The History of Aero Aviation
Chapter Objectives:
Introduction
The present day success of a firm is rooted in the firm's past. Employees, especially new employees, need to know the history of a firm to understand the present day success, rules, and policies. New employees have a strong desire to become a productive member with the current work force. To become a member of their new work group, these new employees need to understand the history of the company.
To facilitate this need to know the history of the company, most employee handbooks contain a brief history of the firm. This gives new employees the history of the firm they need to feel part of their new company.
In this chapter, you will become familiar with the history of Aero Aviation. In addition to the history, this chapter has the mission statement and long-range plan for Aero Aviation. The final section of this chapter has a description of the different operational components of the industry and Aero Aviation.
Aero Aviation Co., an Arizona corporation, was organized in February 1962. The founder, Ralph Earhart, had graduated from the Harvard Business School in 1955 and was previously an investment counselor with a Phoenix firm. Since 1960, Earhart, who holds an airline transport pilot's license, had also been president of an air taxi service operating from Phoenix to various smaller Arizona communities.
During the mid-1960s, Earhart and his associates became increasingly convinced that a need existed for improved non-scheduled on-demand air transportation for the Phoenix area. Until recently, only a few air charter operations had capitalized on such an opportunity for new business. Bangert Air Taxi and Aerodrome Air were the only companies offering such services. Moreover, Phoenix was one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. By 1964 Phoenix's standard metropolitan statistical area had a population of 456,000, an increase of 6% during the past year. Looking back at the factors that had first stimulated his interest in developing an aviation company to serve these markets, Earhart recalled:
"The more we talked to people, the more we looked at figures of how big the market was and the more we realized the degree of customer dissatisfaction with the services of existing carriers, the more apparent the opportunities became to us. We thought that these were substantial markets, and while they were not as large as the Los Angeles-San Francisco market, they had a lot in common with it."
On February 21, 1965, the Arizona Aeronautics Commission granted a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to Aero Aviation, permitting it to provide intrastate air service between Phoenix and other Arizona communities. The Federal Aviation Administrations certified Aero Aviation for both air charter service and pilot flight training on April 15, 1965. With the assistance of outside investors, Aero Aviation was able to purchase 10 aircraft from Cessna Aviation Co. to support its new business of transporting passengers throughout the state of Arizona and flight training.
By 1967, Aero Aviation generated it first profitable year since beginning operations. They established themselves as the a premier aviation company in Phoenix that offered safe, fast, and friendly air transportation and service to the general public to meet their time schedules and personal demands. Earhart himself could not be more satisfied with it success and quality reputation over its competitors. Within seven years, Aero Aviation had established an outstanding 54% of the market in the non-scheduled on-demand air transportation industry and a 68% market share in flight training.
Foreseeing opportunities for expansion, Earhart and his associates embarked on marketing and selling aircraft to the general public in 1973. Aero Aviation would contract with other aircraft manufacturers such as Cessna Aircraft and Piper Aircraft Corp. to sell their aircraft. During the 1970's and 80's aircraft sales generated exceptional profitable margin.
The flight training department experienced rapid growth since 1971 and remains one of the top revenue generating centers for Aero Aviation. On August 1, 1971, Aero Aviation entered in to an agreement with Maricopa Community College to start a flight training program for the College. Students earned an Associates degree in Aviation Science with a concentration in flight management. The agreement stipulated that Maricopa College would teach all the general education courses and Aero Aviation would teach both the flight and ground training for the college. The first year there were approximately 30 students enrolled in the program. Since 1976, Aero Aviation and Maricopa College have been recognized as a national leader in flight training and consistently has had an enrollment of 100 to 120 students per year. Because of this national reputation, Aero Aviation has reached an agreement with the University of Arizona in Tucson to perform all of the ground and flight training for the University's new Aviation Management Program. This program is the first of its kind in the U.S. and is an agreement between the University, Aero Aviation and Delta airlines. Earhart expects the revenue from this program to triple the revenue generate from the flight training division.
As the number of company airplanes increased over the years, the need for maintenance grew. In 1969, Aero Aviation established a service and maintenance department open to all general aviation customers. Aero Aviation is equipped to perform all aircraft maintenance from inspections to major engine overalls. Aero Aviation has the fuel contract with the city of Phoenix and thus is the only authorized company to sell aviation fuel at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. All the airlines that fly into Phoenix must purchase their fuel from Aero Aviation. In addition they sell a wide range of pilot and aircraft supplies to the general aviation community.
Over the years Aero Aviation has experienced growth in both facilities and the number of its employees. Aero Aviation has 4 buildings located on the high traffic southwest section of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. At the present time Aero Aviation employs 257 people.
Aero Aviation's principle product is the finest quality general aviation flight services for our customers. Our services include flight training, non-scheduled on-demand air transportation, aircraft sales, aircraft fuel sales, the latest in pilot supplies, and quality aircraft maintenance. Our most important service is fast, and friendly customer care.
Our customers can be divided into three distinct categories. We offer safe, fast, and friendly air transportation to the general public to meet their time schedules and personal demands. The second group of customers are those people interested in learning to fly. Finally we offer quality aircraft servicing and maintenance to general aviation pilots and companies.
Since 1947, Aero Aviation has meet the needs of its customers in the metropolitan area of Phoenix and central Arizona. By meeting the needs of our customers we have become the premier Fixed Base Operator in the southwest. We will continue to expand by meeting the diverse needs of customers.
