Glenn Williams - Director of Maintenance/Director of Manufacturing, Flying Colours Corp.

Glenn Williams is the director of maintenance and manufacturing for Peterborough, Ontario-based Flying Colours Corp., a Canadian-based service company specializing in interior completions, paint, maintenance and refurbishment. This month, D.O.M. magazine sat down with Williams to learn more about his experience leading this diversified maintenance operation and some of the lessons learned along his career path.

Introduction to Aviation

Williams was introduced to aviation at an early age. His father, a retired Air Force technician, bought a Cessna 150 (oddly enough from John Gillespie, Flying Colours CEO) when Williams was seven years old. Williams and his three older brothers (two of which currently work in aviation) would go flying with their father regularly. They would also assist their father with the maintenance on a regular basis.

Williams’ technical skills were honed while he worked as a machinist throughout high school. About a year after graduating from high school, his employer decided to retire and Williams decided to start his own aircraft cleaning business. “I started it myself,” says Williams. “I worked at it nights and weekends. I had a couple of my friends that worked with me. Our customers were all corporate flight departments. When the aircraft would return, we would go and detail it and get it ready for the next flight.” Williams continued to run his aircraft cleaning business part time until around 1993.

Williams credits his older brother Gord for pushing him towards aviation. Gord introduced Glenn to Tom Hodges  and Jack Turnbull at Ken Wilson Aircraft Sales, a Cessna dealership, in 1985. Tom and Jack hired Glenn for his first job as an apprentice aircraft maintenance engineer (AME). “I think they hired me because I bugged them so much,” jokes Williams. “I would constantly call them. Once every couple of weeks, then once a week, and then twice a week until finally Tom just said, ‘When can you start? I’m sick of you calling me.’“

When it came to getting his AME license, Williams tells D.O.M. magazine he did it the “old” way. “Most guys my age went to aviation college for two years and then did their apprenticeship. I went straight to apprenticeship, which took a bit longer, and meant it was all self-study to take the five exams to get my license. That was an option back then. Now it’s mandatory to have schooling here in Canada. You have to go to college or some equivalency to be able to get acceptance to test.”

Core Values

Williams credits his time at Ken Wilson Aircraft Sales for helping lay the foundation of his core values. “Tom and Jack were early mentors in my career,” Williams tells D.O.M. magazine. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. They were instrumental in how I looked at aviation and at life — what was right and what was wrong.

“It was a positive work culture,” continues Williams. “They watched over you, but they also give you some rope to let you learn. It is the same thing I do with the guys here. Some people might be paranoid about a job taking too long and costing too much because the person doing it doesn’t have the experience to complete the task or has never done it before. You need to empower people and have the patience to train them. If not, they are never going to be productive.”

Williams worked at Ken Wilson Aircraft Sales for two and a half years. He then decided he wanted to go work for the airline — but his airline “career” would last less than a year. “It was four days on and four days off,” shares Williams. “I didn’t care for the shift work much. Plus, I found that I was going and freelancing on my days off at a corporate flight department. My days on always seemed to include Friday through Sunday, so I missed a lot of time with my friends and family.”

Magna International Inc.

Williams left the airlines in 1988 and went to work at Magna International Inc., the corporate flight department where he had been freelancing. He started as an aircraft mechanic. Within a year, Williams had moved up to DOM. “I got dropped into the DOM job because the flight department was drastically downsized,” Williams tells D.O.M. magazine. “The DOM that was there and a couple of fellow technicians were let go. For some reason the company wanted to keep me, so I got the DOM job. There I was, 25 years old, and in charge of a CL 601 and Citation II charter operation.”

So how does Williams describe that first job as a DOM? Exciting? Rewarding? “It was daunting,” he laughs. “I was scared and paranoid. A lot of old timers on the field said I was going to fail. But those same old timers who pointed their fingers at me were always there when I needed their help. They used to joke that their license had a BA after the number – it stood for Before Aluminum. I ended up working alongside some of those guys later on in my career.”

“Some people, when they enter aviation maintenance, are young and think they know everything but they know nothing,” he continues. “That wasn’t me. I was well aware that I didn’t know everything, and I wasn’t ashamed to reach out for help. To this day I’m still not ashamed to reach out for help.”

Magna International operated a Citation V, Falcon 50 and Falcon 900 — all flying between 450 and 600 hours a year.Williams worked at Magna International until 1999. Toward the end he realized the job had taken over too much of his personal life. His kids were young and he was missing out on their activities. His wife eventually told him it had to stop. “To put it in her words, I was gone most of the time, and when I was at home I was an ass because I was so tired,” he shares.

Hollinger Aviation

In late 1999, Williams went to work for Hollinger Aviation. He was a flight engineer, base engineer and assistant DOM working on Bermuda-registered Gulfstream IV and CL 601. “It was a totally different world,” he shares. “I would go out flying for a week or two and would come home and have some time off.”

Eventually the flight department shut down. Williams started his own consulting and management company. He got a job in the final stages of a pre-buy and entry into service on a Challenger in Toronto that was going to be based in Moscow. “They hired me to assist with the post pre-buy and entry into service,” shares Williams. “I then flew to Moscow and lived there for three months to help get it set up. It pretty much flew between Russia and the U.K. The company also had a Global Express (later replaced by an XRS then a 5000) that they operated out of Toronto. The engineer for the Global was leaving, so I took over the Global. I basically had the Global and managed the maintenance on the Challenger. I was there from 1995 to 2010. I spent a lot of time in Russia and around the world during that time. I still manage the maintenance on the 5000.”

