Interview with Jerel Bristol

Today we welcome Jerel Bristol.

Jerel is Founder and owner of S.E.A.L. Aviation, a Fuel Tank and Structural repair company based in Hollywood Florida.   Jerel, a Veteran and A&P mechanic launched SEAL in 2007 and they have now grown to more than 40 employees.  His story of success includes the addition of specialized services such as NDT, and now recently he has launched a parts company.   He definitely leads by example!  Fortunately, he found the time to sit down with us to talk about his success.

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to D.O.M. Magazine's Management Insight podcast, a podcast that follows the footsteps of directors of maintenance aircraft, maintenance managers, and others outstanding in their field. I'm Greg Napert, and today we welcome Jerel Bristol. Jerel is founder and owner of Seal Aviation Fuel Tank and structural repair company based in Hollywood, Florida. Jerel, a veteran and a and p mechanic launched SEAL in 2007 and they have now grown to more than 40 employees. The story of success includes the addition of specialized services such as NDT and now he recently has launched a hearts company. He definitely leads by example. Fortunately, he found the time to sit down with us and talk to us about his success.<laugh>. Well, good morning, Jerel. Um, last place we we met was actually, uh, in Orlando at, at the show. Yes. And you've been traveling around pretty extensively since then. Uh, in fact, uh, all over the world. Um, I, I just wanted to introduce Seal Aviation a little bit for starters and, uh, tell people SEAL is not an acronym, first of all, right? Well, it. Is, it is. Okay. <laugh>. Um, cuz I noticed you don't use the periods. And then the name seal. Um, it is actually is, um, has an acronym. Um, the, it has a little story behind it. Um, I don't know how much we can actually say <laugh>, but, uh, um, I was on I 95 when I first started the company coming from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale, going home, coming up with a name and, uh, um, stuck, stuck in traffic in I 95. And, uh, I already had, uh, uh, the last three letters, the e, a and L, which is expensive ass leak,<laugh>. And, uh, I said, you know, um, what, what can I, you know, I have to put something in front of it cuz it can't be eel as a company, you know? So I started going through, you know, the alphabet, a, a, B, C, and came to the s of course, near the latter part of the alphabet and, uh, seal. I'm like, wait a minute. That's what we do is seal. So, you know, seal. Fuel cells, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, that's how the name came about. Um, it's not very professional. Um, so I, I do have a, another acronym is, uh, uh, um, sealing evaluation and aircraft leaks.<Laugh>. Okay. You had to look it up. So now I don't feel so bad.<Laugh>. Okay. So, um, the, the company now, uh, not only does fuel cell ceiling, but you do structural repair. You, you've, uh, since expanded into non-destructive testing. Um, so what types of non-destructive testing do you do? Do you all aspects of. It? Yes. Um, pretty much, uh, the, the main five basic methods. Yeah. Um, you start with your, your radiography, your, uh, uh, which is X-rays. And, uh, then we have Eddie current magnetic particle, penetrant, and ultrasound. Okay. Um, so we, those are the five basic methods. And, and that apparently isn't enough to keep you busy. So you also are now getting into parts distribution. I mean, part of part of taking care of doing structural re repair and sealing fuel cells and non-destructive testing and everything is you need some consumable materials. And you decided to start selling those consumable materials and, and other parts as well. Structural repair parts. Correct. Mostly, I mean, what we, we keep mostly in stock, um, is the, the parts that a lot of facilities don't want to keep in stock. Rain. Rivets, o-rings, high locks, nuts, bolts, screws. Um, we keep a large quantity of that. Um, I found, um, and early on that a lot of parts brokers would not want to, uh, um, help me out. So I ended up having to have my own parts people. Um, there's only so much of a markup they can put on a dollar high lock, and versus them selling a, uh, starter generator for $5,000 and they're making a thousand dollars markup, everyone knows where they're gonna go. Right? So as a, as a business operator, we, I couldn't wait around for somebody to just say, oh, okay, I'll finally get to you. Um, so I ended up having my own people, um, start finding those stock, um, and then finding the items that we needed, and we'd always have extra stock. So we ended up putting that stock back in. And now I have such an inventory that I'm actually able to start selling this to other people, and the connection is to find some of those hardware and consumables, um, allows us to, uh, make a little bit of money. But it, it's, the business philosophy is to keep the volume high and that way we can have a lower purchasing price and help every, you know, our other, uh, friends out in the community. Yeah. Awesome. And, uh, there's a new webpage for Seal Parts, um, and that's up and going as we speak. Yes, it is. Um, seal, seal, arrow parts, uh, dot com. Um, okay. Has all the, the, uh, uh, you know, has a lot of pictures, has a list of our inventory on stock, so you, you can actually purchase, uh, items on stock or online also. Right. And so your company and through all this has expanded and you, you, how many employees do you have now? Roughly about, uh, between 40 and 45, um. 45 People. Okay. Yes. Last day asked, I think, uh, you were in 30, 30 something. Yeah. And now you're in 40 something, so still continuing to grow and you have teams in different areas of the country, three different areas or. Correct, yeah. Okay. Um, you know, the largest one is South Florida. That's, that's home and that's, uh, where, uh, sea aviation, you know, uh, spread at wing, so to speak. But, uh, we also have people, uh, have a couple guys in Chattanooga and a couple people in, uh, uh, Wichita, Kansas too. