I went to school to get my A&P,
so I was able to be a
mechanic if need be.
So airframe and power plant.
So in addition to the
flying and the ratings
of being a pilot, I also have the ability
to be a mechanic if need be.
So you can jump at it, like
if it needs something tightened
or whatever, you can just
pop the hood and go at it?
So if we're in flight, I
can just walk out on the wing
and you know, just fix it.
Nice. But no, not really.
Welcome to "Own the
Jet" by Aspen Aero Group,
where we share perspectives
from some of the leading voices
in private jet
ownership and business aviation.
I'm your host, Derek Savage,
along with my co-host, Jason Spoor,
president of Aspen Aero Group.
Join us as we dive deep
into the mechanics, mindset,
and moments that define jet ownership.
And together, we'll learn
what it takes to own the jet.
Jason Spoor, welcome to "Own the Jet."
As the co-host, you are
always with us on "Own the Jet,"
but we haven't really
had much of a chance
to get to know you, so let's do that.
We certainly haven't.
Yeah, so you're actually
the president and founder
of Aspen Aero Group and
Aircraft Brokerage, right?
That's correct. Yeah.
That's correct.
But that's not all
you've done in aviation.
No. No.
So you have done, you've been a pilot,
a director of aviation, a lot of things.
How'd you get here?
So aviation and being a pilot
all started at a very young age.
It's kind of a family type thing.
My father was also a pilot.
He, at a young age, I was
at the airport watching him
go out and fly little airplanes around
and being a part of that lifestyle and
kind of watching that.
As I grew up, of
course, learned how to fly.
A good friend of mine
also learned how to fly
about the same time.
So it was fun kind of
being able to do something
with him as well.
Was that here in
Indiana or was it Michigan?
Yeah, you're originally from Michigan.
Just outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Nice.
So when I was 14 years old, 15 years old,
my dad started doing
flight instruction with me.
And on my 16th birthday, I
actually was able to solo,
meaning I was flying an airplane
for the first time by myself.
Actually a nice snowy day up in Michigan
and was able to have that
accomplishment, that milestone.
So from there, it just evolved.
Went to school to get my A and P.
So I was able to be a
mechanic if need be.
So airframe and power plant.
So in addition to the
flying and the ratings
of being a pilot, I also have the ability
to be a mechanic if need be.
So you can jump out, like if
it needs something tightened
or whatever, you can just pop the hood.
So if we're in flight, I
can just walk out on the wing
and just fix it.
Nice.
But no, not really.
But I do have that
experience and background.
Some of it, not a ton
of it, but I do have it.
Yeah, cool.
Did you always know which
path you wanted to go on?
Yeah, always wanted to be a pilot.
That was always the goal.
You were gonna say always
wanted to co-host on the jet.
That was it.
Yeah, never in my life did I
think this would ever happen.
But we'll get to this.
So yeah, I did the AMP
thing, the maintenance thing.
Cause the goal was, my goal
was to be a corporate pilot.
And what age was this?
Oh, early late teens, early twenties.
So early twenties, you
wanted to be a corporate pilot.
Yeah.
Okay, interesting.
Cause growing up, I worked in a hangar
up at Grand Rapids Airport.
So after school, I would leave school
and I'd go over to the airport
and it was a freight company at the time.
Okay.
And so I would pull the
airplanes out of the hangar.
I would fuel them, I'd check the oil
and the pilots would come
and they would take off.
You were already kind of
enveloped in this industry
and you saw pilots every day.
You saw the lifestyles that
they lived and all of those
things and that's kind
of what you wanted to be
when you grew up.
Sort of kind of, yes.
So I watched corporate flight departments
that were around us at the airport.
I watched those jets
leaving and coming and going
and I thought, wow, that's
pretty, that's fantastic.
But the other side of me is
I've always loved business.
I'm intrigued by business.
So I'm intrigued by
what makes people tick.
I'm intrigued by what
and how companies work.
So I always had that as
also part of my being.
So corporate aviation
and being able to be around
business and watching business thrive
as well as watching
an airplane do its job
supporting the
business was always something
that was incredibly
intriguing and valuable to me.
Okay.
And I wanted to be a part of that.
So the airline world and
going to be an airline pilot
was not that
captivating or romantic to me.
But what was, was
being involved in a company
and watching a corporate
airplane really develop a company.
Okay, so you weren't just
trying to fly 737s around.
You wanted to be around the people
that were making the decisions
and kind of like
learning and seeing that.
Watching what they do, how they do it.
