August 1, 2014
Three interns spent their summer working at NBAA Headquarters in Washington, DC, and these college students did much more than basic administrative tasks – their work will directly help Members and the business aviation industry.
For one recent project, Marion Delano, a rising senior at St. Louis University, helped the NBAA Access Committee compile infrastructure and flight procedure data on airports across the Midwest.
“NBAA had heard from Members that the criteria for instrument approach categories at these airports was sometimes applied inconsistently,” said Delano. “So they asked me to look at data from airport and FAA websites on runway length, weight-bearing capacity, surface conditions and whether Category C and D approaches were available.”
Delano’s work is helping the NBAA Access Committee engage with the FAA and airport managers to preserve equitable access at these airports. It’s one of the many ways the three summer interns have made real, hands-on contributions to NBAA’s work and supported Members while learning about career opportunities in business aviation.
“I love that Marion took on a task that fully exposed him to the operational side of NBAA’s work,” said Sarah Wolf, NBAA senior manager for security and facilitation.
Like Delano, fellow interns Andrew Sousa, from Daniel Webster College, and Arielle Torbeck, from Miami University of Ohio, realized new possibilities in the industry over their eight-week paid internship.
This summer, Sousa was responsible for distributing NBAA’s Flying Safety Awards and helping prepare barter agreements for NBAA conferences, and he was instrumental in the execution of NBAA’s Business Aviation in Action Photo Contest.
As they worked on their projects, the interns were able to talk with leaders in the business aviation industry, from sales executives at OEMs to flight department managers.
“Before working at NBAA, I didn’t realize there were opportunities in aviation besides being a pilot,” said Delano, who earned his private pilot’s license at 19 and, during the school year, works at Signature Flight Support on St. Louis International Airport (STL).
“I discovered that I didn’t enjoy flying as much as I enjoyed this industry,” he said. “This summer has helped me better understand I could work in a flight department as a scheduler/dispatcher or a business manager.”
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.