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then what about for international? Internationally, we, uh, our, our teams will be made up mostly probably from South Florida, but, uh, if we have people that aren't being busy in the other two locations, we'll drag, you know, one or two of those guys and make a team. The, uh, making up a, I don't have a any set team that stays together. It's, uh, depends on the job and what the work scope is, and we'll pick the best people that, uh, are available to go on those teams. Okay. Yeah. So I guess what I, uh, I wanted to, to try to understand a little bit. I wanted to ask more about how you got the business started and where your interest in aviation first came from. Um, what, what was your first experience in aviation maintenance? Well, I, I'll tell you, um, I remember, I'll go back a little bit, but I remember when I was young looking at this book, I had all these experimental aircraft in it, and I was like, man, that's pretty cool. Um, it kind of, I think that's maybe where a little spark came from. Um, it was just, you know, really futuristic looking stuff, and it was real actual experimental aircraft. This is like high school. Or? No, I'm gonna say like probably nine, 10 years old. Oh. Okay. Okay. Um, and then, um, when I got older, I was, uh, through high school, I went through, uh, um, an autobody class, and I graduated that and, uh, found out I really didn't like that very much. I didn't like the dealing with the painting and the that environment, it's not, not a very good, healthy environment. Right. So I was working on a, uh, uh, company, um, real close to Fort Lau executive airport. I mean, it's, uh, it was right on the backside of the, uh, uh, the runway where, you know, all the airplanes would typically take off. And I was like, man, it would be really cool to, to go work on those airplanes. You know, those, those fighter jets that are taken off. At the time, I didn't know any better. Um, so I joined the Air Force and, uh, uh, I was in F 16 Crew Chief, and, uh, that was in 95. I joined, got out in 99, um, and started working back at Fort Lack executive. Come to find out those fighter jets, I heard when I was, before I joined, we're actually this Allier and a, and a old Gulf Stream, G two G three or something taken off with all that noise. And I know better now that it wasn't a fighter jet, you know, <laugh>. So, um, that was my, that's where I got my interest, um, in, being on Fort Auto executive right next to the. Airport. Right, right. But then you actually got your hands dirty and trained in the military to be, to be a crew chief. Correct. And, uh, what kind of experience did you get in the military? Um, I mean, I got a lot of experience. Um, you know, I, I got a little bit of experience at, uh, um, a lot of people, um, don't get, um, but originally, you know, I went through, it was about almost eight months of training, like, uh, six or seven months in Shepherd Air Force Base in Texas. And then we went to, uh, hot training, which was in, uh, Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, um, where we were working around live airplanes. And then, um, I went to, uh, I got stationed at, uh, hill Air Force Base in Utah. And, uh, basically a short story was, uh, anyway, I ended up in the tool room, um, having to take care of the, the tools and helping with the parts people. And I remember fighting it, and I didn't want to go there. And they're like, Hey, we don't have anyone wants us to go, you're this, you know, the newest guy. I'm like, okay, all right. I'm, I'm here. So I was there for a year. And the, uh, uh, the reason why I say that story is because I fought it so hard that, you know, I probably, probably shouldn't, you know, wouldn't have gone, but I, I had to, I was in the military, right. And, uh, once I got out and I started my business, a lot of the things that I learned and I apply in my business was because of that tool room. Logistics and acquisition. Yeah. And, and, and. Organization part. It's organizing, planning mm-hmm. <affirmative>, all. That kind of stuff. Yeah. I learned that. So like, when you go to, you're going on to deployment, well, you need all these tools and all these parts to go with you. So how do you pack it? How do you think about it? How do you get it from point A to point B Right. And get it there safely so it's not broken or disorganized. And that was some stuff that I put today on a daily basis with Seal Aviation. Yeah. So tell me about, um, you launching Seal Aviation. I mean, at what point did you say I'm gonna start my own company? Um, I, I, I figured for a long time that I, I'd be a, uh, an owner of a company. Um, I knew that when I was young. Well, backing up a little bit, you were working for a couple other companies in the industry. Correct? Yeah, so I, I, uh, I worked for a company and, uh, they were opening up their, uh, first, um, uh, base away from their, their home base in Dallas, which was in Fort Lauderdale. And, uh, um, I learned the, the fuel tank trade. Um, I found it to become very easy for me and, you know, succeeded at it. And, uh, uh, from there, I, I graduated up, I became a lead within a couple months. And then, um, one thing led to another, my, my, uh, boss, he ended up going on his own way, which he taught me, you know, a good, he, he taught me the basics of the fuel tank. Right. And, and I just took