Ground operations supervision is less about insurance and more about assurance. It removes the insurance aspect but instead helps mitigate the effects of unforeseen events, whether by accident or design. Assurance, on the other hand, is all about ensuring that avoidable oversights don’t happen in the first place. The key point here is that by the time we need insurance, things have already gone wrong and we’re looking to minimize the consequences of those events. It’s the role of the UAS Global Network of VIP supervisors and station managers to provide assurance for passengers and operators by addressing and rectifying avoidable oversights before they become an issue. Unforeseen events do happen, however, so if insurance is required the supervisor will be there, on the spot, to coordinate events and mitigate their impact.
Private aviation is a complex process with many activities which need to be initiated and coordinated for a flight to happen. The vast majority of those processes are invisible to the passenger. Indeed, most passengers will have no idea of the technical, logistical, and regulatory procedures which must be completed and coordinated to successfully fly them from one FBO to another.
So, if events arise which cause delay to their journey, for whatever reason, it’s the service provider that the passenger has the most direct contact with who gets the blame. Some examples of issues include:
Catering doesn’t arrive, or the wrong catering arrives
Ground transport is held up at the security gate or waiting at the main/wrong terminal
CIQ doesn’t have the full passenger details for pre-clearance
Fuel Release not received or Fuel bowser not ready for the aircraft
FBO dealing with many movements before your flight
Aircraft needs towing from the parking position to FBO
Flight Plan needs re-filing
De-Icing not ready
These examples are generally out of the direct control of the aircraft operator. But through no fault of their own, it’s they who will have to deal with the consequences and perhaps jeopardize their relationship with the passenger or organization that is their client.
There’s no great secret to applying the preventative management and coordination which on-the-ground supervision delivers. Very often it’s the basic, apparently inconsequential things that lead to delays. It’s simply a matter of asking the right questions to the right people and checking to ensure that their part in the process is complete and ready.
The thing about preventative management is that when it’s successful, nobody knows what has been prevented! As far as the passenger is concerned, they departed, they flew, they arrived, and all was smooth, comfortable, and uneventful.
Getting the support of a supervisor could be perceived as an additional cost. However, the value of making the investment will pay dividends once an avoidable oversight or unexpected event that would have caused a delay to your passengers’ flight or transit of the FBO occurs.
For VIP onsite supervision with your global flight operations, UAS
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Mitch Launius
Instructor Pilot for 30 West IP
Mitch is the CEO of 30 West IP where he is also an instructor providing pilot training on international procedures. With an illustrious career of over 34 years in the cockpit, Mitch has acquired over 13,000 hours of flight time flying worldwide, with over 9,000 hours of this in Challenger and Gulfstream aircraft. He is an experienced safety officer and was also an IS-BAO project manager for a fortune 500 flight department. He has presented on Safety and Operations topics at the NBAA International Operators Conference and the Canadian Business Aviation Association Convention and is currently on the NBAA International Operators Committee and serves as the North Atlantic Regional Lead. Mitch is also a member of an FAA working group on General Aviation International Authorizations and Tabletop Exercises (GIATE). He was recently selected to represent IBAC as a member of the ICAO Personal Training and Licensing Panel (PTLP) and was also recently named as a 2020 recipient of the NBAA Tony Kern Professionalism in Aviation Award for his contribution to the business aviation community.
Henry ‘Duke’ LeDuc
Director Of Operations, Americas, UAS International Trip Support
Duke has been a dearly respected member of UAS Americas team and the UAS global family for more than five years. A safety-oriented, FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher, he oversees all of the operations of the elite UAS Operations Team. With twenty-five years of experience in aviation overall with more than fifteen years of experience in international flight planning and VVIP trip coordination, he is responsible for the development of the dispatch training program and involved in the strategic development of UAS Americas. With a myriad of rich aviation experience behind him, he has extensive experience in worldwide operations with both corporate and charter environments, including seven years as Operations/Dispatch Manager in an industry-leading, Fortune 500, IS-BAO Stage III Certified corporate flight department. Duke is frequently asked shares his knowledge at major industry events and is currently serving on the NBAA’s International Operators Conference (IOC) Planning Committee.
Dudley King
President and Founder, FlightBridge
Dudley is the Founder and President of FlightBridge, which he established in 2011 and has been focused on technology solutions for the private aviation industry since 2006. Since he graduated from Dartmouth in 1988, he has worked with an array of companies listed anywhere from VentureWire to the Fortune 100. A rare blend of executive, entrepreneur, and consultant, Dudley’s executive roles have included acting CIO positions for several companies and tech advisory services to CEOs trying to rebuild their technology organizations or looking for an external, professional point of view. Highly skilled at deeply understanding his customer’s business challenges and drawing from a long and varied experience in information technology services, Dudley excels at designing technology solutions to solve their problems.
Dr. Paulo Alves
Global Medical Director, Aviation Health, Medaire
Paulo has extensive experience in medical advisory in the aviation industry. As a cardiologist, he provides technical guidance and analysis for MedAire’s MedLink medical advisory service and is MedAire’s liaison with civil aviation regulators and industry associations. Paulo worked with Varig Brazilian Airlines for 23 years, 10 of which were spent as General Medical Manager. A member of the MedAire Medical Advisory Board, Paulo is also President of the Ibero-American Aerospace Medical Association, a member of the International Academy of Aerospace Medicine, a member of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Safety Committee, a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA), and a Fellow of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. Throughout his illustrious career, Paulo has held industry leadership roles including Chairperson of the AsMA’s Air Transport Medicine Committee, President of the Airlines Medical Directors Association, President of the Brazilian Society of Aerospace Medicine and was a member of the IATA Medical Advisory Group from 2002 to 2006.
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