Onsite with a Field Service Engineer: Olivier Besinet

Introducing Olivier Besinet, a Honeywell FSE based in Toulouse, France. Olivier’s main duties include supporting business jet operators and the maintenance, repair and overhaul community. He helps customers based in Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium and Luxembourg, but often travels to other countries as needed.

What inspired you to pursue a career in aerospace?

I live in the South East of France where Airbus, Dassault and SOCATA have been building airplanes for decades, so half of my DNA was already made of aviation! I decided to study electronics and computer systems in college and after a year with IBM, I decided to pursue a career in the aviation industry with Honeywell. After 32 years in the business, I am still here and enjoying every day. This is one of the rare industries where most people share the same passion for great design, complex technology and safety. These people also appreciate a job well done. Throughout my career I have met people with outstanding knowledge and the same passion for going beyond what the customer expects. This inspires me daily.

As an FSE, what do you do day-to-day?

Each day in this position is unique; not a single day is the same as the day before and there are new challenges every day. I answer technical questions from my customers in certain parts of Europe, as well as from Honeywell customers across the world thanks to the Aerospace Technical Support system. Requests for assistance come in as phone calls or emails 24/7. Often, I get the opportunity to visit my customers face-to-face, attend various aerospace conferences and provide hands-on support and training. Part of my day is also dedicated to helping my peers with difficult issues and assisting other Honeywell departments who need support with technical subjects.

How do you connect with the other FSEs to share ideas, ask for advice and just get to know each other?

With modern technology and communication tools, being remote is not really an issue. FSEs have access to all the latest and greatest technology, allowing us to stay in touch all day long. We run daily regional team calls that last anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. During these calls, the avionics FSEs and their managers regroup and share valuable information and objectives for the day. We have worldwide core teams dedicated to either a family of products, for instance SATCOM or flight management systems, or an aircraft avionics platform, like APEX or EPIC. We can be engaged in several technical core teams at a time, so we always have access to a subject matter expert on a given product. In the last few years, we have broadened our FSE tools by developing a database of knowledge articles covering the most common problems. In fact, about a year ago, we started making these available to our customers on the Honeywell web portal. Lastly, FSEs meet in person once a year at regional conferences.