off from there. And, uh, always wanted to do she metal work, which, you know, fuel tank work is actually, this is a dirty form of sheet metal work. Um, but I've always wanted to form and learn how to, you know, form metal and bend it and, you know, make things really from it. And, uh, um, so the next thing you know, the, uh, I hate to say it at the time, but, uh, the owner and I weren't, uh, seeing eye to eye. I wasn't able to get to where I wanted to have my own feature. Right. So I ended up, uh, in Iraq for, uh, two, two and a half years and doing sheet metal work. And that's where I, I started learning, uh, how to form metal and, you know, um, I got around a lot of some of these old timers. That was. For, for a contractor? Yeah, that was for L three. I, I mentioned the name, but, uh, so I went to, uh, went to, uh, the Middle East, went to Kuwait. I spent about three or four months in Kuwait. And then, uh, they shipped me north to, uh, to CRI Iraq. And. And that was where you got most of your sheet metal experience? Yeah, that's where I got to. I got to learn some of more of the basics. You know, I, I got to, to, uh, work with some of these, you know, like we say, some of the old crusty sheet metal guys, you know? Yeah. Yeah. But if you're willing to listen, they'll, they're willing to teach you. Yeah. And, uh, I, I set myself up to, uh, I ended up, by the time I left, I had a lot of tooling and a lot of parts, which allowed me to, uh, uh, inject myself into a lot of projects to, to help learn. And, you know, some of these old guys, if they, if you're really wanting to learn, they'll, they'll teach you, you know, if, if, and that's, I was willing to learn. I knew it would get me somewhere else in my life. I didn't know exactly where, but. And after two years overseas, you came back home to South Florida? Is that where you. Came back? Home to South? Yep. That's okay. Yep. Family's, uh, from South Florida. So I came home, um, one thing led to another, but, uh, basically started Seal Aviation. And, um. And that was just yourself? Yeah, it was just myself, a sole owner. I sh I sh I'll take that back. You, um, the wife is with me, <laugh>, um, and this venture, um, yes. But, uh, um, that's her and I, um, but that was, that happened in 2007. Yeah. Um, and then, you know, shortly, you know, we've been growing since, um, even through the. Uh, and we, we say that lightly, but I wanna give your wife credit. I know she does a lot of the, a lot of the work at, uh, you know, at, at back, at base and, and, you know, does things related to billing and parts acquisition and all that kind of stuff. She's probably got her hands in everything related. Never not. She has her hands in a lot of things. Um, I will say a funny story. I remember, um, I'll kind of go back to the parts aspect. I remember, uh, uh, in the beginning when I didn't have a parts person, she tried being the parts person, and she was so, uh, I, I, I needed some simple high lock, something simple. And I was like, Hey, go to this place, da, da da. This is the price, da da. And she's like, I don't know how you do this. I'm like, well, then we need to hire somebody.<laugh>. So, yeah. So you continued growing and hiring employees and so forth mm-hmm.<affirmative> and pretty much doing just business regionally around South Florida for a while. Yeah. And until you got to the point where you needed, uh, a larger home base and you, you actually built a, uh, a home facility, right? Correct. Well, um, so I think it was about four years ago, so about 2018, I think it was. Right. Actually, I bought it before that, so probably, I think 2016, I realized my landlord at the corn place was giving me a hard time. Right. And I was like, you know what? I'm, you know, every, every year he was jumping at like almost 10% the rent. I was like, this is not right. So I bought my, you know, I went out and said, you know, told the wife to start saving some money so we can put it, buy a place, be our own landlords. So we found our place down, uh, in, uh, around 20 16, 20 17, I think it was, um, next to the Fort Lauderdale International Airport. Right. And, uh, uh, gutted it and had to learn how to become a general contractor, another hat you have to be, you know, as an, as an owner. And, uh, did that. Um, and then, then 2018 is, uh, roughly I think when we moved in and, uh, uh, had the, uh, facility made, you know, to comrade, you know, a parts room. Um, and, you know, that's what we have now. Yeah. I, earlier this morning, I was, we were, we were, uh, getting some coffee and so forth and, and coming out here, and when I first walked in, the facility that you're currently working in, um, you know, the wing is de from the aircraft, and there's parts a a lot of parts that are being replaced and inspected and repaired. And, um, you, you seem to have a hands-on grasp of everything that's going on on this aircraft, as well as having to manage the company and other things, other aspects of the company, including the advertising in our magazine and so forth. Um, you know, where, where do you decide every day when you wake up, where your priorities are? Whatever's thrown at me,<laugh>, um, you know, the priorities I learned, I don't know, probably about 10 years ago. Uh, you just gonna have to set priorities. I didn't, I wasn't really good at setting the priorities. I was literally, whatever was thrown at me, I was taken care of at that moment. Um, now I've learned to, um, delegate more of some of the stuff. Um, yeah. That's why you saw in the beginning, I used to be very involved with a lot of the advertising and stuff with, you know, Dion Magazine. Um, but now I've, uh, relinquished a lot of authority to, uh, Mike, which is my general