NBAA M&O Session Panel
The New York Times published an article the other day about gratitude and how the good things in our lives are the result of fantastic webs of interconnected prerequisites. Many of us know that acknowledging all the things to be thankful for is beneficial to our health and well-being. But focusing on and realizing the chains of events that lead to the good things and how they’re interconnected is also beneficial.
For instance, the ability to work on a publication like Twin & Turbine is something for which I am very grateful. The opportunity came about a few years ago when former editor-in-chief Rebecca Groom allowed me to write several stories about the history of the Pinnacle Air Network, a group of aviation companies for which I provide services as executive director. I have worked with Rebecca through the years, and I know her dad, Randy, through his work with Pinnacle, Beechcraft, and Raisbeck. Those relationships have benefitted me greatly, and it’s the years of different things happening, mostly luck, that I get to acknowledge often. Many thanks to the Grooms.
Because of the opportunity to write for Twin & Turbine, I have been able to build new relationships and realize new avenues for growth. All of the writers for T &T, and the staff at Village Press, our publisher, are another source of gratitude that I can acknowledge daily. Many thanks to all the authors who tell their stories and the stories of others each month to entertain, to help us be better pilots, and to inform us about the industry we’re so lucky to be a part of.
I think about our aviation environment and the excitement it brings, and the careers many of us have built within it. It’s something to acknowledge and be thankful for; it’s a privilege to work within it, and we should not take it for granted.
While at NBAA-BACE last month in Las Vegas, I got to see and have lunch with Rich Pickett, one of our esteemed authors. Rich and I discussed his article this month about Garmin’s new SmartCharts functionality for the Garmin Pilot app. In the article, Rich writes about how we wouldn’t have the IFR environment we use today without the innovations provided by figures such as Elrey Jeppesen and Jimmy Doolittle. I would also add Elmer Sperry to that list. Without the Sperry Gyroscope Company’s invention of the gyroscopic compass and attitude indicator, Doolittle wouldn’t have been able to accomplish that first “blind” flight in the clouds. Many thanks to Rich and all the T &T writers for their monthly insight and knowledge they provide us.
On the second day of NBAA-BACE, I attended a new kind of M&O session. M&O stands for maintenance and operations. Rather than the usual semi-biased lectures put on by the aircraft OEMs, NBAA recruited those professional organizations that actually do the work. Stevens Aerospace, Elliott Aviation, Western Aircraft, and StandardAero all had representatives providing valuable operations information to the attendees. And those attendees received credit towards IA (inspection authorization) renewal.
We do have a lot to be thankful for these days, especially those of us who get to enjoy and work within this incredible aviation environment. Take a few minutes to reflect on how you got here and focus on those little interconnected webs of prerequisites.
