![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kelvin-Solcoedit.jpg\")
Solco was sent to New Orleans International Airport a few\nweeks later to do surveying work and help install a Visual Approach Slope\nIndicator (VASI) on runway 10\/28. After\nbeing cleared by the FAA Air Traffic controllers to work in the runway safety\narea, he promptly set up surveying equipment on the centerline of the runway.\nThen he heard the controller say words he\u2019ll never forget – \u201cFAA 01, clear the\nrunway immediately. Expedite!\u201d Solco\nsaid fortunately for him, he ran track in high school and was accustomed to\n\u201cexpediting\u201d! After moving to a safe\nposition away from the runway, he watched a Lockheed L-1011 make its final\napproach, landing on runway 10\/28. \u201cIt was the largest aircraft I had ever seen! I was mesmerized,\u201d said Solco. \u201cI knew at\nthat moment I would spend the rest of my life in the aviation business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solco, who has spent more than thirty years in the aviation\nindustry \u2013 most of those years with the FAA \u2013 formed the Solco Group in April\nof 2018. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur,\u201d said Solco. While working\nfor the FAA as a civil engineer in the 1990\u2019s, he started a moonlighting\nbusiness called Solco Consulting Services, where he provided civil engineering\ndesign and structural inspections for mortgage companies, real estate agents,\nand residential homeowners. \u201cI specialized in concrete foundation inspections\nand repairs,\u201d said Solco. This was a perfect \u201cside venture\u201d for him because\nthere was no conflict of interest with his FAA commitment. Yet he secretly\ndreamed about becoming an aviation consultant while serving his clients. After\nfour years, he closed this practice to focus on personal family matters and his\nprimary duty to serve the FAA. Now,\nafter 36 successful years of service with the FAA, he has made his\nentrepreneurial dreams come true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a business owner, Solco\u2019s biggest challenge has been\nmaking a mental transition from public to private service. \u201cI still catch\nmyself \u201cthinking\u201d like an FAA employee, but I understand my responsibility to\nserve my clients by sharing my knowledge and experience,\u201d said Solco. \u201cLike\neveryone in our business, I am extremely sensitive to any negative press or\nmisconceptions about flying or aviation incidents.\u201d Setting up his business was also a little\nchallenging but he was pleasantly surprised with the tremendous amount of\nresources available through the SBA and other Federal, State, and local\nagencies. \u201cAfter having gone through this experience, I am convinced that the\nU.S. is the best country in the world to start a business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solco says that the experience gained while at the FAA has\nbeen \u201cabsolutely invaluable,\u201d and if he had to do everything over again, he\nwould not change anything. \u201cI was fortunate to have learned the Federal\nAviation business from some of the best managers in the industry. I also worked\nalongside some of the best and the brightest aviation professionals, engineers,\ncontrollers, and technicians in the country,\u201d said Solco. Solco believes the greatest benefit from\nworking with both the FAA Airports and Airway Facilities programs is developing\nclose professional and personal friendships with numerous state aeronautics\ndirectors and airport executives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His FAA career path started with resident engineering and\nconstruction inspection and ended with his last position of Southwest Regional\nAdministrator. Solco\u2019s resume includes years of experience in Airway Facilities\nengineering, Airports engineering and program management, FAA Regional Office\nmanagement, and Emergency Operations. He has worked in both the Southwest and\nSouthern Regions of the country as well as numerous temporary assignments in\nthe FAA Headquarters Office in Washington, DC; the Northwest Mountain Region;\nand Great Lakes Region. \u201cI even had the honor of representing the U.S. in\ntechnical exchange meetings in London, England, and Brussels, Belgium,\u201d said\nSolco. \u201cMy firm would probably not exist nor be successful without the\nexperience I gained at FAA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After creating his company, Solco began seeking\nopportunities in both the Southern and Southwest regions of the FAA, but, has a\nbig vision and plans to grow the firm to include offering company services both\ndomestically and internationally. \u201cI am currently in discussions with a\npotential client on the East Coast and we are planning to visit an organization\non the West Coast in the near future.\u201d This July Solco traveled to Belize City,\nBelize as part of a trade mission delegation, to present his firm to the\ninternational marketplace. \u201cI have not yet secured a firm Belizean business\nlead to date, but I plan to return to Belize by early 2020 and try again.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solco believes there is great potential for growth in the industry,\nbut says everyone needs to do their part to protect the excellent national\nsafety record, and promote the future of aviation. \u201cWe must maintain our\naviation related infrastructure and adapt to meet the changing trends and needs\nof the flying public,\u201d said Solco. While working at FAA, he had the privilege\nof witnessing the entrance of unmanned aircraft and commercial space operations\ninto the National Airspace System. \u201cI look forward to supporting the growth of\nU.S. air transportation and celebrating the technological advancements of\naviation as a private industry practitioner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to the diversity of needs in the aviation sector, a\npassionate desire to maintain safety, and limited amount of available financial\nresources, Solco says that our greatest need is to make sure we do\ncomprehensive planning as well as develop strong justifications and undeniable\nbusiness cases for airfield enhancements and development. \u201cFAA Reauthorization\nhas given us the flight plan. Now we must perform our pre-flight inspections,\nlocate the things we can control, clearly communicate with the FAA, check the\nweather, and take off to our respective aeronautical destinations,\u201d said Solco\n– with a smile. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Kim J Stevens For Kelvin Solco it was a close encounter with an L-1011 on a New Orleans runway that ultimately sealed the deal for a career in aviation. He initially became interested in aviation after being hired as a college intern.\u00c2\u00a0 \u201cThe FAA hired me as a College Co-op Engineer during my sophomore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115,81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-people"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13733"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13738,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13733\/revisions\/13738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}