manager. Right. Um, and that was one of the things that I've learned, um, to do, is to have, um, build people around you so you can grow and make the company successful. And I think. That's what letting them get to trust them and then slowly kind of put those responsibilities on that person. Correct, yes. It's, it's really. So that you can wake up in the morning and not have to worry about those different aspects. Correct. And you can focus on what you, you've got to do. Today, <laugh>. Yes. Yeah. Um, it, it, it's more, uh, I think, uh, uh, a good business has a, a, you know, that's growing as has many people that are around, um, especially the size of business that we are. Um, and bringing me personally, I, I believe in bringing those people up, um, from inside, you know, within the company. It makes a, a stronger company, and it keeps the values of the, the, the company that, how it started. Um, you know, it is, you know, a lot of the guys, I still have some, some of the guys that've been around for, you know, almost day one. So, um, it's, it's important for me to, to bring those guys along with us. As a owner, general manager, chief cook, and bottle washer. How much do you worry about the finances of your operation? You know, it's, it, it's funny when you, when you, you start thinking about the finances, um, I remember getting, you know, one of our first jobs, I think it was a couple thousand dollars check. I was like, wow, this is a bunch of money, money. And then as time went on, you know, you start looking at the debt that you, you occur. And at one point, you know, you kind of pucker about that mo the amount of money. Um, and then it gets to the point where it's like, okay, you just, you accept it. Um, that tho those, those amounts. And the biggest thing is you, you could always have your customers that are always gonna take care of you on, on the pay aspect. So, you know, you always, you do everything you can for those type of customers. And you have some customers that, you know, they take drag their fee, and then you'll have occasionally a new customer that takes, you know, that doesn't want to pay, and you have to fight you. Right. Right. And that's where probably the worst part about the business is having to go after, you know, chase your money. Collections. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it's like that really in every business, every business has to worry about what your receivables are. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, uh, how, you know, the aging of your accounts and so forth. Um, you know, it's not a unique thing from a business standpoint, but in your case, I mean, sometimes there's a lot of money that's being put out there for parts mm-hmm.<affirmative> or for employees. Correct. Or making the payroll, um, you know, so you gotta make sure you got cash flow coming in at the same time. Mm-hmm.<Affirmative>. Yeah. Um, I, I mean, we had some, uh, uh, a big account. It was a government account that I, I say almost put us out, you know, um, you know, government, you know, they always say the government money's good, but it takes a long time to collect. Yeah. Yeah. It hurt, it really hurt. And, uh, you know, I had to put my foot down and I had to say, you know, I probably should have put my foot down earlier. Yeah. Um, and say, Hey, we're, we're done. But I kept on having to hope that, Hey, we're gonna get paid. We're gonna get paid. And yeah, this never happened. I put my foot down. Well, and the same thing happens with, and, and it's, it's ironic, but it's sometimes the larger companies, the, the Fortune 100 companies, they're, the bureaucracy is so great there that they don't necessarily put, uh, making, you know, paying their vendors mm-hmm. <affirmative> as a priority, and, you know, just takes time to work, work its way through the system. So, good. A little guy out there, and you've got all your money on the table and, and <laugh>. Oh, yeah. They don't consider it a priority to pay you, unfortunately, but yeah. It's just the way it is. Yeah. I will say it's, um, I try not to focus too much on it again, delegate. Yeah. Yeah. Um, some of that. So, uh, it's, it allows me to focus on some of the things I want to focus on. Yeah. Um, but I occasionally, you know, it's like any business. It's like, Hey, your buddy over here owes us, you know, X amount of dollars, you know, you need to go talk to your buddy, and you go talk to him, and all right, I'm hurting too, you know, well, hey, gimme something. You try to work something through. Um, but that's, that's business. You know. We were looking at some of the another issue, um, that, that's gotta be something that, that seriously kind of throws a wrench in the works for you sometimes on a day-to-day basis is parts availability. And, and it's even worse today than it was probably five years ago because, uh, of, um, the supply chain and so forth. But a lot of parts that you're working on are pretty unique because they're airframe structural components that might come from an OEM that is, you know, due to an accident or from corrosion, or a crack from an N D T inspection. And it's something that comes up and you need one of the, you know, a one-off part that the OEM has to supply to you. And it might be several months that you have to sit there and wait for the part. You can't just run down to ACE Hardware and buy the part. So, or one of the auto, you know, aviation suppliers, uh, it has to come from the oem and it's probably a long lead time. Um, you know, what does that, how does, how do you work with that? How do you, how do you determine, okay, we're gonna take my team back home, or we're gonna send them home and go work on another project? Now. One of the things that