Page 24 - Aug23T
P. 24
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
Raisbeck Engineering
by Lance Phillips
This month, we had the pleas- ure of talking with Raisbeck Engineering’s senior consul- tant, Randy Groom. Randy has had a long career in general aviation, and much of his work has focused, directly or indirectly, on im- proving the performance and/or util- ity of Beechcraft and Cessna airplanes through Raisbeck’s FAA supplemental type certificate (STC) work.
Randy has been flying since high school, and he continued to f ly charter and instruct others during his undergraduate work in zoology at Oklahoma State University, later earning an MBA. After college, he approached multiple aircraft OEMs to see if someone out there could use an eager, experienced pilot with raw business acumen. Cessna answered the call. They needed a sales train- ing instructor to write a curriculum
22 • TWIN & TURBINE / August 2023
for the Conquest turboprop program. While on the west side of Wichita, one of Randy’s OSU graduate friends, who happened to work on the east side of town (Beechcraft territory), let him know that Beech was looking for an as- sistant regional manager. There would be a lot of flying and working with the Beech dealer network. That sounded pretty good, so he made the switch.
We could literally write a whole article on Randy’s progression in avia- tion, but this article is about Raisbeck, so I’ll abbreviate some of Randy’s next adventures. From Beechcraft, Ran- dy was recruited by one of Beech’s (and Raisbeck’s) dealers, Piedmont. After years of working toward and earning the number two leadership role at the company, he was brought back to Beechcraft, this time in ex- ecutive leadership. He later started a robust consulting business. Soon,
another executive leadership role opened in Vero Beach, Florida (yep, Piper this time).
Lance Phillips: Randy, thank you for joining me today. With AirVenture just around the corner, will Raisbeck display anything new this year?
Randy Groom: This year the EPIC Caravan, which has never been seen before, will be on display. In addition,
