There’s a common refrain when you speak to friends and associates of Geoffrey Pence, Twin Commander’s long-serving technical service manager. He was universally liked, respected, and admired. After a long career helping others solve issues and serving customers, Pence was best known as honest, straightforward and, most of all, a genuinely nice guy. Soft-spoken, he possessed a sharp wit and ironic sense of humor.
Pence working from his Twin Commander office in Arlington, Washington
Pence retired from Twin Commander earlier this year, capping off 21 years with the company. Before that he worked at Aero Air, a Twin Commander Factory Authorized Service Center, and Gulfstream when it was producing Commanders.
Jim Matheson, the former owner of Twin Commander Aircraft, hired Pence. “Geoffrey was a big part of how we turned around the company,” he said. “Hiring him was the best thing I ever did.” Previous to Matheson, Twin Commander Aircraft had not fully understood all of the implications of owning an aircraft type certificate, in particular the need to provide a full range of support services for owners and service centers. Matheson knew that far from just selling parts, the type certificate holder needed to instill confidence and trust in the product. Matheson said that Pence, “gave Twin Commander the credibility that it needed to work with the service centers.”
Working with the Factory Authorized Service Centers was one of Pence’s chief responsibilities. He was the conduit between the independently owned facilities and the engineering and support staff at the factory. That meant gathering information about areas that needed improvement; helping to communicate new engineering programs, parts, and Custom Kits; and most of all, troubleshooting.
Doug Jacob was a Twin Commander technical service rep in Britain between 1978 and 1990. He first recommended Pence to Matheson, and said he’s always been happy he did. “He got the job done and was diligent,” Jacob said. A good tech rep must be able to listen, Jacob said, and Pence was certainly good at that.
Geoffrey Pence surrounded by office staff at Gulfstream Aerospace – the last days of Gulfstream Commander production.
Ken Molczan hired Pence at Aero Air, “five or six times” and said he was also a very quick study. “He was really sharp on the airplane, no doubt about that.” At Aero Air Pence worked on a variety of airplanes, including former Aero Air owner Swede Ralston’s Piaggio seaplane. One time, Swede apparently didn’t come back from a trip to his cabin in remote British Columbia, so Molczan and Pence went looking for him. They found him at the cabin with a broken swing arm on the gear leg. With welding tools and parts in hand they repaired it right on the dock. It took four days to do it. “We ate a lot of fish in those four days,” Molczan said.
Soon after Pence retired, Business Unit Director Brian Harbaugh and the team at Twin Commander recognized him for his many contributions with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to Pence’s family and staff at Twin Commander, representatives from Eagle Creek Aviation Services, Aero Air, Legacy Aviation Services, Byerly Aviation, and Gemini Air Group attended. It was a fitting tribute to a man who had spent years helping people, either hands-on with fixing airplanes or through advice bolstered by original drawings from the factory where he long ago worked.
Pence passed away at his home on June 15. “He was always willing to participate in anything Twin Commander related,” Harbaugh said. “But most of all he was a mentor and just a good friend.”
