ANN discusses ALA and future of Latin American aviation, Part 2

• Read Part 1 of this Exclusive Interview

On June 15, ANN Publisher Jim Campbell and Associate Editor Juan Jimenez attended ALA's conference at the Radisson Miami Hotel and Convention next to the Miami International Airport. We were granted an exclusive interview with ALA President and Founder Ernesto Rois-Mendez. This is the second and final part of this interview.

ANN-Campbell: How do you view ALA's role towards your membership? What sort of things are you doing and what services are you offering to your membership?

Rois-Mendez: We're doing what no one else is doing. Pardon my lack of modesty... I'm going to use a very important phrase that we frequently use: We are erasing the borders in Latin America in the aviation field. The most important mission of ALA is to promote aviation safety. We do that through several means, such as our magazine. Most of our articles put a lot of emphasis on aviation safety. We are keeping our members and readers informed on the industry, keeping them abreast of what is going on. Most of all, what we have accomplished is not between the Latin American aviation operators and us, it is between the operators and the industry.

You would be amazed how many people in Latin America do not have a good approach on answering questions or finding information. Outside of the Internet, they don't have the flood of information that we have here, or the accessibility to information that we have here. We're providing the information not so much with the magazine, but through things like this convention here, where the operators can come and meet with the industry that is interested in Latin America. You go to other shows -- and there are very, very good shows -- but there are many exhibitors who really don't have an interest in Latin America, for whatever reason. They may be producing parts for the OEM's, or they are very specialized, or they just don't have the size or the willingness to work with Latin America.

Every exhibitor that is here has an interest in Latin America. So right there, you see a lot of accessibility. Also, we are getting the industry to know the operators, and vice-versa, so the operators know have a channel to know where to ask questions, find information and find alternatives when they have a problem with products and services. We are also seeing that many people who meet here at the convention become friends, they email each other and talk to each other and assist each other with their operations. We have people from Mexico talking to people in Argentina and vice-versa, and all over, and this is happening because they met here at the convention. We all learn from someone else, and we all learn someplace.

ANN-Campbell: That's got to break a lot of information barriers. It has been our experience, at the international level, that there is almost an English-language chauvinism when it comes to dealing with other parts of the world where English is not used as a primary language.

Rois-Mendez: That is true, and people who are not fluent in a language tend to be intimidated. Something else that happens, that we are trying to change, is that people who are not the high level executives or the high level professionals, who do not have what we call "mundo" (world), people who have not traveled, who do not feel comfortable with themselves as would others who have experienced these things, really don't even know how to approach a company for a problem.

By approaching, I mean that they know they can make a phone call. I mean, they just don't know if they should. For example, you are operating a Cessna and you have never left your country, or you are operating a helicopter... it is very typical of helicopter operators that really don't travel as much to the other countries. Again, we're not talking about the owners of the company, but rather the technicians. They may have a problem and they have a manual, and they know they could call Bell Helicopter and ask a question such as "I don't understand your manual and I am having such and such a problem." They know they can do this but they don't know if there's going to be someone there who can speak their language.

Even if they do find someone who can speak their language, they don't know how they are going to be received. They will think, "Should I call? Bell Helicopter is huge, I am intimidated, I mean they are one of the biggest helicopter producers..." The questions are there, what should I ask, whom should I ask, how should I contact them... You would not believe the number of emails and calls that we get asking for help to solve these problems, and of course, we do not have the means or the manpower to do this, but we always give them a channel, or a means to establish that contact.

ANN-Jimenez: So you are trying to be the catalyst to establish the network of communication?

Rois-Mendez: Yes. Once this fellow in, for example, Uruguay, makes a call to Bell Helicopter finds out that there was a fellow there who was able, willing and happy to help me, he'll make that call again and again, and will tell other people who will also call again and again. Soon, the industry is closer. It is not only the salespersons visiting those countries, you know. Now these countries have better support from the industry because now they know that they can actually make that phone call, send that email, and be respected enough to get an answer.

ANN-Jimenez: We understand exactly what you are talking about. From my point of view, I did some flying in Argentina a while back in modern and antique light aircraft, and also visited a number of "Aero Clubes." I found that people almost have a tendency to consciously isolate themselves from the industry. Many times they simply do not have access to the Internet as we do, and they are, as you describe, very intimidated at the prospect of calling a company in an English-speaking country to try to obtain information.

Rois-Mendez: Most times yes, they are intimidated, they think "Well, they manufacture airplanes, they're not going to take care of a guy like me." The good news is that United States market is changing, more and more important companies are hiring Spanish-speaking representatives to handle the Latin American market, and maybe even some other markets. I remember when I entered the industry, very few companies, even very important large companies, had Spanish-speaking people. And it is not so much that the people speak Spanish, they also must understand the culture, they have to be flexible enough to understand how to work with our countries.

Thirty years ago, very few companies had people who understood the Latin American culture and the language, but they were counting on selling over there, and they were selling product because the customers needed it, but those customers were not receiving the proper support. And it was not because there was a lack of willingness to support them; it was because there was a lack of communication.

ANN-Campbell: May I ask what your background is and how you came into all of this?

Rois-Mendez: Sure! I am an aerospace engineer and an economist; I have degrees in both subjects. I am a pilot, helicopter and fixed wing. I have never made a living as a pilot, or I should say never have made a single dollar in it. I learned how to fly very young, when I was 17, and I wanted, like most people, to become an airline pilot. Back then the airlines required so much! If I remember correctly, you had be younger than 26 years, you had to have a Bachelor's degree -- in science, mind you, not in art -- and you had to have 3,000 hours out of which 800 would have to be heavy aircraft, or something like that.