are successful for me is to, before we get on the job, try to have everything there. Now, you can't plan for everything. Right. Um, so you gotta call the audible, um, so many times, yeah. The, uh, manufacturer may not be able to sell supply that part. Well, there's other, we, we do have other options. Well, maybe, uh, we can make, manufacture that part with the support of a der behind us or repair that part with a der the oem, um, being open in that aspect. Um, but sometimes there's no other way other than to get the part from the oem. The, uh, uh, it's a supply chain and what's going on nowadays. I mean, I'm having more problems with stuff that I thinks there and it's not there. Um, you know, it could be, I mean, the industry knows there's a, a grease that we had long time, no grease that everyone needed, and people were, you know, hoarding it. And, you know, there's sometimes there's hoarding parts. There's some issues with that too. Um, but then the other thing that's hard to do is also budget for, uh, um, the cost. Um, when you're telling your customer that, Hey, this part costs a thousand dollars, by the time you order it, it's $1,500. Well, why, why does it cost more? Well, supply chain and, you know, somebody already bought this and because they're holding the parts or whatever. Right. Um, the, the price goes up. It's, it's hard to, uh, manage some of that stuff. And then when it get, when you're sitting there with an airplane, um, and you know, customers, you know, uh, some of these airplanes, you know, the charter operators, that's their livelihood. They're making money from it. Um, they wanna get these airplanes up as fast as possible so they can start making air, uh, their money and their make their life out of it. They're putting pressures on you. Um, and of course you have to, uh, um, learn to say, Hey, we, this is the only way we're gonna do this. So. How do you, how do, well, how do you mitigate that these days? I mean, you have to, basically, your contracts are such that they allow for parts increases and things like that. Yes. I mean, a lot of times I, I try and each customer, I, I like to say you have to learn each customer and how they like it. Some, sometimes, um, you know, they're okay with, hey, you know, the, you know, the parts to be determined and here's the invoices. And you, you show 'em what you know, what you paid for. And of course, you know, you have to make a markup on it. You just can't pass through this stuff. Right. Um, but, and then some customers go, well, I need a number so I can budget. Well, okay, well, remember, this is estimated, you know, this is what we found right now, but when you tell you, you, you gimme the authorization two weeks later, that part's no longer available. Now I have to go down the, the, uh, to the next available vendor, and they want more, they want twice as much, or they know they're the only one. So now they're, they're, they're, they're gonna take you to the cleaners for. It. Right. Right. So it's, it's kind of difficult, um, to give someone accurate pricing. But I mean, we do our best. Um, I mean, we, I go back and, and try to review, you know, individual work orders and, and keep a, uh, tabs on, you know, are we this close or that close. Yeah. Um, we pretty much, you know, I do a review almost every work order in that aspect, um, to try to just keep a, um, a mental history of what's going on. So now tell me about your repair station certificate. Like what? It's, it's, it's a little bit different, I think, than most maintenance facilities, because they have a home base. They have a, maybe a training procedure, training manual for the company. And they're, you're not a part 1 45, are you? Yes. We're part one. We're one 40, but it's a mobile station. A mobile, um, the FA doesn't automatically, just because you're a repair station doesn't automatically say that you can do what they call work away from maintenance. You have to have that special, uh, authority. Um, so if a repair station doesn't have that authority, each time they work away from their facility, they, authorization from their, their primary maintenance inspector. Okay. But since all of our work is, I, I shouldn't say all of it, but I'm gonna say 95% of our work is away from station, and we have that authority. I don't need to ask the, the PMI that question every time. So a part of that, um, given that authority, the director of maintenance is supposed to think about, um, what tooling, make sure they have manuals, the proper skills for the, each technic. The director of maintenance for the, for the, the facility facilitation you're working for, or for. Aviation facilitation. Okay. Or, or, you know, the facility that is doing a work away from. Say personally, act as director of maintenance on, on most of the jobs, or. No, my director maintenance, um, is Giovanni. Okay. Uh, Zorio. Um, he's been, he's one of the guys that've been with me pretty much from day one. Um, you know, he, him and I think a lot alike. Um, he's, he's, he's been taken more and more away from my responsibilities as accountable manager. Right. Um, and, but over the years, he's, he's done a, you know, he takes a little here, takes a little here. And so he's maintaining the regulatory aspects of all of the jobs that that seal is working on. Well, when you say regulatory, I would, I would put that more in the hands of my chief inspector. I have a chief inspector. Okay. He, he helps make sure, sure. That our, our, you know, the personnel on the job are, we have an inspector on the job, and then the director maintenance makes sures that we have somebody that can supervise the job. Now, most of the time within our company, those that mo that those people are actually in one