For Dallas Shoeneman, Chief pilot at Satcom Direct, flying has always been a family affair. Both his father and grandfather were aviators. It’s safe to say he was at home in the clouds—before he even started school. (The family’s Colorado ranch had an airstrip, and their Cessna 210 offered a fast, not to mention, convenient, way to visit customers or get supplies from town.)
Flying was simply part of life. “And as a kid, you can’t help but be enamored of the idea of just being able to fly around,” he explains. Even after 17 years as a corporate pilot, Shoeneman still feels fortunate to have the opportunity to be involved with the aviation industry. “It’s been a lot of fun. It’s a great career.”
And his “family” has now expanded to include the team at Satcom Direct.
The company’s in-flight solutions for business travelers—no matter where they are headed or their connectivity requirements—deliver everything from satellite airtime to cybersecurity to antenna systems. It also benefits from personal flying expertise to pull it all together. “It’s a tight knight group of people working hard to make a trip’s outcome the best it can be,” he says.
The company’s chief pilot has an insider’s perspective on how business aviation has changed over the years, and how Satcom Direct continues to evolve it forward. Coming on the heels of Wright Brother’s Day last month, we sat down to talk to him. While Shoeneman contends piloting in its purest form —“the stick and rudder portion”—has not changed at all, avionics and aircraft complexity have seen dramatic advancements.
“At Satcom Direct, we have the ability to provide our customers end to end connectivity coverage for their entire trip through one platform,” Shoeneman explains. “The ability to forecast satellite coverage, provide a secure environment for data transfer, synchronize the flight deck and flight department, provides a best-in-class experience for customers. Obviously, the satellite communication systems, ground stations, and our Plane Simple Antenna System deliver technology that has really complemented flying. The ability to communicate in real-time with schedulers, pilots, maintenance technicians, or other team members, when an issue or change arises, proactively provides a positive outcome. Recent innovations have also helped promote awareness throughout flight departments, allowing us to better track fleet utilization.”
To Shoeneman’s point, via Satcom Direct’s SD Pro® system, the preflight, in-flight, and postflight logistics of a complex trip are coordinated to “make it easier to support the desired outcome of the trip.” Furthermore, “SD Pro is a communications and operations platform built by business aviation for business aviation. As a corporate aviation department, we have a strong understanding of what customers need. This is why we developed a standardized platform with everything in one place. SD Pro was created by professionals with aviation backgrounds working together to build a single platform that collects, aggregates, and delivers all the information needed to plan and complete a successful trip. It synchronizes all stakeholders, to deliver a better flight experience for operators, flight departments, and crew, which in turn, helps better satisfy the ownership experience.”
What’s more, the platform also allows Satcom Direct, the ability to capture electronic flight data, and track maintenance schedules. (No more rounding errors or fuzzy pilot math produces cost savings to our customers, both on aircraft programs and hourly maintenance items.) “We just completed three trips abroad; airplanes went to Spain, France, England, Germany, and the Netherlands,” explains Shoeneman. “As a result of our partnerships with Foreflight, and Polaris Aero, which can be accessed via Satcom Direct’s scheduling program, we were able to plan those trips and subsequently adjust to customer/company requested changes, and coordinate with handlers on the fly. Satcom Direct’s scheduling software helps to minimize pilot distraction while bolstering productivity. We streamlined the whole process using the modules within SD Pro®.”
Undoubtedly, coordinating multiple-stop European trips is a far cry from flying freight between small towns in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, which is how Shoeneman got his professional start. But his practical experience really began in his father’s plane, long before he ever had a pilot’s license.
As Shoeneman recounts, “My dad pretended to be asleep one day, so I had to take over flying the plane. At the time, I was maybe nine, and I tried to do everything I could not to wake him up—at least, until my courage kicked in and I started believing I could fly better than I really could. To be honest, I couldn’t even see over the glareshield, but I started climbing and descending and doing turns. He never grabbed the controls, but I’m sure he was close to it once or twice!”
Years later, his dad fessed up to what really happened. The memory still elicits a laugh from Shoeneman. After flying freight out West, Shoeneman spent 12 years as a corporate pilot for a family in Florida, during which time he started an aircraft management company. Four and half years ago, he joined Satcom Direct.
The most important thing he has learned during all those years as a pilot? Never stop learning. “This is a career in which you’re always trying to do better than the last fight you made. The trick is to keep improving yourself. Discuss with your colleagues what you could have done better, what worked well, what needs to change, and what you might do differently next time.”
For someone at home at 40,000 feet, every “next time” is their best flight yet. If you want optimal inflight connectivity hardware, training, and support from a major organization at the leading edge of technology, please contact us today. You can travel with confidence knowing Satcom Direct’s suite of offerings and support team are watching out for you in the sky.
