It has been a fun few weeks. I have been working on some new projects with new people.

Last week I had to inventory three 6’x6’ crates of merchandise from NetJets. They are old Citation (jets) parts, which the company no longer operates. It was a long process, three days! I got thru it though.

I even went on a business trip to Abilene, Texas. It is about three hours west of Dallas. Aviall does business with an advertising agency, by the name of Zachry Associates. The ad agency does all of Aviall’s print ads, press, sales flyers, and market research. I got a tour of their facility and got to see some of the work they were doing for Aviall.

It was a great experience! I really felt like I was an employee of the company on important business. We drove there in the afternoon, stayed the night, and spent the next day at the ad agency. I loved it.

Next week will be my last week here, and I must say it is bittersweet. I’m happy to be heading home and then back to ERAU, but I’m sad that I have to say good-bye to everyone here.

It has been fun and I’m very appreciative of all that were involved in making my stay enjoyable, work wise and other.

It has been an interesting couple of weeks. I have been working on updating some existing flyers. Just getting them to look like the current flyers, so all is uniform.

I got to go out with an outside sales representative to visit a customer. We visited American Eagle.

Aviall offers a service, for a fee of course, called Estock. This is where the customer, American Eagle®, tells Aviall what they need to have on the shelves of their parts/supply room, minimums and maximums. Every week Aviall will go to their supply room and get a count and order what they need.

The customer has access to everything via an online database. No one at American Eagle® has to worry about keeping the supply room stocked or running out of something. This Estock program has been very popular and seems to be well liked by the Aviall customers that implement it. I

have also been working on a Michelin Tire promotion. When a customer buys $400 or more worth of Michelin tires, they must fill out an order form and they will receive a Michelin man bobblehead. They are also entered into a drawing to win a set of aircraft or passenger tires worth up to $1000.

My supervisor will be traveling on business for a few days, so I should be getting some even more interesting things to do. She likes to keep me busy, I cannot say I mind it at all.

I would rather be learning something than just sitting at my desk staring at the computer.

Week 4

It has been a very busy few weeks. With working on Champion promotions and flyers for David Clark and Telex, I have not had much time for anything else. I have been filling Aviall catalog requests and requests for literature by the compan y ‘ s sales force. The flyers I have been working on will be distributed to the sales force and then on to the customers.

My supervisor travels a lot, which means I am on my own most of the time. She is not one of those micro managers, which is great. As long as I know what I am supposed to be doing and get it done by the due date, everyone is happy.

In the next couple of weeks I will be going out with the outside sales representatives. They visit the customers to make sure Aviall is doing all it can to satisfy them. This entails taking them out to lunch, golfing lunches, taking returns, and basically schmoozing. By no means is it an easy job. Please do not be misled. Many big business deals are made in a social setting.

The social scene. It has been fun. This week there are a few birthdays in the department, so there will be some late nights. This past Memorial Day weekend was exciting. I was invited to a few bar-b-ques and fun things like that.

It has been a great first week. On the first day, I attended a marketing department meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to familiarize the department with the intentions of Boeing, on their recent acquisition of Aviall Services, Inc.

I have been working on many promotions, such as Champion spark plugs and Dupont. These are programs designed to give the customer more for their purchases. They are very popular and time consuming. Not by any means is this an “intern job”. If I was not assigned to it, someone getting paid a hefty salary would have been doing it. I love it! I’m also honored at the amount of responsibility they trust me with. Today I was given a project to create flyers for new headsets that are being introduced very soon. They are for companies all pilots are very aware of, but due to confidentiality issues, I cannot drop any names.

The company has also grown since my last visit. They almost did not have any room to fit us in. They are going to expand the warehouse two hundred thousand square feet and will be constructing a new building across the street. It means business is booming, which is always a good sign.

As for the social scene, it has been a blast. It was just like coming back to school after a summer vacation, and seeing all the friends I missed. There was a welcome luncheon for us. We ate and learned all about each other. They also include us in all of the “business lunches”, even after hour social events. It really is great to be part of the team.

Getting a Co-op/Internship here at Embry-Riddle is rather easy. One might be surprised about the opportunities available. While paperwork can be a pain, it is a normal part of the process. Getting a few signatures from different departments is something we are all used to here at Embry-Riddle, so not really a big deal.

I found out about Aviall from a friend and got all of the details from one of the advisors in Career Services. I was immediately interested in Aviall because it was , and still is , a company in the aviation industry that is doing very well. They were interested in students with knowledge in the maintenance field as well as business. I thought I would be a good candidate because I have my A&P mechanic certificates, which I received when I was in high school. In my internship I hope to gain as much knowledge as humanly possible! This is going to be my second summer with Aviall. If I can learn as many interesting and new things as I did last summer, it w ill be great.

I know that the professional relationships we make with the companies and the reputation of Embry-Riddle are of the utmost importance, but the personal relationships are of unparalleled importance. Aviall is a very laid-back kind of company, friendly and accepting of anyone that has an interest in the aviation industry. While with the company, I was treated like any other employee and the work I did was beneficial to the business. The personal relationships I made will be ones I keep for the rest of my life, may they be friendships, mentors, or just people that want for me to succeed in life.