Hello, my name is Annamarie Buonocore and I wear many hats in the aviation industry.
I have two publications, In Flight USA that comes out monthly, BizAvJets USA that comes out quarterly.
My family has been in the publishing business for aviation for 40 years. I also broker aircraft by and through USA Aircraft Brokers, and I recently combined my love for inspection work and photography with doing some adjusting work for Arnold and Arnold, and hopefully doing more in the aviation industry in the way of inspections.
I’ll talk a little bit about my inspection background since this is OFA. I think what sets me apart is I did not come into this profession in the traditional way. Like I said, I was involved in aviation, always loved aviation, and then it started with a gig app. It’s kind of like DoorDash, kind of like Uber, and a lot of people don’t put a lot of stock into apps like that. They don’t think you can make any money with it. They don’t think that it’s really sustainable. But I came across an app through Crawford and Company, and they’re based here in Oklahoma City.
This is a big city for adjusting work for some reason. And it’s called WeGoLook. And I started taking pictures of cars and motorcycles, and they sent me to look at a couple of boats. So, of course, the idea popped into my head, naturally, if they can do it for cars and boats, they should be able to do it for planes. And some of my colleagues at Inflate reminded me that unlike boats and cars, planes are FAA regulated, so it makes the process a little trickier.
That’s when I started doing my research and that’s when I found OFA and that’s when I found Arnold and Arnold. My customer, I’ll give a shout-out to Mark Parry because he’s the one who sponsored me in this organization and helped me find a pathway for which to bring these two businesses together.
Right now, I am looking to do more inspection work. I am looking for more aviation-related inspections. I know accidents can be difficult, and I’m not one to really promote accidents or say that there’s a high likelihood of accidents in aviation because I do believe it’s safe, but you do have those accidents that occur and I’d like to do more of that. I’d also like to do more pre-sale inspections.
We want more people buying planes, all kinds of planes, from small training aircraft to big jets, and I’d love to be the one to go out, take some photos, do an inspection, and present these buyers or prospects with a report that helps them make those decisions. I learned about OFA online. I was doing some research, like I said, and I talked to my colleague Mark Parry of Global Aircraft Group. I also talked to Paula Williams of ABCI because we have a long working relationship with them by and through our magazines, In Flight USA.
They’re kind of a digital extension of our arms for our clients and I know that I knew that they were working with OFA and it’s like I really need to do some investigating. So I met Laura Higley on LinkedIn and we started talking from there and before I knew it I found myself here in Oklahoma City at this conference and I’m very blessed and happy to be here because it’s a great learning opportunity.
0:03:40
Well, I have to say, I think everybody here is very positive and in good spirits.
0:03:44
I’m brand new, literally got approved this morning to become a member of OFA. And it’s funny that in thirty nine point five years in the publishing business, this is just not one that was on our radar.
We’ve been to a lot of conferences, AOPA fly-ins, EAA things, and this one was not really on our radar. So I’m really glad that I discovered it because there’s some great people and not only is OFA helping me to become the inspector I want to be, but I think In-Flight USA and BizAbjects can help OFA and the members within it. I would highly recommend it.
I think this is one organization in aviation that is much needed and that is going to grow in the next years to come, seeing that more people are going to get into buying jets, there’s more brokers, there’s more need for appraisals, inspections, and with that, unfortunately, comes the accident inspections like we just talked about.
And I think it’s, I would highly recommend the membership. I think it’s a great group of people. You’re going to learn a lot. You’re going to find your mentors. You’re going to find clients. You’re going to find a network and a community of people, and that’s really the foundation for any business.