person, supervisor, and an inspector, um, that way, uh, we have a quality control system in place. And we also, we don't have to, but we try to have always a two person on a job. Um, the economics is not always the friendliest to the, the end consumer, but Right. Um, it's a quality control. And, you know, we're dealing with airplanes, you know. Right. They're. You're checking each other's work. Correct, yes. Basically. Yeah. That's why you have to have a minimum team of two. Right? Correct. Yes. Um, so, uh, that's, that's the purpose of, you know, the two people and, and the, the chief inspector and the director of maintenance. And in my mind, and most facilities, they're equal. And when they conflict is when the job of the, the, uh, the accountable manager, which is myself, is gonna be the judge and go, okay, this is what we're gonna do, or this is what we're gonna do. But it's those two people that are actually really the backbone of sea aviation, most companies. So your role then, in terms of the maintenance and, and returning to service of an aircraft is the accountable manager? No, that's my, the, the person that's going to return to service aircraft is the, uh, chief inspector. Okay. Okay. Yeah. He, so he's gonna, so in our, in our company, what my chief inspector or his assistant, um, they review the work order, occasionally will go out to the aircraft, do spot checks, um, and, and they review all the paperwork, make sure the paperwork's right, and they issue the, the logbook or the 81 30 for the, uh, work that's been performed. Okay. Do you have a, a, a training program in place for. Your employees? Yeah, yeah. Um, it's something that's, we're, I'm always in work. Um, we bring a lot of our employees with very minimum experience. So, so, um, you know, we, we try to teach them, uh, the basics of what we need. The training program I have is, you know, a lot of times we even, we take 'em from teach 'em about the basic of the airplane. I mean, sometimes we have to, you know, crack hydraulic lines and, you know, um, maybe, you know, disconnect some basic wiring. Right. Um, but there's also experts for that stuff too, so, right. Um, but that's the job of the d om to know the task that's hand to go, Hey, all right, you guys are gonna do this, but the customer is gonna help us, you know, um, take off, uh, you know, electrical items or flight controls or cables. Um, and so we get the customer or somebody else, because that's not our experience, our experience is doing the fuel tanks or structure or, you know, doing the NDT inspection. Yeah. So do they end up with a repairment certificate? Yes. After, uh, they've basically have proven that they can do the job and they meet the requirements, uh, of being 18 months, uh, you know, you have have to have 18 months, uh, of experience. Right. And then, uh, be able to read, write, and speak English. Right. And, uh, show that, uh, to, to, you know, to see alleviation that they can do the work that we do and they'll get a requirements, but that you have to meet those minimum requirements. Right. So, so like your d om and accountable inspector and stuff, and your, your accountable person, um, are they and P amps or you have, do you have any amps on staff? Yeah. We have, uh, I think we have five or six amps on staff. Um, my chief inspector's an ia, um, okay. Um, and of course he's an i, a and P, um, my director of maintenance, he's a repairman. Um, all he needs to know is what we do. Right. He's been doing it for over 15 years, so he knows, he knows what's going on. Yeah. So, but the, um, there's also a little bit of a tricky part that comes of all, because we are doing N D T, we can't myself, I'm an A and p. Right. But I can't go and do N D T work cuz I'm not certified. And a lot of my N D T guys aren't certified to do sheet but we work together, um, very closely. I I do have, uh, uh, one gentleman that's, he has sheet metal experience and he's learning, you know, he's working on getting his different methods in N D T. At what point did you get your mp? Um, I got my airframe originally, I think in 2000. And then. Was that after the military? Yeah, it was after the military. That was the military experience that got me the airframe. Um, I rem and I tried to get the power plan at the time, and the inspector's like, well, you don't have any prop or you don't have any, you know, piston experience. I was like, okay. All right. Um, I've worked in best air force in the world, so, you know, I can't get to, you know, I worked on engines and I realized that yeah, he was probably right. I didn't know how to do anything on it, uh, on engines and uh, um, so I did my study and I had enough time and all that around it, but I just didn't have the, uh, practical or just general knowledge. So when I was in Iraq, I, I had a lot of extra time and, uh, did a lot of studying. I came back, um, and tested and got the power plant. I wanna say that was in 2006 or 2005. I think it was 2006, I think I got the power plant. Okay. So, and, uh, I mean, as a, for what I do, the whole purpose of me getting my power plant was so I can get my IA so I can sign off 3 37 s. Okay. And when I found out that as a working for a repair station, I don't need to have a power plant to sign off at 3 37. So yeah, I never went and got my ia, <laugh> <laugh>. So, but I could still sign a 3 37 off through the, the repair station. Um, I, I'm similar. I, you know, worked as an AMP for most of my life and never, never had a need to get the, uh, ia, cuz I was always working for a repair station too. So. Yeah. So, but, uh, I think, uh, I think over the last, since 2006, I think I've used a power plant maybe two or three times for sign offs. So when in, and I've used it for, uh, rotor painting, which is more of a structural aspect than engine. So, you know, but I was working on an engine, so I had to, uh, sign off with my power plant. So yeah. Interesting how the, the structural aspect actually rotated over into that. Um, I, I guess one of, one of the things, uh, I thought about, um, is in, in thinking about everything that you do and all the places that you go to and the fact that you're on the road most of the time, um, is how do you balance, uh, family life with, with your work, work life? Where do you even have a family life?