Tracy Ogle - Vice President, Strategic Development & Helicopter Services - Sabreliner Corporation
Since the start of D.O.M.magazine, we have chosen many different maintenance managers to profile. We base our decisions on whom to profile on the person’s job experience and expertise. We rely on reader feedback and input from customers when choosing someone to profile. An interesting trend that we have noticed is that many aviation maintenance managers served in the military. Such is the case with this month’s profile. Tracy Ogle is the vice president of Strategic Development and Helicopter Services for Sabreliner Corporation.
This month, D.O.M.magazine sat down with Ogle to learn about his aviation maintenance career and thoughts on what it takes to be a successful maintenance manager.
A Military Start
Ogle joined the Army when he was 17 years old. He was a crew chief, performing maintenance on Blackhawk helicopters. His first assignment was at Fort Lewis, WA. He was assigned to the first Blackhawk helicopter battalion that was west of the Mississippi. “We did a lot of RDF rapid deployments,” he shares. “In the army, a crew chief works on everything from the nose to the tip of the rotor blade. I was involved with engine maintenance, rotary system maintenance, as well as airframe maintenance, avionics and electrical troubleshooting.”
The Army gave Ogle plenty of opportunities to expand his aviation knowledge and experience. During his tenure at Fort Lewis, Ogle was selected to attend a rigid four-month inspector course at Fort Eustis, VA. He learned all types of NDI and more in-depth systems operations for all Army aviation assets. He spent a year in Korea with a Medivac unit as a technical inspector (TI). After Korea, Ogle returned to Fort Eustis where he taught the inspector course and also trained entry-level students. After that, he went to Panama with a Medivac unit where he served as a supervisor of maintenance.
Ogle was in Panama for five years before moving to an intermediate maintenance facility where he worked in production control. He then went to Savannah, GA, for a few years as a platoon sergeant for a general support aviation company. From there, Ogle went to Belgium and supported the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe for six years. Upon returning from Belgium, he went to Andrews Air Force Base. His last assignment was as the director of maintenance for the Army jet detachment. The Army jet detachment had a fleet of Gulfstream (GIII, GIV, and GV) and Citation (560) aircraft. Ogle retired from the Army at Andrews.
Ogle shares that he originally signed up for a three-year enlistment. “Twenty three years later, I decided I needed to grow up and figure out what I was going to do,” he says jokingly. “I got out and stayed in aviation.”
Getting an A&P
Ogle knew that he wanted to work in aviation when he retired from the Army. He knew that having an A&P certificate would be an important part of landing a civilian aviation job. While he was stationed in Belgium, he came back to the states and went to Oklahoma City to take a course to get his A&P certificate.
The Civilian World
Upon retirement, Ogle went to work as an Army contractor for the Military District of Washington as a program manager. He managed VIP transport aircraft that supported the Military District of Washington. After that, he went to work for Sabreliner Corporation as a program manager for rotary wing programs. He then moved on to vice president of operations. Four months ago, he was named the vice president of Strategic Development and Helicopter Services. He currently manages the helicopter program for Sabreliner and also has a broader role of strategic development, developing new business and new opportunities for Sabreliner.
Helicopter Work at Sabreliner
When Ogle first joined Sabreliner Corporation, the company had no helicopter business. With company CEO F. Holmes Lamoreux’s support, Ogle was able to bring in a new product line to the company — helicopter modifications and VIP completions. “One of the things we were instrumental in doing was developing a door plug for Blackhawk Helicopters,” Ogle shares. “Blackhawks normally come with a sliding cargo door for troop egress and ingress. We take that cargo door off and plug half of the opening and install a clamshell door similar to what you would see on a Learjet or a Citation 5-style aircraft.”
Ogle says that designing a clamshell door and plug for the Blackhawk helicopter is not as easy as it seems. “Helicopters are designed to stretch, and their stress loads are transmitted from the rotor system to the rest of the airframe,” he says. “The aircraft is designed to withstand those stress loads. If you put a solid member in a place where it wasn’t originally designed, those stress loads are transmitted into the frame and will cause stress and fatigue cracks at that location.”
The design concept for the door plug was based on a request from a customer to develop a solution for the cracking they were having in the area with a previously installed rigid structure.
To overcome the issue of fatigue and stress loads, Sabreliner designed a three-piece frame assembly that is restricted in the left, right and forward axes, but is not hard attached to the lateral direction. “It actually floats as the cabin stretches and retracts through a series of pins and bearings,” Ogle explains. “We incorporated a three-piece shear wall that allows the skin to do the same thing. To someone sitting in the aircraft, it is totally transparent — it appears as a solid structure. But the design allows the aircraft to continue in its design mode as far as stress loads, all while providing the advantages of having a closed cabin for better seat configuration for VIP transport.”
Sabreliner also does helicopter strip-and-paint work and performs helicopter engine work for heavy lift like S-64 Sky Cranes. There are around 30 employees involved in the helicopter maintenance side of Sabreliner.
New Hires
We asked Ogle what he looks for in a new hire. “Integrity is big,” he shares. “We also look people that have experience in the type/model aircraft we are hiring for. We look for either military experience or a civilian background. On the civilian side, we look for certifications — an A&P/IA or, if avionics, an FCC license. We also look for some type of work history that shows that they have the work experience needed to work on aircraft.”
Continual Improvement
“Whether for your employees of yourself, you should always look for continual self-improvement,” says Ogle.
We asked Ogle if he thinks a college degree or other higher-education pursuit is critical to a successful aviation maintenance career. “My personal opinion is that a mechanic with 20 years’ experience is always going to outweigh someone that goes to school and has a doctorate degree,” he says. “Practical experience goes so much further. You cannot read what the popping sound of a compressor stall sounds like. I believe it is a mix between experience and formal training. In aviation maintenance, practical experience outweighs a piece of paper any day of the week.
“For instance,” he continues, “there are several ways you can get an A&P. You can sit in a classroom for 12 months and go through a structured A&P course. Or, you could go out in the field and work for 30 months and go to your FDSO to get authorization to take your A&P test. I believe that person with 30 months experience is going to have more knowledge than someone that sat in a class and learned what a rivet pattern is. Learning how to lay out a rivet pattern and laying out a rivet pattern are two different things.”
Management Success
We asked Ogle if his 23 years in the Army was instrumental in his success as an aviation maintenance manager. “It goes back to formal education versus experience,” he says. “In all the time I spent in school, nothing taught me leadership. A definition of leadership is ‘The art of influencing someone to gain their willing obedience to accomplish a task.’ There is nothing in a formal degree that teaches that. The military teaches leadership and the importance of procedures. Those are necessary in successful management.”
Mentoring Employees
D.O.M.magazine asked Ogle how he helps mentor employees. “The most important thing is to lead by example,” he says. “That is the biggest mentorship tool you have. Don’t tell someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself. If it is a first-time task, show them how to do it, and give them an opportunity to put their two cents in so they can grow. Communication is a two-way street. Get input from those that work for you. Be open to the point your subordinates can talk to you freely. Humility is the biggest trait a leader can have.”
Management Tips
We asked Ogle what tips he would give someone to be a successful leader. “Be honest,” he says. “The first time you lie to somebody is the first time they will never believe anything you say again. Be open. Don’t be afraid to share bad news. Bad news doesn’t get better with time.