AT COMMUTEAIR, WE HAVE GREAT PEOPLE WITH GREAT STORIES TO SHARE.
Meet Safety Specialist Cathy Davis and help us celebrate her 35 years at CommuteAir!
Cathy Davis is a CommuteAir original. Hired on July 17, 1989, Davis was a part of the company’s original crew of 13 pilots. Even from the very beginning, the C5 family banded into a tightly knit group.
“When we first started, our headquarters was an old construction trailer at the end of a closed runway in Plattsburgh, New York,” said Davis. “We didn’t have a hangar; all the employees went and did everything together. We washed the single airplane, we looked at uniforms. We did everything together, and it was a very tight knit group.”
Through her career, Davis amassed over 22,000 in-flight hours before transferring to the training department where she worked as a line check airman for 18 years.
“I used to be the ‘Good Cop;’ we had a couple of [trainers] that were really hard on people, and if [students] were struggling they would just say, ‘Well, let’s put them with Cathy,’ and I could usually bolster their confidence enough so that they could say, ‘Yeah, I can do this,’ like yes, yes you can,” said Davis. “I’m much more of a supportive person, I try to get people to be as confident and calm as possible. Otherwise, you can’t really judge their abilities if they aren’t relaxed.”
In the last 35 years, Davis has seen C5 soar to new heights. Today, she works in the Corporate Headquarters as a safety specialist where she handles data recording and safety reports.
“We managed to stick around for 35 years, which is no small feat,” said Davis. “I think it has to do with the business model that John Sullivan and his partners put together and foresaw. We never expanded too quickly. We’ve chosen aircraft types that make money.”
According to Davis, working at CommuteAir during its startup phase was a pivotal experience.
“I feel like it’s my company, so of course I want my company to do well,” said Davis.