Five pioneers blaze trail for Marshall at new US facility

As construction of the 190,000 sq ft site at Piedmont Triad International Airport continues to progress rapidly, these initial hires are key to ensuring the facility is operationally ready for the first aircraft inductions in 2025. They will lead teams of mechanics, engineers and support staff, taking responsibility for the safety, quality and allocation of all maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) activity work.

All five individuals are US citizens with extensive aircraft MRO experience and many have in-depth knowledge of the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules platform. Most have also completed significant periods of active-duty military service, including with the United States Marine Corps (USMC).

They will be overseen by MRO Technical Delivery Manager Andy Doughty, who has planned and delivered Marshall’s highly successful programme of work for the USMC over the past four years.

Together, Andy and the five new crew chiefs have accumulated an impressive 117 years of aviation industry experience, including 75 years on the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules.

Given the specific nature of Marshall’s depth maintenance work, the new crew chiefs will undergo a bespoke 10-week structural maintenance training course at Guilford Technical Community College, a part 147 approved aviation training college in North Carolina.

In January 2025, they will transition to on-the-job training, shadowing detailed depot-level tasks and learning the ways of working that have been honed by Marshall over its 115-year history.

While Marshall’s presence in Greensboro represents an ambitious expansion of its global aerospace capabilities, it will also bring significant benefit to the local community through the creation of new jobs and valuable training opportunities for the workforce, while supporting economic activity in the area’s burgeoning aerospace and engineering sector.