Matthew Heathcoat

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT MATTHEW HEATHCOAT

I was in the Navy for 31 years, working on the Boeing F/A-18 A/B/C/D/E/F aircraft. I finished up my career in my dream job with the U.S Navy Flight Demonstration Team, the Blue Angels. What an honor and a privilege it was to serve with such a dedicated team of young professionals. I\'ve acquired many skills with the multitude of jobs I\'ve done. I\'ve gone from being a Plane Captain, to mechanic, to Quality Assurance, to Maintenance Control Chief, to Senior Enlisted Adviser and finally, I served as a Maintenance Master Chief. I do still love to fix things, especially airplanes. Six months after retirement, I was offered a position as the F-18 maintenance lead at a company who is acquiring these aircraft from another country. Being back in the business of F/A-18s has been invigorating. While we go through the process of receiving these aircraft, the company has sent me to locations in Florida and Illinois to work on various platforms to include: BAE Hawks, L-39ZA, PC-9, and Cessna 337. Doing things like this in the general aviation field is exactly the challenge I was looking for when I retired. It is extremely satisfying to be a mechanic again and learn about different platforms as well as how maintenance is done in the civilian sector. So far, this next chapter has been exactly as I imagined it would be.