Avionics News March 2014 - 36

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John Gauch of

airplanes in Ohio, Michigan, Ontario and
Indiana. A 152 was my company car. I
sold 152s and 172s, and worked additionally on Cessna's Pilot Center franchise. But after a while, I was hired by
Cessna for its Hangar 10 program.

For those people
unfamiliar with it, tell us
about Hangar 10.

is
ics, with h
oast Avion
of Gulf C
ch,
John Gau

family

G

ulf Coast Avionics is a leading
supplier of avionics, pilot supplies and aircraft services. Since
1984, Gulf Coast Avionics in Lakeland,
Fla., has been providing quality merchandise from name brand manufacturers to keep pilots, aircraft owners and
operators flying.
Recently, Patricia Luebke, Avionics
News contributor, spoke with John
Gauch, vice president of sales, to learn
more about Gulf Coast Avionics and his
new job with the company.

Where did you grow up?

My dad was an aeronautical engineer
who worked for the space programs.
That's where my interest in aviation
began. I started building model airplanes
in high school and made the decision
that I wanted to make aviation my
career. I chose Kent State University for
an aeronautical degree. The big companies - Boeing, Lockheed and McDonnell
Douglas - had no interest in me, but I got
a job at Cessna in a sales position, selling
36

avionics news

*

march

2014

With...

Cessna noticed in the 1980s that flight
training was slowing down, and it was
trying to get people to the airport. So
the company decided to go where the
people were. Hangar 10 was a retail store
located in malls to promote learning to
fly at a Cessna Pilot Center. We also sold
flight simulation - which was very crude
back then - along with gifts, memorabilia
and other pilot supplies. There were two
launch stores, Dallas and Minneapolis,
and I was the manager of the Dallas
location. The stores lasted less than two
years. When Cessna announced it was
getting out of the piston business, there
was less investment in learning to fly.
Because of that, Hangar 10 no longer
made sense. I left Cessna in late 1986,
and went to work at Sporty's.

Where did you start
at Sporty's?

I was the assistant to the president and
took over aviation duties, running trade
shows, producing product evaluations
and generally looking after the aviation
part of the company. I flew a Cherokee
180, and I was trying to learn the mail
order business. I did that for four years
and got into catalog pricing, and ran the
weekend ground school program. I was
rewarded by being named vice president
of the catalog department. At that time,

Gulf Coast Avionics

we had the Pilot Shop and a home
goods catalog called Preferred Living.
Later, we added Tool Shop and Wright
Bros. We had a Sporty's France and an
alliance with Transair in England.
This all led to the opening of Sporty's
Europa in 1995, and in 1997, I was
named president of Sporty's. But by
June 2001, I didn't feel I had the proper
balance between family and career. To
rebalance my life and try to be a father
to four children between 1 and 9 years
old, I made a difficult decision. Sporty's
was and is a great company, but family
is No. 1. In retrospect, if I stayed, I know
I would have been divorced.
I spent the summer with my family, and then worked hard on a job
search. I felt I had lots of connections,
but Sept. 11, 2001, was not a good
time to be looking for a job in aviation. In December, I went to work for
Diamond as vice president of sales
and marketing and then to Cirrus
to pursue what I enjoyed the most,
which is the actual fleet sales for colleges and universities. I was at Cirrus
until July 2013, when I decided I was
ready for a change. Gulf Coast offered
me the chance to be vice president of
sales. The mail order side is familiar
to me. I also know the airframers for
avionics installations, with the experimental side a new thing to me.

What's the corporate
culture at Gulf Coast
Avionics?

Rick Garcia started the company in
1984, and it's very much a family environment - hard work mixed with a
decent sense of humor and a focus on
the customer to do the job right.



