Age: 34
Years in Aviation: 13
Jay Dankoff is currently the Aviation Maintenance Excellence Program Lead at Convergent Performance, LLC. He holds an FAA A&P Certificate from the Michigan Institute of Aviation and Technology and a bachelor’s of science in aviation management from Eastern Michigan University.
His career in aviation began as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. In response to the attacks, Dankoff left Michigan State University where he was studying environmental science to join the Navy, where he became an egress structural mechanic on F/A-18C aircraft.
Dankoff was a “lifer” in the military, rising to the stresses and demands of wartime aviation, and earning many awards for his service including Good Conduct and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medals. His intent was to become the Maintenance Master Chief of an F/A-18 squadron, but he had to leave the military before accomplishing his goals as the result of a severe head injury that he sustained while working on an aircraft – the result of lapses in the Navy’s safety communications. Motivated by this event, he has focused his career on improving the quality and safety in the aviation maintenance industry.
At Convergent Performance, Dankoff acts under the mentorship of Dr. Tony Kern, to direct advanced quality, safety, and training programs in aviation maintenance and other high risk industries. Dankoff has directed the creation of advanced aviation maintenance training and management programs that have been used by aircraft manufacturers, maintenance repair and overhaul stations, business jet operators, airports, and other high-risk operations.
Dankoff is a member of the NBAA Maintenance Committee, a member of the IS-BAH Standards Committee, and a Denver area FAASTeam member. He has been a speaker at the NBAA Maintenance Management Conference, IA class instructor at NBAA BACE Conference, a general session speaker at the Gulfstream Safety Management Systems Summit, a keynote speaker at the Minnesota Aviation Maintenance Conference, the IA instructor at the Wyoming Regional FAA IA Refresher Seminar, and has held seminars at three consecutive Bombardier Safety Standdown events.
It is Dankoff’s ambition to raise the level of safety and quality in the aviation maintenance industry through industry advocacy and through engaging technicians and promoting pride in
“our wonderful, rewarding, and often underappreciated, profession.”