<Laugh>? There is definitely, there is, it's there, there's a balance. Um, it's myself on one side of the, uh, the, uh, I I look at it a seesaw kind of, you know, yeah. It's myself. And then I got three girls and my, my two daughters and a wife on the other end. Yeah. Um, I like, I like, you know, it's basically when it's time for us to go vacation and spend time together, I usually, you know, that's that time I, I I, I still work, still gonna follow me a little bit, but it's, it's there. The wife will probably tell you a little bit different, but, uh, um, back from, it stems from the military. Um, you know, when you go to do a deployment, you know, usually you'd be gone for a short, short t d y it'd be two weeks, maybe three weeks, and you go do the long ones. It could be up to six months. Um, so, you know, she had to learn how to be on her own in early in our, in our relationship in our marriage. Right, right. Um, and then the girls, that's, that's, you know, my two daughters, they grew up that way. They grew up that way. So they, they, they don't know anything else. Hey, dad's, you know, where are you going to that dad today? I'm like, um, I'm going over here. Okay, when, when are you coming back? All right. I'll be back in a couple days or a couple weeks, you know? Yeah. Um, I like to say, you know, behind a lot of the, um, a OG road mechanics that you see out there, um, working on these airplanes, these guys, I mean, some, I know these guys are even putting more hours than I am on the road, but they have to have that good family structure behind them, you know, that, that wife. Yeah. And is that difficult, I mean, it's hard enough to find employees these days, so how are you, you know, you're continuing to grow and add employees. Where are you finding these people?<Laugh>, <laugh>. It's, I mean, hell, that's the talk of anyone. You know, you meet somebody or you know, that you haven't seen in a while or, you know, that it's, it's how you finding employees. Um, you know, what I've always been done is more word of mouth. Um, yeah. That's the best. Um, it's not, you know, it doesn't, uh, you can't always do that. Um, I've tried to work with other recruiting places and I just don't get much. I mean, I still do it because I have to do it, but Right. It's, it's the word of mouth. That's how you find the people. You know? And, and it's probably why it's rather critical that you treat your employees right too. Yeah. Because that word of mouth is, is gold in terms of getting people to, to jump ship and come work for you. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. Oh yeah. It's, it's, it's very important. Um, and you know, one of the things that I've also worked about is, is trying to have good benefits too. Yeah. Um, I can't do it like, um, they did 50 years ago, but I remember, you know, you talk to some of the old timers, they, they start with a job and they die with that job, and because they no. Enjoy it, it doesn't. Happen today. You don't have, you don't have, have that today. Um, and because a lot of times the benefits were right. They had a, a way to talk to the boss to make things, you know, Hey, I'm not happy. Okay, let's talk about it. Let's figure out, you know, a way, that's my philosophy. Um, it doesn't always work. Um, but on the other hand, uh, if you let these, uh, um, if they're, if they were going to walk away, they're gonna walk away, you know? Right. Um, but I say be open, you know, that's why I'm out with guys. Um, a lot of the times too, they get to know who I am and how I am and, and I have to say, Hey, I'm open. If you have a problem, come talk to me. If they're not willing to talk to me. And. It's a small industry, and yeah. Don't burn bridges.<Laugh>. That's, that's one of the things. Because somebody, how many people have actually worked for you, gone work for somebody else and then come back again? I don't think I've had, I got, I would have to think about if someone's come back. Right. Um, but I see a lot of people that have, um, left. Then they, they got their, their wings underneath me learn about aviation and they go somebody somewhere else and I still see'em. Yeah. Still cordial. I try to be cordial with everyone. Um, and a lot of times my guys, I I, my, I tell my guys when they hire on that, Hey, if you are gonna use me as a stepping stone, that's fine. Let me know. I will help you find a job at wherever facility you want. Because if you're doing a good job for me, the place is gonna wanna hire you. And guess what? They're gonna come and ask me, Hey, what do you think about Joe? Well, he's a really good guy. He works really hard, but is he looking for a job with you? Oh, really? Oh, well, if he's not happy, why hasn't he come and said something to me? Go ahead and hire him. Or if Joe comes to me and goes, Hey Jerel, I like this place over here. You know, I'm really tired of doing the fuel tank work. I'm tired of doing whatever. Can you help me? I'll go into the director of maintenance and go, Hey man, this guy's looking for a job. He might be a good fit. Are you interested? The word of mouth is very powerful. Yeah. In that aspect. Yeah. And they're, they're more likely to