Avionics News October 2015 - 70

MY LIFE IN AVIONICS PART 4
Continued from page 69

never approved a radio shop and
we had never made one. I stumbled upon my procedure for dealing with FAA inspectors that stayed
with me throughout my avionics
career. Find out early what they
do for a hobby or fun, and manage
to include that in your early conversations. Also, always set up a
very minor infraction of the rules.
This gives the inspectors a bone to
chew on. They can write it up early
and spend the rest of the time talking about their hobbies.
It was during the Willow Run
Airport period in my life when my
second son, Erich, was born. I had

avionics news

october

2015

a family with three children now. I
went through a divorce and later
married my present wife, Dolores.
Between the two of us, we were
blessed with six children and many
wonderful memories.
While working at Great Lakes
Airmotive, a man walked into the
shop and asked if I had any model
cement. He said he broke the tail
off a little model aircraft and would
like it glued back together. I took
the model and applied glue to
each side before pressing it back
together. He said that he was in
town trying to decide where to start
a factory to manufacture them. It
just so happened I was working on
a Lear LTRA-6 radio. As it turned
out, I was talking to Bill Lear, and

the little model was a Lear Jet. I
believe I was the first person to repair a Lear Jet!
Not long afterward, a young,
dapper, instantly likeable man
came in one day selling Wilcox
transponders. He could have sold
us anything, but the transponder
was a great unit. We immediately
became a Wilcox dealer thanks to
Monte Mitchell, who later became
the executive director of the Aircraft
Electronics Association. Mitchell
was one of the greats in the avionics industry and was primarily responsible for uniting it. Instead of
companies being in competition,
they began sharing information for
the good of all. It was Mitchell who
called me much later after reading
an article in Private Pilot Magazine
I wrote about Loran-C installed in
aircraft. He talked me into writing
a column called "The Technician's
Notebook" for Avionics News,
which started a great relationship
for many years.
Eventually, our business grew,
and we became quite knowledgeable on general aviation radios.
The Willow Run Airport changed
drastically as Detroit Metropolitan
Airport was constructed and all the
airline traffic moved there. It left
Willow Run Airport almost a ghost
town. A larger avionics corporation purchased our company, and
we moved to what used to be the
main airline terminal; the avionics shop was moved to what was
the men's restroom. I was now
the avionics manager, and it was
my responsibility to construct the
new shop. It looked squeaky clean
among the white floors and walls.
I saw no need to cover them, so
we placed a long avionics repair
bench where the urinals were. My
office was the old barber shop. We
tried to lure the larger private air-

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News October 2015