Home Depot Aviation

[Wowjack]

Hanging out at the cafeteria last week at FlightSafety's Long Beach facility, I noticed a Home Depot poster featuring their Chief Pilot.

Anybody here fly for them or know anything about them?

 

[CL60]

Atlanta area. Global jet, Challengers, & other great aircraft. Great place to be in corp aviation.

 

[GVFlyer]

Home Despot

As an interesting aside, they have recently appointed their chief of maintenance as the Aviation Department Director following the lead of PepsiCo and 3M.

 

[banned username 2]

Re: Home Despot

As an interesting aside, they have recently appointed their chief of maintenance as the Aviation Department Director following the lead of PepsiCo and 3M.

Do you guys consider this good or bad?

We have a Department Manager, a Chief Pilot and a Director of Maintenance... The Department Manager is a Pilot...

Curious what other peoples thoughts are...

 

[CL60]

Falcon Capt,

That is the same setup I've seen at my F500 jobs as well. Works good if the management pilots have the freedom to fly a regular schedule. If not, the line guys are stuck with a lousy schedule.

 

[banned username 2]

Our manager flys about 50 hours per year, our Chief Pilot flys about 150-200 hours per year... the other 20 pilots fly about 375-500 hours per year... We have 5.2 airplanes at the main base (0.2 because one only flies about 100-150 hours per year realative to the other 5's 800+ hours per year) Our out stations each have a chief pilot and 2 line Captains... those planes fly about 500 hours per year and they divide up the flying equally between the 3 pilots...

So far it works quite well... we are getting very busy though... might be time to hire a couple guys!

 

[JetPilot500]

So far it works quite well... we are getting very busy though... might be time to hire a couple guys!

I'll bet you are about to get a ton of PM's for making that statement! LOL!

JetPilot500

 

[banned username 2]

YUP! You are right!

Got 2 in my inbox already!

Oooppss....

I am NOT saying that we are hiring, JUST that we could use a couple more people.... I do not decide when or who to hire!

Sorry for getting anyones hopes up!

And just for reference:

Typically we require at LEAST 4,000 TT, 2,500+ Multi and 1,000+ Turbine (including at least 500 Turbo-Jet) for an entry level F/O position.... Upgrade to Captain with these requirements would be 3-4 years typically.... When we hire, we usually hire people with higher times than this...

Again, I do not decide when or who to hire! AND we are NOT hiring or even interviewing at this time...

Sorry!

 

[GVFlyer]

Re: Re: Home Despot

Do you guys consider this good or bad?

I know the Directors at Pepsi and 3M - in these two cases it's good. Generally speaking, however, it is difficult for a non-flyer to fully understand the operational aspects, the difficulties, and critical decision making process associated with flying jets.

Leadership and management skills are not usually innate, they are taught or learned over time. Towards this end many department managers are former military officers. Examples are Gulfstream (where all leadership positions are held by former military officers[Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marines are represented]), Proctor and Gamble (the current guy is an Army General Officer), Phillip Morris (Army), Dupont (former Air Force colonel), MBNA (Air Force), Cox Aviation (Coast Guard), Sinclair Oil (Air Force), Bristol - Meyers Squib (Army), and Lockheed Martin (Army).















.

 

[PSL]

I might be touching off a debate not intented by the inference 'made' in the previous post. However ... here goes ...

Is it your contention that prior military aviatiors have some distinct competence that sets them apart from civilian aviatiors who aspire to flight department management positions ?

If so, I would like to hear your justification(s).

Keep in mind, there might be another equally compelling reason why, in addition to an officer's training, they occupy the positions they do.

The military fraternity is alive and well in many facets of aviation.

Military aviators are a known item to other military aviators and as such there is much less left to chance during the hiring process.

In case it's not entirely obvious ...

I'm a civilian trained pilot. I went to college ... have a few pieces of paper on the wall to confirm I stayed there for 8 years and a logbook that has 10+ years of FAR 121 time.

It's been my experience at the major airline level, that it's an unfair assumption that either group (civil or military) has an edge over the other.