But more so how the airplane or the
business aviation side
of the company helps
support it, helps build it.
Okay, nice.
So various companies
throughout my career,
whether it's Fortune 500 or
a high net worth type person
that has an airplane
that built a business
or just people using
aircraft to better their business,
better their lifestyle.
That was something I've
always just really enjoyed.
Captivated me, just
absolutely captivated me.
And to watch people being able to do a
morning in the office
and get on a jet and
do a high level meeting
in another city or state that afternoon
and still be able to make it home
to be at work the next day
and be with their family.
But to be at work the next day
and build this
business was just fascinating.
That's pretty bad ass.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And you look at the beginning
of how corporate aviation started
and when people started to realize,
hey wait, outside of transporting mass
populations of people
from one place to another,
we can use this
airplane as a business tool
and we can make this work.
We can build our
business, grow our foundation,
grow our relationships,
grow our network quickly.
Nice, nice.
So through all this you
became a commercial pilot
and then you, from there,
moved into directing
fleets of aircraft, right?
Well, yeah, sort of kind of.
Okay, what's the path?
Yeah, yeah.
Take me on the journey, Jason.
So yeah, started flying.
First flying job was just south of
Indianapolis, Indiana.
Okay.
Medical company.
And that's kind of,
you know, came in green.
Okay.
And that's where I learned.
Nice.
And so as time went on,
transitioned into another company.
Okay.
Learned some more there,
transitioned into another company.
Okay.
At that point, probably in the business
for almost 10 years.
Yeah.
And it was just a natural progression
to go into a leadership type role.
Gotcha.
So did that, went
into a chief pilot role,
overseeing a group of
pilots and airplanes
and just working into management,
learning management,
learning how to work with people.
Yeah.
And then from there,
director of aviation.
Nice.
Where you're overseeing
the flight department,
budgets, people, airplanes.
Let me learn a little bit about that.
So director of
aviation means that you are
not only in charge of the people,
but in charge of the aircraft as well
and the decisions
surrounding the aircraft, right?
That's right.
Okay.
That's right, yeah.
So.
Traditionally, yes.
So like all the maintenance,
all the like what
aircraft you're gonna buy,
all that stuff, right?
Yeah.
So, you know, depending on the company
and the size of the company,
it probably depends on that role.
Sure.
But, well, let's just
take a Fortune 500 company.
Okay.
So a director of aviation
or a vice president of
aviation, one and the same.
This person is gonna be
responsible for that department.
So he's gonna be the one
reporting to whoever he reports,
he or she reports to
and giving the report.
Here's where the flight department is.
Here's the status of
our flight department.
Here's where I recommend we go with it.
These are the things that we need to do
to keep ourselves relevant.
Gotcha.
And so they tell you like,
"Hey, we need this many
executives going this many places,
make it work."
That's right.
And you figure it out.
So that part of the
business comes down, right?
Okay.
So how the company is established
and there might be some
input from the director,
vice president type person
as to how much they can do.
Sure.
Based on what they have.
Here's what we're looking to spend.
Yeah.
Right?
Yeah.
How much we're looking to spend,
how many plays do we have to do it?
How many people do we have to do it?
Can we do it?
Yeah.
And so that's that person's job,
is to keep that machine running.
So like you said,
maintenance, pilots, cleaning.
That can probably get
real expensive real quick.
It can get real expensive real quick.
But we look at the expense of it.
If your director or your
vice president of aviation
is good at what they do,
they're gonna be able to come back to you
and validate that cost, right?
Because we wanna be
able, we're not making money.
We're not a profit
center for the company.
Right, right.
We're not selling widgets.
We're not doing anything like that.
What they are doing though,
is they are providing a service,
in the sense of being
able to move executive A
from Cincinnati to wherever,
in a timely fashion
and make his time count.
He's making X amount of dollars.
Well, I mean, the validation is like,
hey, our company's like
twice as big as our competitor.
And there you go.
Because we're able to
get the right people
right places.
And keeping it there.
So not only is it there,
but keeping it at that status.
So we wanna be sure
as a flight department
that we're coming back with value.
We wanna be valuable.
Nice.
The only time that, but even there's
still value here too.
And that's a high net worth person,
using the airplane to
travel to the Bahamas
or Costa Rica, London,
England, wherever they're going,
so on in the same.
I love Costa Rica.
Costa Rica.
But again, there's value
to that person to do that.
So you wanna make sure
that you're providing
the best service you can.
Well, fast forward to today.
Yeah.
Now we got an Aspen Aero Group.
Right?
So looking at my life, looking at my life
and what I've done.
