The state of business aviation is changing. That is the opinion of the majority of attendees at this year’s NBAA 21st annual Flight Attendants and Flight Technicians Conference. The event drew 230 attendees to Delray Beach, Fla., in late June for three days of roundtables, intensive training and lectures from a variety of inspirational and educational teachers. The focus of the conference stayed close to its theme: navigating the future, and its four-word motto: safety, security, service and success.
Flight attendants and flight technicians (typically A&Ps, some holding IA certification, who fly with or ahead of the aircraft) and caterers dominated the conference. Nearly 20 companies exhibited with tables outside the general session chamber in the Marriott hotel, offering catering options, cutlery and crystal, cleaning and disinfecting products specifically designed for corporate aircraft interiors, burn bags (for extinguishing lithium ion battery fires) and corporate cabin crew training programs.
Committee vice chair and FlightSafety International cabin safety program manager Louisa Fisher told AIN that despite the relatively flat market for business jets, class sizes in Savannah, Ga., are steadily growing, with the facility training roughly 1,700 cabin crew last year.
Richard Peterson, manager of flight attendant services and executive chef for Air Culinaire Worldwide, said that even with the number of business flights worldwide relatively flat compared with previous years or slightly down, his catering business is strong. The emphasis on food safety has made more cabin crew aware of the need to use quality aviation-oriented catering, rather than restaurant food on board aircraft.
Caterer and educator Paula Kraft, co-founder of DaVinci Inflight Training, agreed with Peterson and pointed out that passengers are more food-aware than ever, and special requests, such as allergen- or gluten-free foods, are on the rise. Mess it up, and you risk an onboard medical emergency.
Roundtables and Workshops
Pre-conference activities are evolving in importance, according to Elaine Lapotosky, now in her third year as chair of the flight attendants and flight technicians committee for NBAA. Lapotosky is a volunteer, as are all who take on the yearly task of planning and executing the conference. Her day job is director of operations for Crew Services USA at Jet Professionals in New Jersey. Committee members span the ranks of NBAA members representing Part 91, 125 and 135 operators, full-time and contract personnel from corporate flight attendants to flight technicians to managers and executives. Training organizations and airborne caterers are also represented on the committee.
“We have our lead flight attendant roundtable and this year, for the first time on the schedule, we have the flight technician roundtable, along with a food safety workshop by worldwide business aviation caterer Air Culinaire,” she explained.
Some hard work goes on in the closed-door roundtables, according to Lapotosky. “These are forums where cabin crew and managers can network, discuss the tough issues that plague them day to day, and share best practices,” she continued.
Flight Technicians Concerns
In the flight technicians roundtable a dozen flight technicians, managers and trainers spent two hours hashing out changes to the NBAA Management Guide pages concerning their job description and duties. “The task was a direct result of a year’s worth of data research by committee members. One particular problem with the job? Rest requirements for flight technicians lack standards,” said Lapotosky.
Just a few years ago flight technicians on board aircraft were a rarity, but Lapotosky knows of flight departments that have replaced their flight attendants with flight technicians. “It is a financial decision, based on skills and services the employee brings to the table,” she said. The techs are cross-trained in cabin service, and often work before the flight, during the flight and post-flight, creating duty time and fatigue issues.
During a later panel on safety, subcommittee chair Anthony Joseph, a flight technician with Johnson & Johnson based in West Trenton, N.J., led a panel that consisted of Sandra Granados, Boeing flight technician from Gary Jet Center, Gary, Ind.; Mark Wyatt, master technician with Johnson & Johnson; and Ben Janaitis, flight technician for DuPont Aviation in Wilmington, Del., who provided real-world examples of the issues they face.
Janaitis told of working on airplanes in the hangar the day before heading out on a flight, while flight crew had the day off to prepare and rest. And on board? “I have to take care of the cabin; I can’t sleep unless the passengers are sleeping,” he said. “The problem is that when you land there are no regulations as you transition back into the ground mechanic role. At that moment when you are mentally at your worst you have to assess yourself and decide if you are ready to be a mechanic and fix any problem that came up on the flight. We have an obligation to let someone know if we are fatigued beyond the ability to do our job well. I think at some point it should be taken out of our hands, like with the pilots. The FAA dictates crew rest for them. I’d advocate for that.”
Granados told the story of a 27-hour duty day sparked by a shattered windshield on a flight she staffed in Toluca, Mexico. At one point as she supervised Mexican mechanics replacing the windshield she was asked to hand over a wrench. “I grabbed a spoon—not even noticing—and handed it to the guy. That’s how tired I was.”
Wyatt pointed out that Johnson & Johnson’s IS-BAO certification drove the push to provide flight technicians with the same duty times as flight crew. “When we go out on long legs with a three-pilot crew they have a max duty time of 20 hours, if they have been provided with a screened-off flat bed. The duty time gets shorter if the crew rest seat only reclines,” he continued. “The duty time for flight crew is even shorter, just 12 hours, if the flight is determined to be during a circadian low for the crew. It is all in writing now with IS-BAO,” he explained. “If we put the same thing in the NBAA Management Guide then we can start saying it is industry standard,” he concluded.
