SERVICE CENTER PROFILE Back in Charge

In business you can try to be everything to every customer, or you can specialize and focus on your strengths. For Rick Hale and the team at Winner Aviation in Youngstown, Ohio, the choice was easy. They are MRO experts and that’s where they will specialize.

Winner Aviation is a Twin Commander Factory Authorized Service Center, a distinction they’ve held since 1964. The company has been a fixture in Youngstown since 1946 when Forest Beckett, a local gas station owner, took flying lessons and saw an opportunity to combine his passion and expertise into a business at the airport. The Winner family purchased the company in 1995. With an average tenure of more than 20 years, the maintenance technicians have done and seen it all.

Current chief Rick Hale started with Beckett in the late 1970s cleaning the shop, and was instrumental in working with the Winners to acquire the business in 1995. He ran the company until 2018, when he left for personal reasons, and returned last year. “I wanted to return,” he said. “The business wasn’t where it should have been.”

The plan is to strengthen the MRO focus and expand those capabilities. They dropped the charter business in 2019, and now focus on the shop’s extensive offerings. A separate division handles ground handling for Allegiant at six locations around the country.

Winner is a full-service shop, and can handle prepurchase inspections, routine inspections and maintenance, avionics, limited paint and interior, upgrades, engines, and sheet metal repairs. “We have people who specialize in different things,” Hale said. “We have the tribal knowledge and understand the aircraft. What issues they have and how they can be corrected, that’s in our DNA.”

Although the shop is a Honeywell service center for 731 engines, it used to have authorization for 331s, and much of that institutional knowledge remains. It can be extremely helpful for troubleshooting and routine repairs. Ron Butler, Winner’s engine guru, has worked on 331s for more than 40 years. Retired now, he still consults with the company and helps train and mentor the newer techs. “You don’t find people like that every day,” Hale said.

Rob Cellars is the shop manager, and a relative newbie with about 15 years of service. Previously the chief inspector, Hale said he’s a very skilled technician who, in conjunction with several managers, runs the shop well. Previous shop head Tim Tobey is working with another company, but comes back to Winner in a consulting capacity when needed.

That knowledge is critical when you’re supporting legacy airframes. Experience saves customers time and money because technicians who have seen it before and fixed it before know how to focus their troubleshooting efforts. They don’t waste time trying things hoping they’ll work. It also means a better inspection process because common pain points can be quickly addressed with in-stock parts, and special attention is paid to areas where technicians already know to look.

It’s the benefit of working with a Twin Commander Factory Authorized Service Center, especially one that’s been in the network for so long. “You need people who know what they’re doing and understand the idiosyncrasies,” Hale said. “It’s a great airplane, a pilot’s airplane. We just know the type of things that the airplane needs and the things that it doesn’t need.”

Aircraft maintenance might be what the technicians do on a daily basis, but the foundation of Winner Aviation is customer service, something Hale is focused on. “We’ve seen a lot of the Twin Commander fleet over the years. We have customers that have been coming to us since the airplane was new in 1986, or even earlier, and we pride ourselves on that.”

Contact Winner aviation at www.winner-aviation.com or call 330-856-5000.