Patrick Delahoussaye - President | Pioneer Aviation Management, LLC

Patrick Delahoussaye grew up in a large French Catholic family in Lafayette, LA. He was one of 13 kids. There are three girls and rest are boys. Delahoussaye was the second to the last in the family.

He has been married to his wife Roxane for 37 years. They have five children, six grandchildren and one great grandchild. 

Military Service

All of the brothers in Delahoussaye’s family served in the military. “We served in the Air Force, Army and Navy. My oldest brother, who has passed on, was a highly decorated bomber pilot in WWII. My second to oldest brother was in demolitions in WWII. He was also highly decorated, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.”

Delahoussaye joined the Navy after high school, and served a tour in the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Helicopter Squadron One, serving on the USS Intrepid.

We asked Delahoussaye what life skills he learned from military service. “The discipline that the military instills in you helps you remain focused on your goals,” he says. “I believe that companies that reach out to hire veterans will find out that they are generally polite and well-structured. In addition, serving in the military gives you time to focus on where you want to go in your career. My older brother once told me, ‘Think of your time in the military as a gift. Others might say that the Government owns you.  When you have completed your service, you can look back and think about all the things the military taught you.’

Spartan School of Aeronautics

After completing four years of active duty in the Navy, Delahoussaye remained in the Navy Active Reserve for seven years. During that time, he attended Spartan College of Aeronautics in Tulsa, OK. He graduated from Spartan in 1966 with an A&P license. Later, he acquired his IA and completed his degree in Aviation Science.

Two of Delahoussaye’s older brothers also graduated from Spartan. One of them graduated 11 years ahead of Delahoussaye, and was working for Paul Fournet Air Service FBO in Lafayette, LA.

Paul Fournet Air Services

Delahoussaye moved back to Louisiana after graduating from Spartan and landed a job at Paul Fournet Air Service (PFAS) where his brother was working. He spent 23 years at PFAS, working in various jobs with increasing responsibilities including mechanic, shop foreman, chief inspector and even managed a paint facility. He also helped PFAS open up a turbine shop.

While at PFAS, Delahoussaye’s older brother was killed in a plane crash in 1971. “My brother was my boss at the time,” Delahoussaye shares. “He was the vice president of maintenance for the company. I took his death very hard”

While working at PFAS, Delahoussaye landed his first management job. We asked him how the transition from mechanic to manager was. “There is an unwritten rule in the industry that says if you are going to manage people, you shouldn’t  be their best friend,” Delahoussaye says. “But I did become their friend, and it didn’t seem to hurt my career.”

During that time frame, Delahoussaye was commissioned as a Colonel in the Confederate Air Force, and in a short time took over the maintenance management of the Cajun Wing. 

Moving to Texas

After 23 years at PFAS, Delahoussaye felt it was time for a change. He wanted to specialize in engines, and decided to move to Texas. He landed a job with Aviall in its PT6 division. Delahoussaye spent nine years at the company, and witnessed three different ownership transitions – from Aviall to Ryder Aviall and eventually Dallas Airmotive. He served as PT6 product support manager, and eventually accepted a position at Love Field where he became the director of Terminal Services and Facilities.

Sales

Delahoussaye tells us that during his tenure at Dallas Airmotive, he felt he had the skills to be successful in sales and marketing. “I listened a lot to the people around me,” he says. “They all said the same thing – ‘Patrick can walk into a room and within 10 minutes he will know everyone.”

The opportunity to get into sales came when he was approached by John Willis at United Beechcraft to do technical sales for the company. “This was the beginning of my technical sales carrer,” Delahoussaye tells D.O.M. magazine. “People didn’t have a lot of that going on. I started traveling and covering all of United Beechcraft’s bases in the Southeast, mostly in the Dallas, Houston and San Antonio areas.”

