Aviation Business Journal 4th Quarter 2012 - 43

NATA’s New President, Tom Hendricks
Continued from page 41
ABJ: Welcome to the new job!
How’s it going so far?
We’re off to a great start: I just met
with the employees and we had a
really nice talk about how to manage
and make the most of change. Some
of our assumptions are going to be
different due to our experiences, as
with any change, and we’ll have to
resolve some of those differences, but
I think we’re all in agreement that this
change can be a great opportunity to
look at the organization, look at all of
our people, and make sure that we’re
as effective as we can possibly be for
all of our members. We have a great
team and a tremendous membership
base, and I’m eager to get to work.
For starters, by way of introducing
you to our members, I wanted to
ask you: What was your very first
attraction to aviation?
My father was an aviation enthusiast.
He was a WWII veteran: he served in
the Pacific theater as a radar intercept
controller. After the war, he became
a private pilot. He just had this love
of aviation, and it kind of infected
his two boys. I was the youngest son,
and my brother and I both were very
interested in aviation, from as back
as I can remember, really. It became
a passion of mine, from an early age.
I was very fortunate to be able to
pursue that and to know, from a very
young age, that it was my life’s desire.
Can you tell us a little about your
military aviation career?
I grew up in Cincinnati. A very close
friend of mine, a year older than me,
went to The Citadel in Charleston,
South Carolina, and he convinced
me follow in his footsteps. I didn’t
Aviation Business Journal | 4th
Quarter 2012
EDITOR’S NOTE: The photos in this article are from Tom’s recent visit to Chantilly Air and APP Jet Center at
Manassas Airport.
know much about The Citadel, but I’d
always known that I wanted to go into
the Navy and become a naval aviator.
So, I went down there and spent four
years, got commissioned through a
Navy ROTC as an ensign, and spent
the next eight and a half years on active
duty in the Navy. I got my wings
in Meridian, Mississippi, in 1981,
and I got to fly some great airplanes
and meet many wonderful people
through the Navy. I went to Virginia
Beach to the Oceana Naval Air Station
for a year to learn how to fly the F-4
Phantom, and then I was shipped
over to Yokosuka, Japan to serve on
the USS MIDWAY for three years.
We spent a lot of time at sea and a lot
of time flying, and my children were
both born there at the Naval Base in
Yokosuka. I got a lot more flight time
and carrier landings than my contemporaries
back in the States because we
were at sea all the time. It was a great
experience, but it was very challenging
on the family front. In 1983, I was
fortunate to be selected by my commanding
officer to attend Top Gun as
a student.
I was sent to Naval Air Station
Miramar in San Diego on temporary
duty, went through the class there,
and then headed back to my fleet
squadron and served as the weapons
training officer. Then in 1985, as I
was completing my assignment there
and looking to go to shore duty, I
received a call out of the blue asking
me if I wanted to come back to Top
Gun to be an instructor pilot. I was,
naturally, thrilled! I’d never had any
expectation of being able to do that.
I left Japan with my family and we
moved to San Diego, to Miramar, and
I became an instructor at the Navy
Fighter Weapons School for two and
a half years. Following this tour, I
Continued on page 44
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Aviation Business Journal 4th Quarter 2012

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