ANN-Campbell: Ah, yes, you had to be multi-engine, turbojet type rated...

Rois-Mendez: I couldn't afford to do that! I was working for $1.85 an hour or something like that. Back then the problem was that there were so many pilots from the Vietnam Era, so the airlines could pick and choose. With all due reasons, especially for safety reasons, it was wonderful, but it was very hard for someone who was young to try to get into the airlines. Five or six years ago, when there was a boom, I remember one guy, he was 42 years old, 600 hour multiengine pilot, instrument-rated of course, but mostly just an instructor pilot... American Eagle. Well, I didn't have that opportunity when I was younger, so I went from professional pilot to engineering. I started working in the aerospace industry as a pure engineer at McDonnell Douglas, in what used to be the Douglas Aircraft Company division in Long Beach, California, which is now Boeing, of course.

I eventually got tired of being a pure engineer, because... well, engineering is a beautiful career, if you could only do it all. When you went to work for the Douglas Aircraft Company division, you were one of 18,000 employees, and 6,000 of us were engineers. The level of responsibility in that environment for a young kid who wanted to be a go-getter was minimal, so I requested a job as sales director. Now, not as a salesman... a Sales Director, because a vacancy had come up, but of course, I was too young for that. I did not get the job, but I was able to get a job as a sales engineer. Anyway, that is where I started my professional career. From there I went to work at Sundstrand, which I think is now called Wulfsburg, at their division in Costa Mesa, California.

ANN-Campbell: That must have been during the days of PSA.

Rois-Mendez: Yes! Remember PSA?

ANN-Jimenez: I remember it as well, I was stationed at the Marine helicopter base in Tustin (CA) during the early 80's.

Rois-Mendez: Well, I worked at what was the Transcom division of Sundstrand on the ACARS system. Remember the ACARS? I think they still make them, of course. It must operate in a different way, I haven't kept up to date, but the ACARS were working through the ARINC data channel, or whatever it is that they called it, now it must be working through satellite.

I left Sundstrand in 1983 and went to work for Bell Helicopter, and later started a business of my own, an engineering consulting company, which I keep strictly separated from my activities in ALA. I do not even advertise in our magazine, which is the best aviation magazine for the continent, nor do I exhibit at our trade shows, which are the best shows for Latin America.

I'm going to say it again, pardon my lack of modesty... there are very good magazines in many countries, but the ALA magazine is the widest-read magazine throughout the continent. But I do not advertise in it, and besides I am also very selective in my clientele, so I do not seek the exposure in that respect.

ANN-Jimenez: It must be interesting to run the mailing operation for a magazine that is sent all over Latin America.

Rois-Mendez: Well, that is a very interesting comment... in Mexico, for example, they keep telling us that we are a brochure because the magazine is think, about forty pages on average. The issue that I have here is fifty-two pages long; we have to keep it thin because we have very high mailing costs. It is very expensive to mail the magazine all over Latin America. Our magazine is also a very controlled distribution, so our major source of income is the advertisements. Anyway, I went into business on my own, and about thirteen years ago I founded ALA. But it was not until 11 years ago that I started publishing the magazine, and until then ALA was really not doing very much. Were you at our show last year?

ANN-Campbell: No, not last year.

Rois-Mendez: Ok, last year we had our tenth anniversary of the magazine, and it confused people, who were asking why were not having our tenth anniversary of ALA as well. This year, 2004, we are having our tenth anniversary of our convention. So, magazines we started eleven years ago, and ten years ago we did the first convention of ALA Miami. Of course, in the first convention we had a sum total of two seminars, of which we had to cancel one, because of lack of demand!

ANN-Campbell: Where do you see yourself going from here? What do you see as the biggest challenges to ALA to serve its membership?

Rois-Mendez: That's a tough question. The biggest challenge would be to be able to accomplish what so many of our members want us to do. We are very lucky that our members, readers and industry appreciate us so much that they get us involved in too many things for which we either do not have the time or the resources to be involved. This show takes us a year to put together, and we start preparing for the next one as soon as this one is over.

Two weeks ago I had to go to Brazil because we set up ALA Brazil in conjunction with an established show in that country called "Expo Aero." At the end of this week I will be going home for two days, and then I will head to Colombia, where we are assisting with their organization because ALA is cooperating with one of their activities. We have been asked to do an ALA Venezuela, we have been asked to do an ALA Mexico, we did a small portion of an ALA Brazil, and I say a small portion because it was not organized by us, we cooperated and we were one of the sponsors, and we assisted in the international promotion of "Expo Aero Brazil." That's why we used the name ALA Brazil.

This year I must have made some twenty trips already. I've been trying to slow down on my travelling, but I've been travelling for thirty-three years.

ANN-Campbell: It'll never happen. (Laughs)

Rois-Mendez: It has to! (Laughs) So, it's amazing how much people expect from us, how much they appreciate us, and because of this appreciation they expect, and they invite and we just don't have the human or financial resources to do it. Whether or not we can grow with human resources depends on financial resources, of course, so we can get involved in all those things.

It is hard, because we get so many invitations and we simply cannot accept them all, or be part of all of them. That is the biggest challenge, to be able to do the many things that the people who appreciate us would like to see us do. We are pretty high on the learning curve, and of course we will never stop learning, but we've been doing this for ten years now and we know what we are doing.

I am not concerned for the health of the organization, it will be healthy and it will stay there. We may not be very profitable, but that's all right -- we're established. My concern is the expectations of people, that we can actually meet them.

FMI: www.ala-internet.com