Avionics News March 2012 - 32

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Continued from page 31

me come out here and work full time until I could drive myself to college,” Laura said, laughing at the memory. “Mom would drop me off at the airport, and I’d manage the shop, fill up airplanes, build harnesses and anything else I could do for him.” She started college the following year. An internship revealed that a law degree wasn’t for her, so she returned to what she knew best and earned a degree in aviation maintenance management from SOSU, working at Nolan Avionics until the FAA Academy accepted her in 2007. Rewriting Nolan Avionics’ repair station manual helped make that enrollment possible. Larry pounded out the original half-inch thick document on a manual typewriter in 1975, updating it as needed. When the new requirements came in 2003, “he wasn’t going to do it, and he was ready to close,” Laura said. So, she sat down with her laptop computer and went through AC 145-9 line by line. “It took a long, long time,” she said with a grunt. The resulting document now fills four 2-inch thick binders. Laura graduated from the FAA Academy at age 25 and became an avionics inspector at the Houston flight standards district office. Alone in the shop, Larry realized that Nolan Avionics deserved a full-time owner. He offered it to Laura first. As the new owner, her first priorities were communications and cosmetics. “You can tell it’s a girl-owned business,” Laura said with a giggle. “I immediately did tile floors, painted, nice trim, granite countertop in the bathroom, really jazzed up” the 60-by-60-foot hangar and its 12-by-20-foot shop, leased from the city. Then, she redesigned the shop’s website. “When I was at the FAA, dad pretty much turned everybody away, because he didn’t want to do anything,” Laura said. To reconnect with customers, she “sent out tons of flyers and postcards to let people know I was back, and I did a big open house, inviting everybody.” The effort paid off. For the first couple of years, she worked nonstop. At a minimum, every month she installed a Garmin 430 and Aspen primary flight display. Training is part of every installation. Laura starts customers on a demo stand she built, teaching each of the unit’s capabilities individually, like it was a chapter in a book. When the installation is complete, Larry, wearing his CFI hat, flies them through every type of approach. “If
32
avionics news

they don’t feel comfortable, dad will fly with them again.” It should be no surprise that Laura is big on continuing education. She’s earned AEA’s Avionics Training Excellence Award seven years running. She’s also received a number of scholarships from the Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance. Two days before accepting her 2006 awards – CAE SimuFlite (Cessna Citation) Maintenance and Southwest Airlines (Boeing 737) Maintenance – her father said he would fly her to the Nashville presentation, if she would replace the original Collins radios in his 1980 Piper Turbo Saratoga with a Garmin 530. It took her eight uninterrupted hours, including the paperwork. The Piper is now the shop’s demonstrator, and she is installing the latest boxes from Garmin, Aspen and other original equipment manufacturers. General aviation aircraft, such as the Saratoga, are the majority of her customers. But, referring to her scholarships, “I never turn down an opportunity to learn something new,” because it may lead to future opportunities. There are a few King Airs and Citations at the airport, and “if an inverter goes bad, instead of having to call somebody down from Wichita, I can run over and change it.” Most of the time, she works alone. “When I need a second person, I call dad,” who’s usually in his own hangar next door. He also does the bench repairs, because “I don’t have the patience,” she said. “Maybe when I’m older.” She has hired a second technician from time to time, and her last one just accepted another position, with her blessing. Laura’s husband, Michael Koval, is a helicopter pilot and major in the Oklahoma National Guard. In mid-January, he returned from Afghanistan. They met in 2010, when the Guard spent a week flying drug interdiction missions out of Durant, “and he had radio problems with his OH-58.” They married in June 2011, on a four-day pass just before he left for Afghanistan. Scheduled to return in March, “he came home early, because I was diagnosed with breast cancer.” Treatment is going well, she said, and “I’ll be fine.” All things considered, owning a family business gives her the flexibility to “pare down and spend some time honeymooning” before he goes to work later this year as an emergency medical service pilot. “Nolan Avionics is just family owned,” Laura said. “My husband comes out when he wants and helps me, and my dad and mom. It’s good for right now.” q

