Sponsored Content
StandardAero flies high in training Manitobans

When she applied for a job at Winnipeg-based StandardAero Ltd. three years ago, Hannah Leslie was working in a senior’s home, having graduated from high school in the automotive program. That mechanic’s diploma suited StandardAero, one of Canada’s leading aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) firms, and today Leslie is testing big, loud turbofan jet engines as a test technician.

It’s a lot different than going under the hood of a car. “It’s fantastic. It’s different every day, and I get to constantly learn, so that’s big for me,” says Leslie.

She learned quickly, going through the company’s Gas Turbine Repair and Overhaul (GTRO) technical training program. “I came here not knowing even the basic operation of a jet engine,” she says. “And everyone being patient with me and teaching me was huge. People were even taking extra time and showing me things they didn’t have to, just so I’d have a broader understanding of the whole engine and even different product lines.”

In her current job, the General Electric engines arrive detached from the aircraft and are rigged up in her test-cell area, where she and her colleagues fire them up from behind a soundproof concrete wall to check readings on screen. But it doesn’t have to be her last job.

“You can start out in one department, and if you decide it’s no longer for you, you can always talk to someone and they can move you along to try something else,” she says. “You’re never stuck in one position if you don’t want to be.”

That thought is seconded by Neena Gill, who sits a few buildings away as vice-president and general manager of the helicopter division, overseeing helicopter MRO across North America. Gill herself did not expect to be in charge of a highly technical area when she joined the company in the finance department in 2007 with a commerce degree.

“The good thing about working at StandardAero is you can be in a role where you can get a lot of other experience,” she says. “For me, working in finance doesn’t mean that I was just restricted to finance. I was able to help run the business for many years alongside whoever my VP was at the time.”

There are about 1,400 employees in Winnipeg, with up to 60 per cent or so working in MRO on commercial airlines, component repair, helicopters, industrial energy, and government and military aviation. The company mainly hires locally, drawing from college aircraft maintenance programs and training its own mechanically-inclined recruits from other industries, such as Leslie. “If they’re really good, we’ll hire them right out of high school sometimes,” says Gill. In terms of diversity, an entire all-female cohort from a local college recently went through the GTRO training program, and most were hired afterward.

Some of those hires become members of the fabled StandardAero families. Gill’s husband works for the company, as does Leslie’s mother. “We’ve got several family groupings here right now,” says Gill. “It’s pretty common. At times, we’ve had three generations working here from the same family.”

The family atmosphere extends to events and charitable work. “In the summer, they bring in food trucks,” says Leslie. “There’s also a steak lunch that upper management makes for us.” In winter, there is ice fishing and at Christmas, by long tradition, every employee gets a turkey. Employees also pitch in to work for Habitat for Humanity, which StandardAero supports, along with United Way.

Leslie hopes to gain more qualifications as her career progresses, “but there’s still a lot to learn here,” she says. “I love this company.”