Jay Evans, head of the certified aviation manager program for NBAA and a member of the flight attendants and flight technicians committee, told the group, “We are trying to get our arms around what is relevant to you all, from your titles—flight technician or flight maintenance engineer—to your issues,” he explained.
From the Top
NBAA COO Steve Brown set the tone for the conference in his opening remarks. “There is instability in the world,” he began. “Yet from a safety standpoint in business aviation, we are getting safer as we go, and the last five years have been the safest to date. That said, security in business aviation is increasingly evolving. Your security today is less predictable today than ever. We have to deal with asymmetrical threats more creatively and work to get enough intelligence to see the threats coming and stop them,” he explained. “Keeping your aircraft and passengers and yourselves secure is going to be a big part of the value of all of you. There are a lot of ways that you can contribute actively by being observant and by providing security feedback and insight for each individual flight. Business aviation can be the most secure way to travel. That’s up to you.”
He implored the attendees to take every opportunity to educate themselves about the technical aspects of cabin service, including mastering the complexities of onboard Internet and connectivity services, which is now ubiquitous in both corporate and airliner cabins. “Your ability to facilitate that connectivity in the air is critical. All NBAA members put high value on these skills,” he said. “We’ve been working with the NBAA maintenance committee’s sub-committee on in-flight connectivity all year and plan on meeting with them in July,” Lapotosky told attendees.
After Brown’s speech the group heard from motivational speaker Scott Mager, who continued the theme, talking about empowerment. “Changing the way you approach your thinking pattern will change the way you react,” said Mager. “Your ability to make the right decision at the right time is essential to your success.”
Focus on Service, Safety and Security
Kate Edwards, a 30-year veteran of the hospitality industry, author of Hello! And Every Little Thing that Matters, as well as a contributing writer for Culintro.com and Restaurant Hospitality magazine, showed how quality of service is the primary factor influencing their passengers’ impressions of both the cabin attendant and the company. Edwards encouraged the creation of “memorable moments of service,” all the while stressing that cabin attendants are there for passenger safety, and challenged them to prove it with an excellent safety briefing.
The next day caterers provided a day-long round robin of food safety, service, etiquette and catering tips for attendees.
“Food lives for four hours, tops,” said cabin crew trainer and caterer Paula Kraft. “When our food arrives on site we have to have it sanitized and cooled within 10 minutes. It takes 45 minutes for prep and then we blast chill it then pack it in coolers. Then it has to travel to you. For every 10 degrees above 40 degrees F that you let it warm up you lose 20 minutes of that four hours. If you are lucky you’ve got 20 minutes of good life left in that food when it gets to you,” she explained.
Jim Cannon, noted Safety Management System expert, helped the crowd understand how to identify hazards, safety and security risks in company operations. He emphasized the creation of “just” safety cultures within flight departments, where employees won’t hesitate to report issues before they become problems.
The safety theme wrapped up with a presentation from Bob Palestrant, district chief, fire & rescue, terrorism liaison at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport, about his job, and how cabin crew can help, immediately after an in-flight emergency and landing.
The 2017 Flight Attendants and Flight Technicians Conference is scheduled for next June in Long Beach, Calif.
Catering Challenge
To keep the pace of the conference interesting, the committee set up a cooking contest inspired by the TV show Chopped. Three exhibiting caterers were allowed only the equipment found in the galley of a typical mid- to long-range business jet and were offered smashed (but edible) or boring food items and basic ingredients, then given 30 minutes to present judges with finished original dishes. The caterers each pulled a volunteer from the audience to be their assistant. Smashed key lime pie became the base sauce for a seared mahi-mahi dish, and exotic fruits became dressing for a stunning salad. Even boring breaded shrimp were redressed into something tasty and gluten free using a bag of potato chips and a lot of ingenuity.
Success Through Scholarships
The Flight Attendants and Flight Technicians Conference draws a significant number of new attendees each year, and its scholarship offerings are one reason why. This year was no different, with nearly one-third the attendees listing themselves as first-timers.
Thirty-three scholarships were awarded over the three-day conference, offering its recipients training valued at more than $45,000. Scholarship winners:
Diane Davy, Karen Kurtz, Catherine Claffey, Miriam Goode, Laura Strauch, Carrie Wicht, Carrie Dunn, John Bray, Eleni Angeli, Samantha Dvorak, Barbie Newton, Creighton Anderson, Patricia Konya, Carolina Ellmaker, Chantal Gabaldon, Arturo Zavala, Patricia Hamrick, Tara Souviron, Kristen DeGroot, Aimee Gallardo, Marva Benjamin, Jennifer Kiesling, Ashley Clickner, Sahel Golestan, Gina Clover, Lisa Kutzer, Teri Kanicki, Kam Hansen, Denise Costa, Mary-Ann Bodo, Sara Chrzanowski, Carol Martin, Laura Wiebbecke, Marne Burghoffer.
Scholarship sponsors ranged from individual foundations to oil companies to OEMs, and a host of flight crew training organizations and caterers.
