Field Service Engineer Gives Customers ‘Best of Both Worlds’

Honeywell’s approach to accessing technical support expertise offers business aviation customers the best of both worlds, according to Field Service Engineer (FSE) Don Neyhard.

“An experienced field service engineer is always available to help a customer in need,” Neyhard said. “There should never be a problem finding the right Honeywell resource because if a specific FSE isn’t available, they can still reach someone right away through the MyAerospace portal or by calling one of our technical support numbers (855-808-6500 in the U.S. or 602-365-6500 internationally).”

Being fast, reliable and responsive is important to Neyhard, who’s been on the front lines working with Honeywell business and general aviation customers for close to 13 years. In all, he’s got 30 years of avionics experience under his belt and has worked for aircraft manufacturers, completion centers, and maintenance, repair and overhaul centers during his long career.

“I’ve been interested in electronics since I was a kid and, when I was old enough, I joined the U.S. Coast Guard and was trained as an electronics tech. I spent six years in the Coast Guard before moving on to the civilian world and business aviation.”

Now Neyhard is based in Connecticut where he works directly with operators in the Northeast and throughout the world as part of the Aerospace Technical Support (ATS) network. He prides himself on delivering service with the personal touch and visiting area operators as much as he can.

“Customers count on us to help them keep their aircraft operational and they appreciate that we’re there for them. I have a lot of experience with Honeywell avionics, but it’s also good to know that I can call on the collective knowledge of the entire ATS team when needed to help solve a problem.”

Neyhard has seen a lot of changes in avionics over the last three decades. “Systems integration, the evolution from redundant to modular systems, and the combination of hardware and software are among the biggest changes I’ve experience,” he said. “Today’s systems are more reliable and easier to troubleshoot. Nowadays you can solve many problems from your desktop.”

Recently, he helped a customer fix an issue with an autopilot that wouldn’t stay engaged during flight. The operator’s maintenance team had been trying to get to the root cause of the problem for several days before calling Neyhard. Working together, Neyhard and the team found a wiring fault and fixed it in less than 15 minutes.

The secret of good customer service is to put yourself in the customer’s shoes, Neyhard believes. “Customers want to be heard and they want their airplane fixed now. Period. I always say you have to care for the customer like you want to be cared for yourself when you experience a problem with a piece of equipment you use at work or home.”