hire. So, um, and you know, and that, that helps, um, build that relationship with everyone. So. Where do you seal, sea seal, uh, uh, growing for to, from here? Or how, how do you see Seal expanding? I got. A, I got a couple irons in the fire. Um, I can't obviously talk about 'em right now, but, uh, um, you know, one of the things as a business model is I, I don't want to get into the everyday, um, maintenance stay within the specialty stuff that, you know, most of your small shops cannot afford to have a full-time employee on. Like, like I've done with ndt, most shops cannot have an NDT person full-time. Full-time. It, it's, it's, they can't, doesn't make any economic sense. So you hire a company like Sea Aviation to come and do your NDT work or, or you know, some of the small shops, they can't afford to have a sheet metal guy full-time. So they call sea alleviation for, and they have sheet metal work or the fuel tank work. I'm looking at some of the stuff, um, in that aspect too. Um, expand into, um, those specialized services. That's what I like doing. Those are the, that's what the, um, it has no conflict of interest with the shops that I'm doing, because that's the last thing I wanna do is, you know, I'm working for a company and they go, wait, hold on, I do the same thing. Why am I, you know, you, you, you're doing an inspection on a, you know, a 12 year inspection. Right. And I'm quoting that 12 year too, that says, no, I don't wanna be their competitors. I wanna be their, their, I wanna be, I, I try to go in and act like a, uh, an employee that has their specialized services. I like always like to say, when you're done with me, get us to the curb, we'll go find somewhere else. To work. Well, and that's the beauty of your company is, is most maintenance facilities or private owners that have, that have one or two mechanics can't afford, um, to, to hire people and, you know, they'd have to hire somebody, uh, and then fire them after the job is done. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And by doing, by hiring you as as offender, uh, you're in and out of there and it's no consequence because you go on to the next job. Yeah. And, and, and the thing is, is I like to say we build a relationship with those, those customers. Okay. And they can rely on, hey, when they call sea aviation and they know what they're gonna get, they're gonna get a consistent product. Um, and if there is a problem, cuz it is a human, you know, uh, you know, human interaction, okay, how do you correct it? How do you make it right? Um, and that's where the business aspect. But if you just hire somebody and then fire 'em, that person's not gonna come back and work for you again. Cuz wait a minute. Hold on. I don't have no consistent work here. Yeah. But the people that work at Sea Aviation, we know that we're gonna move around and, uh, work with the different people. But that's one of the beauties of like a lot of my guys, you have to like moving around. Some people don't like moving around. So, but for us, you know, the hangar gossip and you know, the different thing, you know, the little politics and a different hang. Yeah. We're there for a couple weeks. All right, we'll see you later. We don't, we, I don't care about your, your your pol politics stuff that's going on on the floor, you know, we're moving off to somewhere else. You know, we don't have that, we don't, you know, we don't have to deal with that. Um, yeah. Some people like that though. You know, they like, they lack that gossip and the, the power struggles that are going on. Uh, that's not, not not for my guys. You. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you Jerel. Um, it was great to talk to you and, uh, um, I don't know if there would any advice you would give to directors of maintenance or somebody thinking about starting their own company? Um, directors of maintenance? Um, I would would say that one, one advice is watch what other people are doing, right. And what watch what other people are doing wrong. So, you know, try to get out there and talk to different people. I see, uh, um, sometimes within the industry, people, um, are not a, are, uh, too proud to go out and ask for help from another director of maintenance or, you know, somebody that has experience, but I don't think there's a problem. You know, we don't, none of us know it all. Um, and that, that's one of the things. That's a very good point is, uh, you know, building, building a network of people that you can tap into for, for different situations and, um, problems that you might have. Cuz there's always new things popping up every day. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's a, it's a team of people, um, that, that, you know, you, you'll rely on. But, uh, um, as I say, you know, get out there and, and build your network and, and, and, uh, that's the most important thing you'll learn a lot. That's, I think one of the reasons why I've been so successful cuz I've moved around so much. I get to kind be like a sponge. I get to see so many different things. Yeah. You know, from the maintenance aspect and from management aspect, you know, I'm like, oh yeah, I like that. Or, oh, I won't do that. That's crazy. You know? Yeah. Um, but there's different, and, and I see some people that don't have that experience and they struggle. You're out there, make your network, you know, and, uh, don't be afraid to ask for. Very important thing that I've seen, uh, in, you know, and it includes going to trade shows and ire renewal meetings and things like that and meeting some people in Robb elbows and, and, and that helps build your network also. Yeah. Yeah. So that, that would be my advice. All. Right. Thank you Jerel. All. Thank you.