Duncan Aviation Recruiter Drew Carman grew up in Montana, and was familiar with general aviation because her dad was a private pilot. She spent a lot of hours flying with him.
“I loved flying with my dad,” said Drew. “My dad has been an aviation buff almost his whole life and from childhood I remember learning about aircraft, particularly WWI and WWII aircraft.”
His first plane came as no surprise to the family. It was a little Cessna 182 Skylane that he let Drew name, ‘Lola.’
“We spent hours in that plane,” she said. “I remember when I got my first headset at Christmas and they even had a quarter zip made for me with my name and a co-pilot designation. We spent almost every weekend morning at the airport in some capacity if it was just hanging out or flying. We even took it from Montana to Mississippi and back when I was in 7th grade.”
Drew loves flying for many reasons.
“Honestly, it’s the people and the community that make me love it the most,” she said. “I grew up watching my dad study and being the co-pilot in Lola while he practiced touch-and-go landings. Working at the flight school at River Falls Airport, eating donuts with the pilots, and listening to their flying stories. I’ve hopped on flights with family friends in all kinds of crazy planes and helicopters. Flying has given me some of the most incredible views, but more importantly, it’s brought some of the best people into my life.”
Drew has always had a fascination with aircraft and aviation – whether it was her love for airports as a kid or the time spent flying with her dad and family. She recalls having her parents buy her a book that listed all the different types aircraft and trying to memorize what each one looked like and was used for.
Although Drew had a love for aviation, she never envisioned a career as a pilot.
“Quite honestly, the moment someone explained that they had to do a touch-and-go on the runway to scare away deer before landing, my fate as a forever co-pilot was sealed,” she explained. “I love being in the air, being around aircraft, and working on them, but I’m more than happy to leave the flying to someone else. There is such a large team of people that make aviation successful and I love just being a part of that team.”
As Drew got older, she spent time at a nearby fire-fighting company, Billings Flying Service, that owned and maintained Hueys, Eurocopters, and Chinooks.
Drew knew it would be cool to work in aviation, and knew she didn’t want to be a pilot. At the time, she didn’t know how many different opportunities there were in aviation. She left the aviation field and earned a Business Management degree from the University of Wyoming.
“I honestly had never thought about being an aircraft mechanic until a friend I knew from college posted on social media that she was heading into the field,” she said. “I remember immediately calling my family and starting the conversation with… ‘Hear me out, what if I went back to school for a tech program?’”
She looked up aviation tech schools, and found a program Amarillo College, a small technical program that had under 15 students, where she earned her A&P licenses.
“We were the largest class of females in the aviation program in Amarillo College history with 4 of us graduating,” Drew explained.
For a while, Drew worked as a mechanic at River Falls Airport in Amarillo, and from there, she ended up in the Midwest, working as a contract employee for United Express.
“One of things my instructors used to tell us in A&P school was this was a license to learn and an opportunity to go somewhere new,” she said. “When I graduated, I made the decision to take a risk and relocate to Lincoln, Nebraska, for the position with United Express. Lincoln was somewhere completely new to me.”
Drew worked nights and weekends, 90% of the time outside in the elements, for 18 months. She talked to people who’d been at Duncan Aviation, and as soon as her contract ended, she saw the position for a recruiter.
“I loved being a mechanic but I was eager to get started on a career path in aviation where I could combine my business degree and my A&P,” she said. “What originally drew me to the recruitment role was seeing first-hand the lack of women in aviation maintenance and I felt like stepping into this role would allow me to help be a part of that change and give me the ability to bring more women and their talents into aviation.”
It was completely new to her, but she saw it as an opportunity to grow, meet people, and work for a great company.
“I really like it here, and I love the people,” Drew said. “Recruiting lets me talk about how there’s something for everyone in aviation and especially about what a great place Duncan Aviation is to make a career.”
“There are so many things that make Duncan Aviation a great place,” Drew said. “For me what stood out from the beginning and continues to do so, it is the workplace culture. Things here are done to the highest standard, including taking care of team members and maintaining an inclusive and supportive work environment. For me, it offers a faster paced environment than general aviation but it maintains the feeling of a true love of aviation everywhere you go.”
“Keep taking chances and if something doesn’t work, try something else,” she said. “Explore different aviation career paths, reach out to people in the aviation community, join organizations, and chat with schools about programs they offer. Going back to school and starting a career in aviation was one of the greatest things I could have done.”