his senior year. When he graduated from high school, he had his private pilot's license, which was very special as it isn't common for anyone in his area to have that in their back pocket when they graduate high school.

After high school Chris had a serious car accident that altered the change of his very focused career path.  He knew though that aviation was where he always wanted to be.  He started at Humana at the call center and then worked his way into his current position, Flight Scheduler.  Chris said it was very eye opening when he stepped into the business aviation side of things as he didn't know corporate aviation even existed, this was never taught in school.
Chris loves the daily challenge of constant change; you never know what your day will be like when you wake up.
Chris also volunteers for ski patrol and also a 1st responder. He now teaches ski patrol and is also a recruiter.  He encourages others to push themselves outside their comfort zone, that's where the rewards of growing are.
Two great tips Chris offers-He encourages networking, as terrifying as that is, is so necessary to continue to grow. He also recommended as students are starting out, don't get tunnel focused on one area, focusing on just one thing, keep your eyes wide open and experience as much as possible, you just never know where you may land!


Chris' favorite quote, Leonardo Da Vinci--Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you will always long to return.
 

 Next Gen Schedulers & Dispatchers-interviewing Sue Sophabmixay, Sr. Sales Engineer with SatCom, Carrie Wicht, Corporate Flight Travel/Coordinator with Harley Davidson and Megan Knox, Scheduler & Accounting Administration with Liberty Global Inc.

This is a great podcast on collaborating with these smart, resourceful, tech savvy women.  We discussed how remote work has taken a big shift in 2020, how companies are embracing working from home and how employees have risen up to the challenge to get the mission accomplished. With the right tools most tasks can be completed anywhere. Learning to become a tech guru, the willingness to learn has granted more flexibility with the work environment.

Resourcefulness was another big topic.  How networking, reaching out to the right people to get answers, becoming a mentor or men-tee can be very beneficial in your position. NBAA has great programs that can assist with this.

Working on your Leadership skills can also be beneficial.  The more skills you have the more resourceful you will be.  We've learned that being diversified can only helped your career move forward.  Sometimes you'll have to seek the resources to expand your knowledge, but you have to keep the fire burning to continue to learn!

Our March OWL Meeting was all about FBOs and highlighted 2 great panelists, Cat Wren with Business Jet Center and Jessi Rowden with Cutter Aviation.  They shared with us some great information on how to help the FBO help you.  Great discussion points, some product reviews and overall a very helpful conversation. 

Susan McCloskey is a talented and experienced Business Aviation Scheduler.  She has been in General Aviation in various aspects for over 20 years.  Susan has created a unique opportunity for herself in that her position is completely remote and allows her to work from anywhere.  While that seems more common place now because of the pandemic, Susan was a true pioneer in this endeavor.  Listen to what she says about this lifestyle and her pointers on how to do it yourself!  

Jessica McClintock, with Fuelerlinx, VP of Global Account Management, started in retail but truly wanted to discover her passion.  She took some big chances with not a lot of money to support this leap and 'nothing' became 'something'!  Aviation is now her life, not just her career, everything she does fuels her passion for aviation. She's a mentor and a mentee, she's becoming a pilot, which is a huge milestone, and hopes to earn her CFI to help give back to the community by helping others fuel their aviation passion.  Jessica believes everyone has the opportunity to grow; having the courage to be disliked while staying true to who you are is key.  She recommends joining as many programs as you can so you can grow as a person, community is where it's at!  Jessica was truly an inspiration to talk to!

Kerri Russi from  Adobe's flight department will be speaking to us about how she was able  to add value to her position by creating initiatives for Adobe to use  sustainable fuel, switching to paper products on the aircraft and other  green initiatives.

Meet Shannon!    Shannon Pinkston is in the Virginia, Dulles area.  She has her private pilot license, has done quite a bit of work with corporate transportation and Part 91 flight operations.  Shannon loves aviation and is out to find a new opportunity within the industry.  Please reach out to [email protected]   

Meet Bobby Meade!  Bobby fell into aviation by accident. He went to college for aviation management, and then work many different jobs including at an airport for a commercial airline and then into private aviation doing Part 135. Bobby said he was amazed when learning different jobs of all the behind the scenes details, he never knew there was so much to learn and continues to learn every day. Bobby said that you need to have thick skin to work in this industry-own up to your mistakes and always continue learning. Bobby recommended searching for aviation video's on YouTube to help with staying in touch with the ever-changing industry. He said if your passion is aviation, stay with it!

Craig has a very extensive background in aviation, starting in the military and then continuing on to work in commercial, cargo and private aviation.  He touched on how important operational control/dual planning is to running a successful flight department.Additionally he talks about the sharing of all information is critical within a flight department and and including the Scheduler/Dispatcher in the planning stages, educating them on the performance of the aircraft, possible maintenance concerns,  and facilities required at an FBO, including how critical the size of the fuel truck is! Craig highlights the fact that one of the most critical parts of a flight is the planning stages, anticipating and not waiting for things to go wrong. Craig also discussed the importance of networking, relying on your friends to ask questions to and always continuing education.