Doing Business on the Greens

A year later, while Delahoussaye was attending an NBAA convention in Atlanta, he was invited to play golf with Kurt Herwald, president of Stevens Aviation. During that round of golf, Herwald offered Delahoussaye a sales job in Greenville, SC. He accepted the offer and moved the family to Greenville. 10 months later, Delahoussaye accepted a position as general manager of Stevens Aviation’s FBO in Nashville, TN. He says that although this decision was difficult one, it was the right one to make.

The Move to Nashville

Delahoussaye and his family moved to Brentwood, TN, a suburs of Nashville, where he lives and works out of his home office to this day. He left Stevens after five years and did technical sales for Atlantic Aviation for a few years. He has worked in technical sales for various companies since then including Embraer, Atlantic Aero,  J.S.S.I., Flight Time and Comlux. He was with Comlux for two years when he “took a sabbatical from aviation” in 2011 after being diagnosed with  a serious medical condition.

While at home during treatment, he quickly grew restless. His wife even got to the point where she would ask him, “Don’t you have anything to do today?” He got a job at The Home Depot in Brentwood, TN working in the mill works (doors and windows) department. “A year later, I transferred to the hardware department,” he says. “I have now started an aviation company with a good friend. Our company is Pioneer Aviation Management.”

Pioneer Aviation Management

Patrick Delahoussaye is now the President of Pioneer Aviation Management, LLC. Pioneer Aviation Management was launched because its founder and CEO Marlin Priest felt that basic airworthiness compliance is no longer sufficient in today’s complex operating environment. In addition, operational mandates and approval processes can be confusing to a new operator or an operator lacking experience in this environment. Pioneer Aviation Management is a technical services advisory firm. Its primary market is the small to medium sized flight department, operating turbine-powered aircraft, that lacks a dedicated maintenance staff; the VLJ owner/operator and owner-flown turbine powered operator who has no one dedicated to managing the maintenance function. In essence, Pioneer Aviation Maintenance takes on the role of the traditional DOM for the operator and takes care of operational and airworthiness issues. Company founder and CEO Marlin Priest says, “We strive to maximize availability, reliability and pedigree while managing costs. We do this through an annual care plan tailored to the operators’ needs. We also provide onsite consulting services for brokers, financial institutions, and operators during the sale or purchase process.”

I asked Priest how he came to partner with Delahoussaye in his new venture. “I have known Pat for a number of years through the business aviation industry,” he shares. “Our paths crossed most often in the maintenance sales area. Pat was one of the salesmen who called on me during my time serving as DOM for corporate maintenance operations. I was impressed with his honesty, integrity, and customer service attitude.

“I recommended Pat to the NBAA Maintenance Committee, where he served as Nominating Committee chairman until his early retirement from the industry to battle a medical issue,” Priest continues. “I also nominated Pat for the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award. After 50-plus years of service, I was so impressed with his passion and heart for the maintenance technician that I felt he was a perfect candidate. This same passion and zeal for business aviation made him a natural fit for the business. When I was developing the business, I sent the plan to him and asked him what he thought. His immediate response was, ‘I think this has my name written all over it.’ Pat loves to work, enjoys meeting people, and has that can-do attitude that is key to our success.”

After joining Pioneer Aviation Management, Delahoussaye and Priest worked on formalizing and refining the company’s business plan. They took their plan to two think tanks, one in Birmingham, and the other in Atlanta. “Atlanta said we were 87 percent ready, Birmingham said we were 96 percent ready,” Delahoussaye says. “We both knew then that we were ready. We also connected with professionals in business aviation maintenance management. These men and women provided mentoring and guidance to keep us on the right path.  The company is a good blend for us. Marlin comes from a corporate operator background. My jobs have been in the field meeting people and working in marketing and sales. It has worked out great so far, and I couldn’t have picked a better business partner!”

Charles Taylor Award

Delahoussaye is the recipient of the FAA Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award. “The award is for 50-plus years as a mechanic, with a perfect safety and zero enforcement action record, which I didn’t realize,” he says. “There are two separate plaques and two separate presentations. The first one that they presented me in May 2010 at the FAA FSDO in Nashville was the safety award. The Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award was given to me at the Chamber of Commerce office during NBAA convention in Atlanta later that year.”

