Lewis H. Caplan III, 37, is Lead A&P Technician at Bombardier in Kansas.

Growing up in an aviation family he always loved anything that could fly and after his brother passed away he finally decided it was time to start doing something he loved to do. He received help from his mother and step dad to go for his A&P. He attended Wichita Area Technical College.

Caplan says, "I would have to say my father was and still is my mentor; he was an amazing A&P mechanic with an IA rating and also had multiple pilot ratings. He was an aerial firefighter while I was young before he passed away. I have always been told how great of a man and a father he was and that is what I strive to be every day."

Since being at Bombardier he has attended three different factory certified classes: the Global 5000/6000 training, the Challenger 300/350 training, and the Learjet 70/75 training.

He was nominated by Kara Finn, operations manager, Wichita Service Center. “Above and beyond” is Lewis Caplan’s default setting. Known for his can-do attitude, Lewis has helped some of the Wichita Service Center's most challenging projects succeed, never taking no for an answer, and using every part of his work as an opportunity to continuously improve. On a particularly challenging project, Lewis jumped right in to help. He brought his great attitude and provided some very good feedback to tooling and equipment that would help us out in the future. He really went out of his way to support the customer.”

Says Bob Ortman, operations manager, “Lewis consistently goes above and beyond to support the needs of the customers and the company. He is willing to work, whenever, wherever, doing whatever it takes to make the team successful. He is supportive of his management team and of his coworkers.”

Lewis takes his passion for aviation into the community, and recently volunteered to participate in KidVenture, an initiative allowing young people to explore aviation. KidVenture takes place as part of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) AirVenture annual event in Oshkosh, WI. Bombardier Business Aircraft’s Service Center Network team participates each year by hosting a booth to engage, inspire, and teach youth about aircraft maintenance via hands-on workshops. Participating students earned FAA credit toward an A&P certificate through hands-on avionics projects.

"The way I give back to the industry is upholding high morals for what I do everyday," Caplan says. "The cheesy saying 'work on it like your family is going to fly in it' is how not only I, but also my whole crew looks at every aircraft we touch and the correct training of the new technicians coming straight out of school like I did is another thing we do."

His career goal is to be one of the old guys in the hangar everyone looks up to and respects because of the knowledge and experience they have gained by dedicating themselves to this career path.