William Highfill - Director of Maintenance - Spirit Aeronautics
Spirit Aeronautics is growing. The Columbus, OH-based company was founded in 2000 under the name Spirit Avionics which primarily focused on avionics installations and modifications. In 2013 the company expanded beyond avionics to offer a wider range of services including maintenance and interior refurbishment. To better represent the additional service capabilities, the company changed its name to Spirit Aeronautics and began the search for highly technical professionals to facilitate additional growth. Last year, the company hired William Highfill as its Director of Maintenance to help lead the Production Department.. This is Highfill’s story.
Early Introduction to Aviation
William Highfill grew up within the aviation industry. His father was a police officer in Jacksonville, FL and the chief pilot for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s aviation unit. Highfill’s father flew helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. He also owned an ultralight, and started to take his son William flying when he was just five years old.
As Highfill was approaching that stage in life where he needed to start thinking about what he wanted to do as a career, he was at a crossroads trying to make a decision. One day his father asked him, “Have you ever thought about being an A&P mechanic?” His father knew that William was mechanically inclined demonstrating that he liked to work on things like lawn mowers and motorcycles and fix them. Realizing the decision was made, Highfill decided to pursue a career in aircraft maintenance, enrolling at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in nearby Daytona Beach, FL.
Highfill says that at first, A&P school wasn’t what he expected. “Embry-Riddle is a fully-accredited University, and is world-renowned for its aviation curriculum,” he says. “At first, it wasn’t what I expected. I didn’t expect the large number of entrance tests and the basic ‘core’ courses like algebra at first, but the hands-on courses were just what I had anticipated them to be, which I really enjoyed.”
Highfill says he excelled in the AMT program, and was employed by the school assisting with the DC electricity student lab. He was also a student lab instructor for the composites section of the AMT program. “That was an exciting opportunity for me,” Highfill says. “I like to teach people — especially the students and new employees who don’t have all the knowledge they need in order to succeed. I was able to help the students learn by teaching them the correct approaches and techniques. In addition, it was a rewarding way to earn an additional income while attending school myself.”
D.O.M. magazine asked Highfill if his eagerness to teach has helped him over the years. “Absolutely,” he says. “There is always room for growth in this industry. Whether it be as an employee or an individual, everyday is a learning curve for all of us. I enjoy educating the newer and inexperienced employees, gearing them in the right direction.”
The First Job
Prior to graduation, Highfill attended a job fair at Embry-Riddle. He visited employer stations and engaged with possible employers, always handing them his resume. The job fair was successful — he got several job offers, and ended up taking a job with Gulfstream Aerospace in Appleton, WI.
Highfill spent almost 1 ½ years at Gulfstream. Gulfstream initially offered him a job in its avionics department. Despite his strong avionics background, he didn’t want to work in the avionics shop. “I wanted to be able to do a lot of different things,” he says. “I didn’t want to work on just avionics, I wanted to work on a wide variety of systems and components. So I rejected their avionics department offer and took a job working as an entry-level mechanic on the hangar floor.”
Highfill got some hands-on experience as a mechanic doing maintenance, inspections and repairs on Hawker 800s at Gulfstream Appleton. After about a year with the company, he worked on other airframes when the Hawker work slowed down. He had the chance to gain experience working on Gulfstream G3s and G4s and Challenger 604s.
Flight Options
Highfill saw the DOMs who brought their aircraft to Gulfstream’s facility. He thought he would like to work in a corporate environment, hoping to eventually become a DOM himself. He started to send his resume out to different flight departments, and ended up taking an employment opportunity in Cleveland, OH with Flight Options as a crew chief in the company’s maintenance control division. He oversaw the maintenance on the company’s fleet of more than 40 Hawkers on his shift. This was Highfill’s first supervisory job. We asked him how the transition to a supervisory role went. “It went pretty well,” he says. “I worked with two other individuals on what we called the Hawker row. It was about a week’s worth of learning curve, but I adjusted quickly in order to help accomplish what we needed to do on a daily basis.”
As a crew chief at Flight Options, Highfill was going to work in professional dress attire instead of the mechanic’s uniform he wore at Gulfstream. But being an effective crew chief means more than the clothes you wear. He was excited to take on the responsibility that came with the job — working with maintenance personnel all over the country. “I entered the position with my previous knowledge and also learned much more along the way,” Highfill says. “The other crew chiefs showed me the ropes and supported me as I learned my role as a crew chief.”
Avbase Aviation
After a short tenure, Highfill departed Flight Options to pursue a career with Avbase Aviation, a Part 135 charter management company also based in Cleveland, OH. Highfill assumed the position of mechanic/maintenance administrator, working with his supervisor for guidance.
In this position, Highfill was working on the aircraft, overseeing other mechanics on the floor and assisting with scheduling needs. After 1 1/2 years, Highfill was promoted to DOM at Avbase following his supervisor’s resignation from the position.
Highfill was still in his late 20s when he became DOM at Avbase. Luckily, he had some help preparing for the job from his supervisor before he resigned. “My supervisor coached me along and taught me how to do the routine tasks that a DOM does,” Highfill shares. “He taught me how to do conformity checks, write AAIPs and GOM supplements, and how to manage and create MELs for the aircraft. I credit much of my success to him.”