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Avionics News March 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News March 2012

Point of Communication
AEA Now
The View from Washington
International News and Regulatory Updates
WAAS GPS
Member Profile
All in the Family
Survey Reveals Hiring Trends For the Aviation Industry
A Conversation With...
Meet the AEA Awards Nominees
Aviation Aces
Member Profile
The ABCs of Jeppesen
Business Basics
Air France Flight 447
Theory & Practice
Legal Ease
What's New
Marketplace Classifieds
Avionics News March 2012 - Cover1
Avionics News March 2012 - Cover2
Avionics News March 2012 - 1
Avionics News March 2012 - 2
Avionics News March 2012 - 3
Avionics News March 2012 - Point of Communication
Avionics News March 2012 - 5
Avionics News March 2012 - AEA Now
Avionics News March 2012 - 7
Avionics News March 2012 - 8
Avionics News March 2012 - 9
Avionics News March 2012 - 10
Avionics News March 2012 - 11
Avionics News March 2012 - 12
Avionics News March 2012 - 13
Avionics News March 2012 - 14
Avionics News March 2012 - 15
Avionics News March 2012 - The View from Washington
Avionics News March 2012 - 17
Avionics News March 2012 - International News and Regulatory Updates
Avionics News March 2012 - 19
Avionics News March 2012 - 20
Avionics News March 2012 - 21
Avionics News March 2012 - WAAS GPS
Avionics News March 2012 - 23
Avionics News March 2012 - 24
Avionics News March 2012 - 25
Avionics News March 2012 - Member Profile
Avionics News March 2012 - 27
Avionics News March 2012 - 28
Avionics News March 2012 - 29
Avionics News March 2012 - All in the Family
Avionics News March 2012 - 31
Avionics News March 2012 - 32
Avionics News March 2012 - 33
Avionics News March 2012 - Survey Reveals Hiring Trends For the Aviation Industry
Avionics News March 2012 - 35
Avionics News March 2012 - A Conversation With...
Avionics News March 2012 - 37
Avionics News March 2012 - Meet the AEA Awards Nominees
Avionics News March 2012 - 39
Avionics News March 2012 - 40
Avionics News March 2012 - 41
Avionics News March 2012 - 42
Avionics News March 2012 - 43
Avionics News March 2012 - Aviation Aces
Avionics News March 2012 - 45
Avionics News March 2012 - 46
Avionics News March 2012 - 47
Avionics News March 2012 - Member Profile
Avionics News March 2012 - 49
Avionics News March 2012 - 50
Avionics News March 2012 - 51
Avionics News March 2012 - The ABCs of Jeppesen
Avionics News March 2012 - 53
Avionics News March 2012 - 54
Avionics News March 2012 - 55
Avionics News March 2012 - 56
Avionics News March 2012 - 57
Avionics News March 2012 - Business Basics
Avionics News March 2012 - 59
Avionics News March 2012 - 60
Avionics News March 2012 - 61
Avionics News March 2012 - Air France Flight 447
Avionics News March 2012 - 63
Avionics News March 2012 - 64
Avionics News March 2012 - 65
Avionics News March 2012 - Theory & Practice
Avionics News March 2012 - 67
Avionics News March 2012 - 68
Avionics News March 2012 - 69
Avionics News March 2012 - Legal Ease
Avionics News March 2012 - 71
Avionics News March 2012 - 72
Avionics News March 2012 - 73
Avionics News March 2012 - What's New
Avionics News March 2012 - 75
Avionics News March 2012 - 76
Avionics News March 2012 - 77
Avionics News March 2012 - Marketplace Classifieds
Avionics News March 2012 - 79
Avionics News March 2012 - 80
Avionics News March 2012 - Cover3
Avionics News March 2012 - Cover4
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