FBO meetings - getting to know people - General Aviation Service Madrid

I have the exceptional chance to get to know and share the stories of the individuals who make up the aviation industry's core, despite their diverse backgrounds and occupations. I had the chance to ask the incredibly welcoming staff at General Aviation Service in Madrid a few questions during my first visit. Presenting David Daniel Fernandini Blazquez from the General Aviation Service Madrid team is a pleasure for me. 

T.O. Pleasure to be first time in General Aviation Service Madrid! I will torture you with a lot of questions, but first one: how you ended up here? 

D.D.F.B. Well I'm about to do, to make two years here in General Aviation. I started a few years ago I joined the airport as a coordinator, flight dispatcher in Ryanair. Kind of moved around a little bit in that business. I ended up doing maintenance for a couple years. And I would always drive by the FBO all the time. And I you know, I was always wondering like, how is it, how is it, how is this world? And I tried sending my resume a few times, tried getting my head into the, into the business and I finally got in touch with Evgeny. Do you know Evgeny Shadov? I got in touch with him, and he got me in touch with Robert, our station manager and with a few other people in the company and got an interview and joined right in and it's been wonderful ever since. 

T.O. Did you hear bad things about business evasion before you joined the company? 

D.D.F.B. Not really. I wasn't, I really didn't hear too much, hadn't seen too much back in the day, not going to lie because I'm from the States, I'm from Florida and back in the day I did try to join Signature Flight Support back in the day. And I did meet some people there, but I never got any bad feedback from this business. So that's one of the things why I really wanted to join because I just feel like it was always awesome. 

T.O. I will tell you, if you spend already two years in the business, you will never leave. This is the end. Because I've seen some guys who are joining the industry, you know, like newcomers if they end up by saying, okay, this is not mine, usually it's before one year, then they quit and they maybe find something better. Definitely. But if you are here for two years, this is it hopefully, right? Never, never going to end. What is the daily motivation? Because we talk a lot that, we don't have enough people. There are not that much young people dreaming about business evasion. Especially we talk about business aviation, bashing in Europe, which is just crazy. What makes you happy each and every day here? 

D.D.F.B. Well, I feel like every day is just a different day. It's something new happening. Absolutely. Every day. So, I kind of divided in two parts. There's one part which is the ramp part that we do the security that we do, right. Which, that's always fun, is a different aircraft that you get to work with. And that's. Then there's the part of the people that we work with. Right. So, there's the crews. Every crew is different from all parts, every part of the world. And as the passengers, obviously, you know, you get to meet some really cool people idols sometimes... In my case, which is football stars, we get to see a lot of football stars, you know, walk around here. So that's at least my motivation, where you get to meet a lot of cool people and get, you know, be surrounded by a lot of really cool people. 

T.O. So, each day, you don't even know if it will be exactly like you planned or there will be changes?

D.D.F.B.  Oh, there's sometimes there's some changes. You know, it's kind of. You just, you're on the go a lot of the times. There's a lot of changes all the time. Obviously with these kinds of schedules. But it's, it's a lot of fun, to be honest. 

T.O. What would you say for people thinking about joining business aviation, but not really absolutely sure if it's something good or bad? 

D.D.F.B. I would tell. I would tell them to give it a try, for sure. They're not going to not like it. They're going to like it. I mean, if you like aviation, you're going to like this business. In this business, at least for us, for the people that we work here, there's a lot of people that it might be just a moment in time in their career. Maybe they're, you know, working here to be a pilot someday. We do have a lot of pilots that are, you know, studying down the road, and I, I feel like it's a great experience for them. And then for the people that are not, you know, I was studying or anything, but it's a great experience. Every single person that I've met along the way in these two years, they've loved it. They've absolutely loved it. 

T.O. I am here to celebrate 45th birthday of the company. What will you wish to General Aviation Service for the next 45 years? 

D.D.F.B. For the next 45. Well, I wish I get to spend a lot of those years, hopefully. I wish the company keeps growing as it's going. And I hope that they keep working the way that we're working hopefully down the road, gain a few other bases along the way in Spain and just keep giving the premium services that I think that we provide, and hopefully that's it. 

T.O. Thank you very much. 

D.D.F.B. You're welcome.