The most import stakeholder in our business is our customers. Our growth over time has allowed us to improve the quality of our second most important constituency, which is our employees. Finally we have had the good fortune of giving a fair return to the owners of Aero Aviation.
Aero Aviation believes in the values of our country, customers and employees. We recognize that our growth is dependent on the quality of our community, thus we have always been an active member of the central Arizona community projects.
We at Aero Aviation are committed to honesty and integrity in our business operations. The quality of our service depends on fair play and honesty between Aero Aviation and it's stakeholders.
Flight training in the United States is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Obtaining a pilot license is similar to receiving your driver's license, although much more difficult and expensive. To receive a pilot's license you must pass a written test, an oral examination, and a practical examination of your ability to fly an airplane with a designated FAA Examiner. In addition to these examinations, you must also pass a physical examination with an FAA approved medical doctor. In the U.S., a student can select to be trained in one of two types of schools. The first type of school is an FAA Approved Flight School and the other is school training students according to Part 61 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. Pilots trained in either school must demonstrate the same acceptable level of pilot understanding and skill. The advantage of the approved schools is it can issue Pilot Certificates with fewer hours of training required by the FAA.
In an approved school the students are taught according to a strict course training syllabus approved by the FAA. This syllabus states specifically what the student is to be taught during each learning session. Very little deviation is allowed from the course outline. In addition all flight instructors are monitored and under the direct control of the Chief Flight Instructor. Each student must also pass period flight training tests with the Chief Flight Instructor to assure the quality of flight training being given by the school.
The second type of flight schools are those giving training that meets the guidelines of Part 61 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. Part 61 training is not as structured or as closely monitored by the FAA as are the approved flight training school. Under Part 61, the instructor is free to adjust the training to meet the different needs of the student. Because of the lack of approved structure a student learning under Part 61 is required to have more hours of flight training.
The first certificate you receive is your Student Pilot Certificate. You get this certificate when you pass your first medical examination. The Student Pilot Certificate allows the student to fly solo under the direction of an instructor will earning their Private Pilot Certificate. The Private Pilot Certificate allows you to fly with other passengers on board the airplane. To receive your private license you must have a minimum of 20 hours of instruction and 20 hours of solo flight time. If you go through an approve school the flight time is a minimum of 35 hours of total time.
The Commercial Pilot Certificate is normally the next license the pilot earns. A Commercial license allows a pilot to charge passengers for his/her flight services. Under part 61 a pilot must have a minimum of 250 hours of flight time and a specified amount of flight training to receive this license. Under an Approved school the time varies but is normally about 190 hours of flight time.
The Instrument Rating is not a pilot's license but an additional rating on one's pilot certificate. The instrument rating allows a pilot to fly in clouds or very low visibility. Without an instrument rating a pilot must have 3 miles flight visibility and remain 1,000 feet away from any cloud.
In IFR conditions the pilot controls the airplane by reference to the flight instruments in the plane. In VFR conditions the pilot flies the airplane with a visual reference to the ground and to the instruments. To receive an instrument rating the pilot must have 40 hours of instrument flight training.
The pilot may decide to obtain a Certified Flight Instructor certificate (CFI). In order to receive an instructor rating a pilot must have a minimum of a Commercial Pilot Certificate with an Instrument Rating. With a CFI certificate a person can teach other people how to fly. The different flight instructor rating are:
Another rating that is sometimes added onto a pilot's license is a multi-engine rating. Usually a pilot learns to fly in a single-engine airplane. In order to fly an airplane with two or more engines, a pilot must pass both an oral and flight test. There is no minimum flight time required for this rating, just the skill required to operate this type of airplane.
These are the basic pilot certificates and ratings taught by Aero Aviation. Aero Aviation has a thirty year history of offering quality flight training to perspective pilots.
On-Demand air charter (also called air taxi operation) gives businesses and people the choice of hiring an airplane and a pilot to fly them to their destination. The advantage of using an air taxi operation is the convenience of setting the departure time of the flight and flying to communities not serviced by scheduled airlines. In most cases, when you consider the salary of the people, air taxi flight saves you time and money versus driving or using the airlines.
Air taxi operations are regulated by the FAA under Part 135 of the FARs. All charter aircraft must be inspected every 100 hours of operation and must undergo an annual maintenance inspection by an authorized inspector.
An air taxi operation must have a chief pilot who is in charge of the operation and all charter pilots. A pilot must have 700 hours to fly passengers under VFR conditions and 1200 hours to operate at night or in IFR conditions. VFR charter pilots must pass an annual proficiency check flight, while IFR charter pilots are tested very six months.
Air taxi companies charge passengers either by the mile or a predetermine cost over routes regularly flown by their customers. Another less used method of payment is for the customer to purchase a set amount or block of air travel. Included in the cost of chartering the aircraft is the cost of the pilot, any housing and meals required for the pilot, and operational costs of the airplane.
Socialization of the employee into the organization's culture is an important action that must occur in order to have a productive worker. Part of learning about a company is to know something about the history of the firm. Your handbook must include a section on the history of Aero Aviation, and an updated mission statement. Use the history of Aero Aviation and its mission statment in this chapter to write a section on the history of Aero Aviation for your employee handbook.