NBAA Silk Scarf Award

In 2012, Delahoussaye was presented with the NBAA Silk Scarf Award at the NBAA Maintenance Management Conference. The NBAA Silk Scarf Award is given to individuals for special contributions to the business aviation community during their careers.

He was the first A&P  to receive the award, and is one of only three non-pilots (the others being Howard DuFour, author of Charles E. Taylor: The Wright Brothers’ Mechanician, and Kevin Smith, who at the time of the award, was the DOM for Progress Energy) who have received the award. “This really made me feel like I had accomplished something,” Delahoussaye says. “They don’t just give the award out to anybody. I felt extremely moved by the presentation.”

Favorite job

We asked Delahoussaye what his favorite job over the years has been. “I actually had two,” he says. “The people at Dallas Airmotive today remain my most treasured  friends. Another company that I enjoyed working for was Embraer. They hired me when they first built the Legacy in Nashville to audit and assign service centers for the Legacy. I was the person who did due diligence for the company to purchase the site that the facility is currently located at in Nashville.”

Giving back to the industry

Delahoussaye is passionate about giving back to the industry he loves. One way he does that is by visiting A&P schools to put on presentations for the NBAA TRACS Scholarship awards program. He visits Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN twice a year to give presentations as a TRACS ambassador. He also travels with fellow TRACS ambassadors Marlin Priest to give presentations at schools in Alabama and with Steve King to give TRACS presentations at schools in Georgia. “We’ll have the senior professor at the school introduce us,” Delahoussaye says. “But before he does that, he asks the students how many of them have heard of Charles Taylor. Usually, none of them have. So he explains how Charles Taylor designed and built the engine that powered the Wright Flyer. He tells them that they are getting ready to meet a Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award recipient.”

We asked Delahoussaye what advice he gives the students. “Always stay focused on where you want to go,” he says. “Keep a goal ahead of you. But most importantly, stay safe. Check your work. Have others check your work. Be honest. Always admit to your mistakes. You are going to make many mistakes – don’t try to hide them.”

Another way Delahoussaye has given back to the industry is by mentoring young A&Ps. “Over the years I have directly mentored four kids from college, into a job and through the job process. Today, one is a maintenance manager with Dow Chemical. Another is the head of maintenance for Oshkosh Corporation. I have tried to help and encourage each of them along their path in aviation.”

I visited Delahoussaye at his home office in Brentwood, TN. His office is decorated with plaques and mementos. His Charles Taylor Master Mechanic and Safety awards are prominently displayed. He also has a plaque from his participation in the Brentwood Fire Department Citizens Fire Academy in 2004, a plaque from completion of the Citizen’s Police Academy course from the Brentwood police department in 2003, and a Narcotic Awareness and Resident Counterdrug Training certificate of graduation from the 21st Drug Task Force in 2006. There are also two guitars in his office, and he is teaching himself how to play them.

It was also quickly evident that Delahoussaye is passionate about Corvettes. He has a Corvette as the wallpaper on his phone and computer. “I like to visit the Corvette museum in Bowling Green at least twice a year,” he says. Delahoussaye made sure I got to see his silver 2000 Corvette before I left.

One of the most prominent displays in Delahoussaye’s office is the framed NBAA Silk Scarf Award. A note in it says:

In an effort to honor outstanding business aviation community members and inspire future aviators, the NBAA Silk Scarf Award is given to individuals for special contributions to the business aviation community during their careers.

This award, presented to Patrick Delahoussaye this day is one of the most prestigious in aviation, is given to those individuals who, by virtue of a lifetime of personal dedication, have made significant identifiable contributions that have materially advanced aviation interests. Such contributions do not necessarily have to be confined to business aviation.

That pretty much sums up Delahoussaye’s long and prosperous career in aviation.