Avionics News March 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News March 2014

Point of Communication
AEA Now
The View from Washington
International News and Regulatory Updates
Homebuilding Panels
Member Profile
Standards of Participation
A Conversation With...
Member Profile
AEAviators
Creating the Perfect Avionics Suite
Business Basics
Before & After
What's Working?
Survey Reveals Hiring Trends for the Aviation Industry
Legal Ease
ADS-B Early Adopters
Aviation Aces
Meet the AEA Awards Nominees
What's New
Avionics News March 2014 - Intro
Avionics News March 2014 - Cover1
Avionics News March 2014 - Cover2
Avionics News March 2014 - 1
Avionics News March 2014 - 2
Avionics News March 2014 - 3
Avionics News March 2014 - Point of Communication
Avionics News March 2014 - 5
Avionics News March 2014 - AEA Now
Avionics News March 2014 - 7
Avionics News March 2014 - 8
Avionics News March 2014 - 9
Avionics News March 2014 - 10
Avionics News March 2014 - 11
Avionics News March 2014 - 12
Avionics News March 2014 - 13
Avionics News March 2014 - The View from Washington
Avionics News March 2014 - 15
Avionics News March 2014 - International News and Regulatory Updates
Avionics News March 2014 - 17
Avionics News March 2014 - 18
Avionics News March 2014 - 19
Avionics News March 2014 - Homebuilding Panels
Avionics News March 2014 - 21
Avionics News March 2014 - 22
Avionics News March 2014 - 23
Avionics News March 2014 - 24
Avionics News March 2014 - 25
Avionics News March 2014 - Member Profile
Avionics News March 2014 - 27
Avionics News March 2014 - 28
Avionics News March 2014 - 29
Avionics News March 2014 - Standards of Participation
Avionics News March 2014 - 31
Avionics News March 2014 - 32
Avionics News March 2014 - 33
Avionics News March 2014 - 34
Avionics News March 2014 - 35
Avionics News March 2014 - A Conversation With...
Avionics News March 2014 - 37
Avionics News March 2014 - Member Profile
Avionics News March 2014 - 39
Avionics News March 2014 - 40
Avionics News March 2014 - 41
Avionics News March 2014 - AEAviators
Avionics News March 2014 - 43
Avionics News March 2014 - Creating the Perfect Avionics Suite
Avionics News March 2014 - 45
Avionics News March 2014 - 46
Avionics News March 2014 - 47
Avionics News March 2014 - 48
Avionics News March 2014 - 49
Avionics News March 2014 - Business Basics
Avionics News March 2014 - 51
Avionics News March 2014 - 52
Avionics News March 2014 - 53
Avionics News March 2014 - 54
Avionics News March 2014 - Before & After
Avionics News March 2014 - What's Working?
Avionics News March 2014 - 57
Avionics News March 2014 - 58
Avionics News March 2014 - 59
Avionics News March 2014 - 60
Avionics News March 2014 - 61
Avionics News March 2014 - Survey Reveals Hiring Trends for the Aviation Industry
Avionics News March 2014 - 63
Avionics News March 2014 - Legal Ease
Avionics News March 2014 - 65
Avionics News March 2014 - 66
Avionics News March 2014 - 67
Avionics News March 2014 - 68
Avionics News March 2014 - 69
Avionics News March 2014 - ADS-B Early Adopters
Avionics News March 2014 - 71
Avionics News March 2014 - 72
Avionics News March 2014 - 73
Avionics News March 2014 - 74
Avionics News March 2014 - 75
Avionics News March 2014 - Aviation Aces
Avionics News March 2014 - 77
Avionics News March 2014 - 78
Avionics News March 2014 - 79
Avionics News March 2014 - Meet the AEA Awards Nominees
Avionics News March 2014 - 81
Avionics News March 2014 - 82
Avionics News March 2014 - 83
Avionics News March 2014 - 84
Avionics News March 2014 - 85
Avionics News March 2014 - 86
Avionics News March 2014 - 87
Avionics News March 2014 - 88
Avionics News March 2014 - 89
Avionics News March 2014 - What's New
Avionics News March 2014 - 91
Avionics News March 2014 - 92
Avionics News March 2014 - 93
Avionics News March 2014 - 94
Avionics News March 2014 - 95
Avionics News March 2014 - 96
Avionics News March 2014 - Cover3
Avionics News March 2014 - Cover4
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