Northwest Aerospace News — Issue No. 29 October | November 2022 | Page 10

Gary Owens needed a job after high school where he could support himself . He started working in a mechanical environment and has never looked back . While his career has taken a variety of detours , he has chiefly been involved with aircraft maintenance , specifically propeller work . And he has been in leadership roles almost from the beginning .

Now , as President of SkyOne Aerospace , a business in Spokane Valley , Owens employs close to 20 people , primarily former military . He said , “ The military trains them , and they take the work seriously .”
But in his career , at one point , he managed three facilities and up to 500 people when working for Brasstech , a faucet manufacturer . During his tenure with that company , he was on the road and , at one point , as a Marriot Rewards Member , found he had stayed in hotels 185 times in one year . He knew that it was time for a change . While he remained with the company for several years and grew in the position , he found his passion was in the aerospace industry .
He wanted to get back to the nuts and bolts of maintenance and repair , especially propeller work . Throughout his career , he obtained an education in Airplane and Powerplant ( A & P ) and business . Eventually , in 2015 , he met some partners who encouraged him to move his family to Spokane to start SkyOne Aerospace as an FAA Repair Station .
“ A customer is more than a customer ; I like to get to know people — you develop a relationship . It is a global industry , but the community is small ,” Owens said .
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