I am the Line Manager at St. Cloud Aviation in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and I love General Aviation!
As a kid, I remember going to my grandpa’s house and being obsessed with books he had on the shelf of all the different types of aircraft. After high school, I went to St. Cloud State University (SCSU) for Aviation not truly knowing what the aviation industry was all about. I had never been in a small plane, but it intrigued me.
I will never forget the first time a college friend of mine took me up in a Cessna 152. That was all it took, and I was all in.
I started my flight training at Wright Aero, receiving my private pilot certificate in May of 2011. Shortly after I began flight training, I was lucky enough to get hired at St. Cloud Aviation as a line technician and became supervisor less than two years later.
I joined the Aero Club and became the Operations Officer. I was also on the SCSU flight team, and in 2013, I was elected team captain.
Although I was the second to the last class to go through the aviation program at SCSU before it was cut, our students were a tight group that would do anything to help each other succeed.
After graduating in 2013, I continued to work at St. Cloud Aviation until a peer of mine talked to me about working for the airlines. I had seen the general aviation world and thought it would be good to gain some knowledge and experience in the airline side of the industry. So, in September 2015, I started working for Sun Country Airlines in crew scheduling, and after only a year, I was promoted to supervisor. I worked as supervisor for three years, but crew scheduling was never my end goal. An opportunity came to me, and with some references from some colleagues, I was promoted to System Operations Control (SOC) Duty Manager. This position was a challenging step up, and very rewarding, and I gained a lot of knowledge working side by side with maintenance control, dispatch, crew scheduling and the charter department making sure the entire operation was running as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
Although I was working for Sun Country, I stayed in contact with Bill Mavencamp and the crew at St. Cloud Aviation, and in the fall of 2021, they needed someone parttime to help with the fuel testing. I missed working outside and being around aircraft, so I started working parttime on the line at St. Cloud Aviation. Very quickly I remembered how fun it was to work the line and after a few meetings with Bill, I made the very tough decision to leave Sun Country and come back to St. Cloud Aviation as the Line Manager. It was where my passion was, and as good of a crew I had at Sun Country, I had to follow that passion.
Bill introduced me to members of the Minnesota Aviation Trades Association Board of Directors, and I sat in on one meeting. It was clear that this organization was important to aviation in Minnesota, and I was excited to become a new member on the board and work with a great team to keep aviation going in the right direction. All one must do is look at the other members of the board and their titles to realize how dynamic of an organization MATA is:
“Mark Nelson of Hawk Aviation, Rush City, Minn., is President; Joe LaRue of Prairie Air, Elbow Lake, Minn., is Vice President; Nancy Grazzini-Olson of Thunderbird Aviation, Eden Prairie and Crystal, Minn. and Academy College, Bloomington, Minn., is Treasurer; and Kreg Anderson of Alexandria Aviation, Alexandria, Minn., is Secretary. Other directors include Tracie Walter, President of Bemidji Aviation, Bemidji, Minn.; Joe Birkemeyer of NorthPoint Aviation, Brainerd, Minn.; Tyler Brimmer, an aviation and business attorney with Klick Brimmer PLLC, Excelsior, Minn.; and Dave Weiman of Midwest Flyer Magazine, Oregon, Wis. Gene DePalma of Wipaire, Inc. is Executive Director.
Fixed base operators and other aviation businesses are encouraged to join MATA. Visit https://www.mata-online.org/ or call Gene DePalma at 651-343-5986.
MATA represents the interests of aviation businesses before government in Minnesota and throughout the nation. The organization holds an annual meeting in conjunction with the Minnesota Airports Conference, and board members meet quarterly and as needed to address issues. Scholarships are provided to those who aspire to become professional pilots or aircraft technicians. Details on how to apply are posted on the MATA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinnesotaAviationTradesAssociation/
I would welcome any fixed base operator or manager to call or email me if they need assistance from the organization: 320-253-1500; mschwichtenberg@stcloudaviation.com.