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It was such a pleasure to meet Paul and Helen New, the owners of Tennessee Aircraft Services, Inc. in Jackson, Tennessee.   In addition to running the maintenance shop, Paul is a writer, speaker, consultant, and technical advisor for the Cessna Pilot’s Association.

Paul soloed the day after his 16th birthday, but he operated the controls of an airplane long before that… listen to today’s episode for some fascinating stories.

Also, be sure to check out Paul’s website, TennesseeAircraft.net.  He has some great articles there, as well as several videos.  Paul is a great resource for general aviation, and as he mentioned in the interview, he can be reached at tasnew@gmail.com.

Paul pointed out that Helen is an IA also… she’s the “Intelligence Auditor!”

What a necessary position, to make sure the maintenance record entries are legible, and will be preserved for future use.

Paul also gave us some tips about what NOT TO DO, and what TO DO, when it’s time to take your airplane to the maintenance shop.

One of these tips could help you not to lose your maintenance records, which is vitally important, since missing maintenance records could reduce the value of an airplane by about 30 %!

We both gave a shout-out to our English teachers… mine was Miss Beachy, and Paul’s was Faye Hardin.  We might have “endured those English classes years ago, but today, it’s a valuable skill to be able to write maintenance record entries that are concise, accurate, and that make sense.

The Cessna 210 is one of Paul favorite airplanes, and if you have a 210 with a specific maintenance need, you might want to consider flying it to Jackson, TN!

Paul shared a life lesson that he learned from aviation… “It’s not the bounce… it’s the recovery that counts.”  It’s not the things that happen to you in life… it’s what you do and how you react and respond to those things, that really makes the difference.  What a great life lesson!

And finally, on my way out, I stopped in the FBO and looked around… what an incredibly nice pilot’s lounge, complete with a “massage chair!”  This is worth walking inside for, if you ever fly to Jackson, Tennessee!