Avionics News February 2017 - 38

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Jody Stuckless of Trillium Aerospace

When did your
interest in aviation
and electronics
develop?

llium Aerospace
Jody Stuckless of Tri

rillium Aerospace Inc. offers
avionics integration solutions,
from simple wiring diagrams
to complete system packages. Based in
Lucan, Ontario, Trillium Aerospace was
founded in 2011. Recently, Avionics News
spoke with its president, Jody Stuckless,
to learn more about the company and
Stuckless' life outside the office.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Twillingate,
Newfoundland, which is a small
outport community. My father is an
artist, so we grew up fairly lean. As a
kid, I was typical. In the summer, I liked
to play baseball, swim and ride my
bicycle. In the winter, I enjoyed sliding
and building snow forts.
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february

2017

With...

It developed at a young
age. By the age of 10, I built
my first amplifier. By the age
of 12 or 13, I could rebuild
small engines. I was always
mechanically inclined and
preferred building things
over doing homework. In
sixth grade, my teacher said,
"Jody, if you spent as much
time studying as you do
building Trolley-Carts, you
may go somewhere in life."
I think I proved him wrong!

And for college?
When I was in high school, I applied
for an aircraft maintenance engineering
program, but I was No. 263 on a waiting list. I applied for electronics engineering technology, a three-year program at Cabot Institute of Applied Arts
and Technology. I graduated from that
program but was unable to find work
in that field. Three years later, I reapplied for the AME program at Central
Newfoundland Regional Community
College in Gander, Newfoundland, and
was accepted. I graduated from that
program with two diplomas, one for
maintenance and one for avionics.

What was your next step?
When I finished the AME program,
I worked for a company in Nova Scotia
called Atlantic Avionics as an avionics apprentice. I was working on small
airplanes - Cessnas, Pipers, King Airs
- small pistons and turboprops. I was
there for about two years. During that
time, I got my Transport Canada AME
license. At Atlantic Avionics, I was given
the opportunity of avionics integration
engineering, and that was the beginning of this passion that I have.
After I left Atlantic Avionics, I went
with Cougar Helicopters out of St.
John's and spent about a year there.
Then I moved to Ontario with Crown
Charter Phoenix Aviation, which is now
New United Goderich where I spent
11 years. I was the avionics manager,
which meant I took care of the day-today operations for all my technicians
and did all the electrical integration
engineering for all the projects. At that
time, they were involved mostly with
small bizjets and turboprops, and in
later years, moved to VIP conversions
such as MD-87s and Boeing 727s.
That brings me to 2011, when I
decided to leave New United Goderich
and start my own engineering company.
It was something I wanted to do, but
I didn't feel I was ready until then. By
2011, I had gained so much experience
that I thought I could go out on my own.
How was the startup?
Mid-Canada Mod Center was my first
client and, even today, I owe everything to Bill Arsenault. If Bill didn't put

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News February 2017