Northwest Aerospace News June | July Issue No. 15 | Page 12

Human said that winning big projects with Rolls-
Royce and Mitsubishi has been validating regarding their
competencies, “We’ve been able to use all of the tools in
our toolbox.”
Leadership in the company has been a critical piece to
their success. Briscoe said, “AeroTEC’s leaders come
from a variety of different backgrounds. Lee is very charismatic
and fearless.
He has built many great relationships in the aviation industry
over the years and was able to keep bringing in
new customers and work. Kent is technically oriented —
a very good engineer with tons of confidence from day
one. It’s hard to find young engineers who will believe in
themselves right away and make sound decisions. It takes
a while to coach them into trusting themselves. Kent had
this from the first time I met him and to this day he is still
coaching and working on many AeroTEC development
projects.”
Briscoe added that his role was to not only come into the
company with an engineering background, but also one of
understanding operations and the big picture.
“While Lee was getting the work and Kent was focusing
on how to technically do the work, I had to make sure we
sent invoices, paid bills, ran payroll and retirement, and
had healthcare, etc. Along with that role I also had to
make sure flight test operations were operating smoothly
… things like logistics coordination of test sites, fuel for
airplanes, feeding the crew, etc. “
While both Briscoe and Baines are now working in advisory
roles, Human is still the acting president and CEO.
Customer projects within the company can take from 18
months to five years or more. Human said this is standard
for the type of work they perform; however, they have
developed and trained customers on proprietary software,
which will allow the customer to take the reins sooner.
They’ve developed a suite of software products around
testing to manage requirements, instrumentation, scheduling,
sequencing, storing/archiving, data distribution,
and ground and flight-testing management. They have a
licensing relationship with their customers.
“We build their strengths so that they can stand on their
own; we provide them with the right tools,”
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