Flying Colours

Williams joined Flying Colours as director of maintenance and director of manufacturing in 2010. He currently oversees the company’s manufacturing and maintenance Approved Maintenance Organizations (AMOs), including budgeting and planning for future growth. He manages approximately 190 personnel from the maintenance, interior, engineering and paint departments. He is responsible to Transport Canada for all regulatory requirements and is one of the main customer liaisons for most aspects of the projects.

Opportunities for Growth

D.O.M. asked Williams if there was a good opportunity for growth at Flying Colours. “Moving forward, being a completions center for Bombardier and the growth that is planned for the company, I have already told the key guys on the floor that I want them to become crew leaders when we grow,” he says. “They are on the ground floor, but they will have opportunities to move up. It gives them hope so they don’t think they will be turning wrenches their whole life. I will take anybody under my wing and help them along as much as I can.”

Core Competencies

To help track training requirements, Flying Colours tracks core competencies of each employee. There are specific core competencies that each employee must meet to do his or her job. Additional core competencies are added as employees move up the career ladder at the company. “Many of the workers we have on the floor removing, installing and fabricating interiors are skilled and qualified technicians, but many of them aren’t AMEs,” says Williams. “They do a great job. It’s an art being able to get it in and out without damaging it. And not a lot of people have that skill. So all our guys get trained to the core competencies needed for each job.” Flying Colours also has a joint venture with Fleming College to help train potential new employees (see sidebar on page 8).

Core competency training, including safety management systems (SMS) training, begins at day one. Once employees reach supervisory positions they are given additional focused training on subjects such as budgeting, quoting and regulatory issues.

Positive Reinforcement

Williams says that positive reinforcement is essential in the workplace. “The big thing that many people don’t do is saying ‘thank you,” and patting people on the back,” he says. “You can ask the guys on the floor — I’m always telling people ‘great job’ and thanking them and doing whatever I can. When it comes to delivery time and it is crunch time, I’m here with them with my sleeves rolled up, helping them get it out of here whenever I can. They respect that. We have a great core group of people here.”

On the Regulatory Side

D.O.M. magazine asked Williams how difficult it is to work at a company that deals with so many regulatory authorities. “I have a great QA department that works with me,” he says. “It was hard at the beginning because I was so used to doing everything myself. I didn’t have a whole QA department behind me in my previous job. I was THE guy. I answered to the owners and the regulatory authorities. Now that I have a QA department, I turn a lot of projects over to them and I mainly focus on Transport Canada.

“We have a good relationship with Transport Canada,” he continues. “When it comes to Transport Canada, they are not the police like they used to be. They realize that we know what we are doing and keep an eye on us through audits. Our Transport Canada audits are based on risk management. We have had rave reviews from Transport Canada on our SMS. The production side of the house is currently working towards AS 9100-certification. We are also looking at AS 9110 certification on the maintenance side of the side of the house. I am working with the QA and QC departments in going forward with AS 9110 certification here at Flying Colours.”

Flexibility

Williams shares that part of the reason Flying Colours has been so successful is because of its flexibility. “The customer would show up with their airplane and they still hadn’t picked out their paint colors,” he shares. “We are small enough where we can change directions instantly. From time to time it affects us with regards to cost. If we were to order it in bulk or if we ordered it six months ago, we might get a bit of a break in the price. But in the big picture, it doesn’t hurt that much and it keeps the customers happy. That’s the main focus.”

So, what recommendations would Williams give to a new AME or A&P? “Take on every project that you can,” he says. “Learn as much as you can. Never stick your nose in the air and think you are better than anyone else. Stay humble. No matter what position you end up in your career, there is a pretty good chance you might at the bottom again, often through no fault of your own. That’s the thing with aviation. You may be the top of the heap today, but you could be out on the sidewalk tomorrow — especially in corporate aviation. Be humble and be honest to yourself.”

And what advice would he give to a DOM? “Just because you are the director of maintenance doesn’t mean you know everything. A good DOM never stops learning and surrounds himself with people who know as much or more than him.”

Fleming College Joint Venture

It has sometimes been challenging to get skilled workers to fill open positions, particularly on the interior side, at Flying Colours’ Peterborough facility. To help address that challenge, Flying Colours and Fleming College have established a joint venture. Flying Colours’ primary managers in each department teach a six-month program covering skills such as upholstery, basic wiring and installation of a corporate aircraft interior at Fleming College. There are usually around 20 people per course. Flying Colours guarantees an interview for those that complete the training and has typically hired 60-70 percent of those it interviews.

Working with Pilots

Williams tells D.O.M. magazine that there has always been a high level of trust with the pilots he has worked with. “I have never thought of them as ‘pilots,’” he shares. “They are friends. There is often a lot of head butting between mechanics and pilots – an ‘us versus them’ mentality, if you will. I never really had that. I respect what they do and they respect what I do. Anybody can fly an airplane, and anybody can fix an airplane. But you have to be good at one or the other. Some guys don’t have the hands and feet to be pilots and some guys don’t have the aptitude to be a mechanic. Pilots know how an aircraft works and mechanics know why.”

But Williams is quick to share that mechanics shouldn’t expect respect — they need to earn it. “You have to earn respect,” he stresses. “When I started with the Global Express, the chief pilot Gil Faria thought I was just another wrench. But over the years we built a lot of trust between the two of us based on mutual respect.”