Age: 36
Years in Aviation: 15
Duane Seay is from Covington, LA, where he is a base helicopter mechanic with Med-Trans Corp. He was nominated by Lauren Sutton, a flight nurse with Ochsner Flight Care. Sutton says, “Duane’s attention to detail and his efficiency has made him an invaluable asset to our team.”
He began his aviation career in the United States Marine Corp. and went to school to learn the Uh-1N Huey and AH-1W Cobra. Once he left the Marine Corp he got a job at Fleet Readiness Center East at Cherry Point, NC, working on the AV8B Harrier as a sheetmetal and structures mechanic. While there he completed an apprenticeship program for aviation sheetmetal. Eventually he was transferred to a remote site to be part of the Depot to Intermediate level team where he was responsible for depot level repairs and on the job training of the Marines in the work center.
In 2013 he took a job with Med-Trans Corp. in Louisiana, a helicopter EMS provider operating a fleet of Bell 407 and EC 135 aircraft. Seay says of his role, “MTC does not have the luxury of a known flight profile, which means that we have to conduct maintenance when possible, as quickly and efficiently as possible, while never compromising safely or airworthiness.”
Seay had several aviation mentors along the way and explained when he was younger his grandfather started a flying club and they had three single engine Cessna aircraft. He would go flying with his grandfather and became intrigued with aviation so decided to joined the Marine Corps and become a maintainer.
He holds an FAA A&P certificate and is currently enrolled in the bachelor of science in aviation management program at Southern Illinois University.
Seay has a long list of specialized training courses he’s attended as well as a long list of recognition awards.
