Here, there and everywhere

STG Aerospace’s director of Electrical Business Unit, Pierre Michard, shares his global background and pinpoints where his flair for the industry began.

Unlike many of my fellow-aero geek friends, I was not born into an air force or Airbus household.  

At 14 I left France and moved to Brazil with my family. Through friends in Sao Paulo, I met the Airbus technical representative who was introducing the Airbus A330 at TAM Linhas Aereas. I quickly got hooked on all the anecdotes he had and how he was helping TAM to build an international network from their successful domestic operations.

As we lived right under the final approach flight path to Congonhas Airport, I started paying closer attention to the airliners and business jets landing there.

Consequently, when I returned to France for University, I was determined to make it into the aerospace industry. There, I gained a Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from Grenoble-INP, followed by a year at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid in Spain.

As part of my degree, I completed two internships putting into practice my lectures. I started at Embraer’s Paris office where I worked on business jet cost of ownership for prospective customers. I then moved on to the main Snecma (now Safran) assembly plant in Villaroche – the European birthplace of CFM engines. There, I worked for the strategic procurement team on the PowerJet SaM146 engine to identify Russian suppliers for engine components.

Upon graduation, I moved to Hong Kong to manage the avionics repair joint venture between Haeco and EADS (now Airbus). In that role, I travelled across Southeast Asia, meeting airlines and MROs.

After this first operational role, I was recruited by Eltra Services to establish their component repair centre within the Beijing Airbus campus. With a talented local team, and support from Airbus China, we managed to get CAAC, EASA and FAA Part 145 certifications in less than 12 months, a record at the time.

After three and half years in China, I eventually accepted a job at the French Ministry of Defence procurement agency DGA in Paris in the NH90 helicopter programme. I was in charge of building the Integrated Logistic Support prior to Entry Into Service. The programme is managed by a NATO agency (NAHEMA). All meetings therefore involved participants from across Europe. Defence applications are all about availability and performance with a level of complexity and systems integration I had not experienced in the civil world.

I then moved to London and started working for Esterline (now Transdigm), managing the Entry Into Service of both the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB and TP400 sensor suite, where my MoD experience came in handy, as civil technical publications were moving to new military digital standards.

I then joined STG Aerospace as a business development manager, working with customers on new product opportunities. I have now been with STG for over seven years, in three different positions.

In 2019 I became the director of STG’s electrical business unit. This role is extremely varied covering the whole product lifecycle, from new lighting concepts all the way to in-service support issues. I spend most of my day working on new product development with the R&D team. As a member of the Leadership Team, I have a direct impact on the company strategy.

Working for a small Tier 1 company like STG Aerospace gives me the opportunity to interface with the largest airlines and OEMs in the world, get to know each member of the team across all departments, and have greater reactivity in my work.

My involvement in the aerospace industry has allowed me to live in many different countries and work in various sectors of the engineering spectrum from MRO to design. It’s also allowed me to build a great network of friends across the globe. 

I’m privileged to have worked with incredible people around the world, and with many interesting and influential companies in my career. It’s been a great journey, and the imminent return to our industry’s long-term growth will generate more opportunities in the years to come.

www.stgaerospace.com