March 23, 2005

Sabreliner Corporation's Perryville Operation Receives FAA Diamond Award

Sabreliner Corporation's Perryville operation has received the FAA's highest honor for training, the Certificate of Excellence Diamond Award.

An employer's eligibility for the Diamond Award is based on the percentage of the total number of eligible employees who received Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) awards during the prior calendar year. The AMT award is given for completing specified training on FAA regulations and policies as well as aviation maintenance. To be eligible for the Diamond Award, at least 25% of the eligible employees must receive an AMT award. In 2004, AMT awards were received by 32% of Perryville's repair station workforce.

"Receiving the Diamond Award is a big deal to us, but it's only the beginning as far as we're concerned," says Ron Herman, vice president - operations for Sabreliner. "We're very serious about having the best trained people in the industry, not just to meet FAA standards, but to go above and beyond the expectations of our customers."

The company is backing up its commitment with approaches that will allow them to do more training with more people than ever before. "Part of the challenge with training is that it takes employees off the floor where they need to be servicing customer aircraft," says Herman. "When the training also involves travel, it makes the situation even more costly and time-consuming. So we're going to be participating in an extensive on-line training program offered by FlightSafety International, one of the top training organizations in the industry."

A key part of the on-line training offered by FlightSafety International is group troubleshooting. Everyone in the course is given a problem to solve on-line, and the entire "class" works on it together. "The technicians are on-line for a total of 40 hours in two-hour blocks over 20 days without ever leaving the facility," says Herman. "It's a great approach. Not only are they learning from one of the best trainers in the business; they're also learning from one another, getting different perspectives on how to solve problems." Herman adds that it's a win-win arrangement that provides better training for more people at a lower cost, and it allows the technician to spend more time keeping the customer's aircraft on schedule.

While Sabreliner aircraft continue to be the mainstay of the Perryville business, Herman also notes that the company is making a big investment to boost it Learjet capabilities. "Training is an important part of that investment," he said. "We recently had seven of our technicians complete extensive maintenance training on Learjet 35 aircraft. In addition to that, others received specialized Learjet training on RVSM installation."

To underscore its commitment to being the industry leader in training, Sabreliner recently created a new Training Advisory Board. The group was formed in response to an extensive assessment of customer needs on a wide range of service and support topics. "The research told us we were doing a good job on technical training," said Herman. "Beyond that, we saw an opportunity in non-technical training for skills like communication and conflict resolution - something that would help us improve relationships with our customers and with one another.

We think that's important because being the best depends on how we treat people as much as the way we work on aircraft."