Chad Doehring - Duncan Aviation | Airframe Manager

Chad Doehring was born and raised in Arvada, Colorado. He grew up in a law enforcement family. His dad was a police officer. Doehring was also involved in athletics including football in high school. It seemed like he was destined to become a police officer. He had options to go to college to become a police officer and even had some football options. Yet he ended up stumbling into aviation. Doehring is currently Duncan Aviation’s airframe manager in Lincoln, Nebraska. This is his story.

Doehring says he always enjoyed working with his hands and did well in industrial arts classes in school. His dad could sense this, and suggested to him that instead of following the family’s law enforcement path, he might want to take a look at another career option. “My dad told me, ‘You ought to check into that place on the hill that teaches you how to work on airplanes,’” Doehring tells D.O.M.magazine. “The ‘place on the hill’ he was referring to was Colorado Aerotech – an A&P school. Back then, they had a contest for high school graduates. If you submitted an essay on what it takes to be an A&P mechanic, got three letters of reference, and had a personal interview, you had a chance to win a full-ride scholarship to the school. That’s how I stumbled into aviation – I won the contest and was awarded a full-ride scholarship.”

While Doehring was in A&P school, his dad got a job as the chief of police in Leavenworth, Kansas. When he graduated from A&P school in the early ‘90s, aircraft maintenance jobs were scarce. So he moved to Leavenworth and got a job at the local FBO. “It wasn’t a glorious job,” Doehring says. “I was hired as a mechanic, but did a lot of ‘mow the grass’ and ‘fuel the aircraft’ jobs.”

After a few months working at the FBO, Doehring went to work for Northrop Grumman in Palmdale, CA, to work on the B2 Bomber program. He was a hydraulic and structures mechanic there for three years.

Wanting to go home

Doehring wanted to move to Nebraska to be closer to his family. Doehring’s aunt, who lived in Lincoln, knew a lady who worked at Duncan Aviation. She got him an interview, and in 1994 Doehring was hired as an airframe mechanic on Hawkers and Falcons. “I was fortunate to get hired even though I didn’t have any corporate aviation experience,” Doehring says. “I cut my teeth on Hawkers and Falcons.”

Doehring eventually became a leadman and later was promoted to night shift supervisor. “Looking back, that was the most fun job I’ve had,” he says. “I got a vast amount of experience – from Beech Bonanzas to Falcon 900s and 2000s.”

Doehring ran the night shift for about two years before becoming Duncan Aviation’s airframe assistant manager. “I did a lot of the hiring and shop scheduling, and was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the shop,” he tells D.O.M.magazine.

We asked Doehring what the most challenging part of being the airframe assistant manager was. “I think it was the mixing of personal schedules with our business schedules and needs,” he says. “Duncan Aviation is a very employee-driven company. We want to give our employees the flexibility and latitude to take the necessary time off they need. But we also have a business to run. That was probably the most challenging – to make sure we didn’t fall down on either one of those commitments.”

A break from the technical realm

In 2004, Doehring stepped away from the technical side of Duncan Aviation to take a job as the company’s customer service manager. He worked with the project managers to iron out issues that would come up with customers and within the company. He also was in charge of line service.

Then in 2011, there was a management shift at Duncan Aviation, and Doehring was asked to return to the airframe shop as the airframe manager. “It was nice because it was like coming home,” he says. “I was able to take all of the customer service knowledge and experience and bring it back into the technical side. I’m able to provide a different perspective to our guys that they don’t see on the technical side of things.”

“I can use technical information to substantiate an opinion,” he explains. “But I can then blend that knowledge with customer feedback to help bring positive results for our customers and for Duncan Aviation. It helps me think more globally.” 

Selecting new hires

We asked Doehring what he looks for in new employees. “First of all, we have a lot of long-term employees here at Duncan Aviation,” he says. “I’ve been here 20 years, and we have a lot of mechanics who have been on the floor for that long and longer. When it comes to hiring a new employee, we are looking at that soft-skill piece – their personality. We are interested in their frame of mind when it comes to customers, quality and safety. We’re not too concerned about technical experience. Don’t get me wrong – we want people who have good skills. But they don’t need to have experience on corporate jets – we can teach them that. I’m a prime example of that. We’re really looking for the future leaders of the company.”

Developing leaders from within

Duncan Aviation has a program called Leadership Dynamics Program (LDP) to groom its future leaders. There are currently two phases – LDP1 and LDP2. “I’ve been through both courses,” Doehring says. “This is a good example of our home-grown initiatives we have at Duncan Aviation. Duncan Aviation senior management put on these classes. LDP1 went from personal development to team development to company development and all the phases in-between. We talk about communication, accountability and respect. LDP2 is more about business. It covered financials, our global economy, strategic planning and other higher-level leadership topics.”

Challenges of being the airframe manager

We asked Doehring what his biggest challenge is as the airframe manager at Duncan Aviation. “I would say trying continue to promote more innovative thinking in a commodity industry,” he says. “What we do is a commodity. Operators need to get their airframe inspections done. There are many good maintenance providers out there they can go to. So, how do we differentiate ourselves from the rest in a commodity market? That’s been one of my bigger opportunities and challenges. It’s about minimizing downtime. It’s about providing superior quality. It is about having a workforce with great morale. Our employees deal with our customers every day. We have an open-door policy where our customers can walk around the shop floor. They can quickly sense bad morale.”

In conclusion Doehring says, “It’s about making sure our employees are happy, well supported and have the ability to affect change.”