Age: 30
Years in Aviation: 9
Tyler Cook is an aircraft maintenance technician with John Deere Global Aviation Services in Illinois. He holds his A&P certificate and a Private Pilot certificate. He says, “I have loved airplanes since I was a kid. I remember watching “Top Gun” and thinking it was the coolest thing ever.”
Cook graduated from Southern Illinois University with a bachelor’s degree in aviation maintenance technology in 2010 and began working at Sharp Aviation in Jonesboro, AR. There he performed 100-hour inspections, oil changes, and other regular maintenance on small singles and twins.
In May of 2011, he was hired by John Deere and was introduced to the corporate aviation world. When he started, Deere was operating two Citation Xs, a Gulfstream GV, and a Gulfstream G550. His current job responsibilities include performing scheduled and unscheduled inspections, routine maintenance, and troubleshooting squawks.
Cook has attended a long list of FlightSafety International training courses. He received the ‘Top Troubleshooter’ at the end of FlightSafety’s Advanced Troubleshooting for the Gulfstream G550, awarded to the highest scoring student at the end of the weeklong training class.
He is a member of the NBAA Citation 600/700 series Technical Committee and attended the Textron Aviation Customer Conference earlier this year.
He is designated a ‘Maintenance Plane Captain’ of one of the Citation X+’s. This additional duty includes scheduling upcoming inspections, ordering rotables for the inspection, maintaining SB and AD compliance, and taking care of things the airplane might need, such as replacing missing pitot covers.
On occasion Cook performs flight engineer duties on the Gulfstream G550 which has taken him to eight other countries.
Cook volunteers to give tours of his company’s aircraft and facilities to many children and groups to promote aviation and he also has volunteered at the Stearman fly-in located in Kewanee, IL.
Cook says, “My short-term goal is to become quality control inspector. My long-term goal is to become director of aviation at John Deere.”
