From the Flight Deck

Bob Frye took his first plane ride in his dad’s Fairchild PT-19 at 4 years old. The PT-19 is a WWII-vintage, low-wing monoplane primary trainer. Now, a bunch of decades later, he’s working as Assistant Director of Operations for Shoreline Aviation.

After earning his pilot certificate in 1966, Bob continued to fly while working in different industries. Then in the mid-1980s he bought an interest in a fixed base operator/charter business in Westfield. By that time, he had his commercial and ATP (Airline Transport Pilot) certificates, with the Cessna Citation type rating, and Certified Flight Instructor certificates for Single and Multi-engine Aircraft and Instrument Instructor.

“We expanded the flight school to Part 141 standards and built the charter fleet up,” Bob said. “It was kind of a Shoreline sort of company.”

In 1997, he was named FAA Aviation Safety Counselor of the Year for both the Windsor Locks FSDO (Flight Standards District Office) and the New England Region.

Time marched on, and in due course Bob moved east. He worked as a pilot for an aviation company in Plymouth, Massachusetts, for several years, then becoming the firm’s director of standardization and training. He retired from there last year and went into safety management systems consulting. He did some SMS consulting work for Shoreline.

“In a weak moment, Keith (Shoreline President Keith Douglass) offered me a fulltime job,” he said with a grin.

In his new capacity, he takes some of the load off Keith, who is also the Director of Operations. Bob focuses mostly on operational functions, processes and procedures. He’s currently working on upgrading operator certificates for Shoreline’s Falcon 2000LX, which the company can fly globally. Shoreline’s charter fleet of Citation XL560 series jets and Pilatus PC-12 series turboprops fly from Marshfield Airport on Massachusetts’ historic South Shore and nearby Norwood Memorial Airport. The Falcon flies from Palm Beach and Hyannis airports.

“I’m very happy to be here and am impressed with the people, a really sharp group,” he said. “It’s great to work with people who are on their game.”