Aerocentros de Servicios C.A.
Under the guidance of Miguel Benatar, Aerocentro has grown into the largest aviation services provider in Venezuela.
If you operate a Twin Commander in South America, and in particular Venezuela, you know Aerocentro de Servicios C.A. Aerocentro has been an authorized Twin Commander service center since the Caracas-based company was founded in 1980. Under the guidance of Miguel Benatar, one of the original partners in the company and who has served as its president since the beginning, Aerocentro has grown into the largest aviation services provider in Venezuela. It caters to more than 100 Commander customers with a full range of capabilities including inspections, modifications, upgrades, repair, and Honeywell TPE 331 major service. If you operate a Twin Commander in South America, you know Aerocentro.
Aerocentro began as a maintenance services company, but over the years has grown into a full-service aviation business that spans aircraft, helicopter, and engine maintenance; aircraft sales; military sales and support; avionics sales and service; and consulting. A sister company provides airplane and helicopter charter services. Aerocentro is based at the Caracas Airport with several small support facilities in several other locations, and maintains an office in Miami. The company employs 320 people.
It all started with Commander airframes and Honeywell (at the time it was known as Garrett) engines. Rockwell, which was producing Commanders at the time, was looking to make a change in service centers in Venezuela. Benatar and his partners formed Aerocentro to compete for the franchise. “The Commander is a nice airplane, and in 1980 there were a lot of them in Venezuela,” he explains. They won the contract.
Benatar had grown up in Venezuela with a fascination for aviation, and that turned into his life’s work. He took flying lessons while studying engineering at Simon Bolivar University, and later earned an MBA. While in college he spent several summers working at internships with an airline and aerospace companies. After college he worked for an engine overhaul shop in Caracas for two years, then teamed up with partners to found Aerocentro. With his recent experience working in aircraft maintenance, Benatar took charge of the maintenance side of Aerocentro’s business.
“I’ve always loved airplanes and aviation,” he said, “so I decided to work in field that I love. I’ve been so lucky that it is my hobby and also my work.”
With its more-than-35-year official connection to Commanders, Aerocentro has developed a bank of experienced technicians. The company does extensive in-house training, including presentations by management on specialized subjects. It even grows its own technicians by offering students from areas high schools a two-year education in aircraft maintenance (see below).
In addition to Commanders, Aerocentro specializes in maintaining Westwinds, Astras, Merlins and Metros, G100s and G200s, and 500-series Cessna Citations. Aerocentro is an authorized Honeywell TPE331 major service center with the capability to do line service and hot section and gearbox inspections—everything up to engine overhauls. For more information see www.aerocentro.com.
How Aerocentro Grows Its Own Technicians
Vladimir Fernandez, Aerocentro de Servicios CA
Everyone agrees that the biggest value in an organization lies in its human resources, and this value increases if those resources are formed within the organization and grow along with it.
The story begins in 1992 with the vision of Aerocentro’s directors to form their own technical personnel. The opportunity came when the government imposed a requirement for companies to train apprentices in their facilities. Aerocentro selected a group of high school graduates who had no connection with aviation, and enrolled them in an aviation mechanics course.
As the program grew, it was decided to make the program an official school for aviation maintenance technicians (AMTs). The certification (equivalent to FAR 147) was obtained in 1993 and is still active.
The training program runs for about two and a half years during which the student is hired by Aerocentro as a technician apprentice. Instruction is full time—a half-day of classroom instruction and a half-day of practical instruction in Aerocentro´s shops. Most of the instructors are technicians and engineers who work at Aerocentro and share some of their time to teach the students. Their experience and technical knowledge are very valuable in their performance as instructors.
The curriculum follows FAR 147 for AMTs, and ranges from such basic subjects as mathematics and physics to technical ones like systems and weight and balance. A student who is close to graduating is assigned to an Aerocentro shop under the direction of a technician or crew chief, who guides him through the completion of his training.
When they graduate the students are free to leave Aerocentro, but most stay in the organization as technicians and obtain their AMT license with the local aviation authority. Over the years these young people have been further trained and gain experience, and today some are crew chiefs and supervisors.
Since its start, the program has graduated about six classes, totaling about 50 technicians; also, technicians from other similar companies have graduated from Aerocentro’s apprentice program.
The instruction is not limited to apprentices; it also is offered to more advanced technicians, and sometimes to technicians and operators from other companies. These courses include initial and recurrent for aircraft (including Twin Commander), turbines, systems, avionics, and safety, among others.
When evaluating the pros and cons of this investment in time and money by Aerocentro, and the evolution that students of the program have had within the company, we are convinced that the program is highly profitable in terms of the quality of our technicians and their identification with the company.
Aerocentro is proud of its people and believes that our personnel training, as exemplified by the technician training program, is one of our core values.
Vladimir Fernandez is an engineer and mechanic who started at Aerocentro in 1986. He has been an inspector, quality control manager, service manager, and now is an instructor and auditor.
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