DOM Challenges
We asked Highfill if there were any challenges when he became a DOM. “Yes, there are new challenges every day,” he says. “Each day is a learning experience that teaches me to effectively deal with those same challenges again in the future. For example, going from a paper-based system to a computer-based system that was up and coming at the time. I was prepared for it, knowing computer systems were becoming more popular, and the fact that I was skilled in computer software helped a great deal.”
“The company was growing and had aircraft in five locations in the country,” he adds. “I enjoyed the business — every day I learned something useful or new.”
Avbase managed a fleet of aircraft including Lears, Gulfstreams, Hawkers and Citations. We asked Highfill if it was difficult to keep the mechanics trained on such a wide variety of aircraft. “It was challenging,” he says. “A lot of the training was based on OJT. But we also sent our mechanics to training courses, and it was sometimes challenging to coordinate our training schedule with our maintenance requirements.”
Elite Air
Highfill worked at Avbase until the business closed down in 2006. He then moved to Florida and took a job with Elite Air. The company had four aircraft when he started. Working with the owner, he helped rewrite the GOM supplement for the CAMP program, giving them 10 or more capabilities. This helped Elite Air grow to 18 aircraft. “While I was there, we pioneered the first-ever U.S.-registered Part 135 base of operations in St. Petersburg, Russia,” he says.
Indianapolis Jet Center
Highfill wanted to continue to grow in his career. He saw an opportunity when he moved to Indianapolis to work for Indianapolis Jet Center (now Comlux). Highfill was hired to start a landing gear shop under the company’s Part 145 certificate. “We started from scratch,” Highfill says. “I worked in the landing gear shop while at Gulfstream, so I was comfortable helping them start a landing gear shop. We set up the shop for Challenger and Falcon aircraft, primarily all of the Challenger product line.”
After completing several landing gear jobs and assisting in the set up of the shop, Highfill desired more of a career challenge that was in line with his skill set, which lead him to ARINC.
ARINC
Highfill left Indianapolis Jet Center and went to work in Colorado Springs for ARINC as its DOM. “It was the biggest challenge that I had ever undertaken,” Highfill tells D.O.M. magazine. “I revamped the maintenance program and made some personnel changes. When I was hired on, we had 12 or 13 mechanics plus the parts, avionics and structures department personnel. I had around 20 people who reported to me. I began to turn the business around for them on the financial end. After a couple of months, I was promoted to general manager. I went from overseeing 20 people to managing a facility of around 60 people.”
Highfill says that within the first year of his employment the division’s profits soared tremendously to over $1 million. “We were doing a number of different projects,” he says. “We did installations, integrations and maintenance. We did heavy inspections in support of the airlines. We also supported a number of various government projects.”
Highfill says that in the mid-2000’s, the Carlisle group bought ARINC, and after a few quarters they decided to sell ARINC’s aviation services division that Highfill managed.
Starting a Business
At that point in his career, Highfill saw an opportunity to use some of his savings to open his own maintenance shop – AJE Aviation. “We provided AOG and maintenance inspections to the general public,” he says. “We were going after the corporate jet market. I was fortunate to start out with three aircraft that were owned by two different individuals. That made things easier from the financial end. I started by myself and eventually brought in some of the mechanics who worked for me at ARINC as needed. The business grew through word of mouth and some cold-calling.”
After taking on new clients, Highfill says that business skyrocketed. “We serviced an average of 30-40 airplanes a month. We worked around the clock to support them.”
“AJE Aviation began to experience the trickle effect of business when our leading customer abruptly went out of business,” Highfill shares. “There was no financial recovery possible with how much was owed to AJE Aviation. We went out of business. A handful of my mechanics hung in there with me until the end, working for our smaller customers, but they knew the doors were closing.”
After closing AJE Aviation, Highfill went to work for one of his customers at his Part 135 operation before getting hired as Spirit Aeronautics new director of maintenance last year.
Spirit Aeronautics
The opportunity to help a company grow excited Highfill. “Spirit Aeronautics was an avionics shop when it started,” he says. “The company has rebranded itself and expanded its service offerings to interiors and maintenance, which is why I was hired. The company is a Part 145 repair station with a limited airframe rating that is continuously expanding.”
As you can see, Highfill has moved around the country a bit during his aviation maintenance career. During all his moves, he had a family who moved with him. “I have a wife and five kids,” he says. “That has been a challenging part of my career — having to move around a bit. Fortunately, my family supported me along the way. I couldn’t have done it without them!”
In closing, we asked Highfill if he had any advice for anyone looking to have a successful career in aircraft maintenance. “First and foremost, absorb the knowledge from superiors in the industry, because they won’t steer you in the wrong direction,” he says. “Second, be aware of your choices and conscious of your work. If you are not sure that what you are doing is correct, stop and ask somebody for his or her input or direction. Having an A&P certificate does not mean that you are expected to know everything about every single aircraft out there from day one – it is a growing industry. Each mechanic has his or her special skill set or background, and branching out by asking for assistance is beneficial for everyone.”
“Also, be ready for constructional criticism but do not let it discourage you,” Highfill adds. “If you are seeking a career in aircraft maintenance, be assured that it is a rewarding one. In addition, the job market exists domestically and internationally, allowing for travel. Be confident in your abilities and you will succeed!”