So running through these
various Fortune 500 companies
and being in leadership
roles and being able to talk to
high level people in these companies.
Again, as I alluded to earlier,
there's always that
business side of my life.
Sure.
I have enjoyed doing
different businesses,
not only in aviation, but
various other little companies.
I've started here and
there, some failed, some didn't.
Yeah.
You know, just running.
We're gonna have to dive
into those one of these days.
Yeah, they're very diverse for aviation.
With that said, the thought was,
well, I've worked with
aircraft brokers my whole career.
Yeah.
Whether buying or
selling a company's airplanes
or no matter what we're doing,
why don't we give that a go?
Why don't we give it a try?
I, again, with the maintenance knowledge,
the leadership knowledge of
what we do with airplanes,
how airplanes fit into
companies and individuals,
and et cetera, why
not take that knowledge
and having flown, you know,
so I have 12 type
ratings in different airplanes.
So whether it's a Falcon
jet, you know, flown them.
Golfstream product, flown them.
Bombardier product, flown them.
Cessna's not so much, but either way,
you know, with that
background and also the A&P background
and just knowing who to go
to to find out what I need,
Yeah.
It puts me in a position where,
as a brokerage company,
we can offer our clients
some pretty excellent service.
Well, let's talk about that.
Let's talk about that.
Like, I have, so I've known
you for a little while now
and I've seen you
surrounding yourself with a lot,
not just externally, we'll
talk about that in a second,
but internally in Aspen,
like you've been surrounding yourself
with really, really good people
that are just experts at what they do
and just really good communicators,
really good, really knowledgeable people
that are helping your
clients get the right aircraft
for that. Yeah.
So can you talk about
internal Aspen a little bit
and how you've been
working to build that?
So as an individual, I'm a very
team-oriented person.
I know what I know, but
if I keep that to myself
and try to run a
business based solely on me,
I'm gonna fall short.
So looking again,
growing up watching some
of these dynamic people lead
some pretty significant companies,
the key that I've seen in what they do
and how they do it is
they always attach themselves
to good people.
So whether it's Procter & Gamble
or whatever company
it is, I guarantee you
that CEO, that mid-level
vice president has done,
if they're gonna do good,
they've surrounded
themselves with a great team.
So looking at Aspen and
how we build that out.
Are we a regional company?
No, it's a national brand, right?
So whether it's here,
whether it's in Phoenix
or somewhere else, we have people in play
that are good at what they do
and they know exactly where to go to,
but we function as a team.
So if you need some help on something,
there's guaranteed to
be somebody in our group
that has a good idea of
what to do and how to do it.
It's one thing for Aspen to have the
right people in place,
but it's another for
people to know you, right?
For you to know people.
So let's talk about that a little bit
because I know, you know, Own the Jet
is an Aspen thing, right?
It is.
And so let's talk about one,
what that means for
your potential clients
and then also how you're able
to use some of the relations
that you've gotten from,
not just from Own the Jet,
but from all the relationships you've had
throughout your career to help, you know,
get people in the
right aircraft situation.
You know, going back to
that, you hear this a lot
and no matter if it's in aviation
or the engineering
world, whatever, you know,
it's a small industry.
It really isn't, you know.
Within the United States,
we have 16,000 jets flying around.
So if you take that
number times two, you know,
two pilots, et cetera,
you know, 32,000 roughly.
I don't even know how
many licensed pilots,
professional pilots
there are, but it's a lot.
Yeah.
So our business seems small
and it has its small pockets,
but it's really a fairly large industry
to the tune of billions
of dollars a year, right?
Whether it's in
aircraft sales or maintenance.
So to go back to what you said,
over 29, 30 years being in this business,
I've obviously developed
relationships with maintenance,
folks, aircraft
manufacturing folks, aircraft sales,
whether it's new or used aircraft,
all of which we use in our business
as we're talking to a potential customer
to get them in the right airplane.
Yeah.
As a company, looking at marketing,
how do we get our brand out there?
Obviously partnering with you.
Right.
Sitting and brainstorming.
We made a show.
And so why not with your background
and what you know and
some past associations,
it's let's develop a show
where we can help people
navigate aircraft ownership, aircraft
purchasing, et cetera.
It's crazy to me how big
of an industry aviation is
and how many people
are involved in aviation
and how few things
are out there like this.
I mean, I would love to
go on other people's shows
and talk about stuff too, right?
So if you've got an
aviation podcast, hit us up.
Yeah, for sure.
(laughs)
But it was crazy to me
whenever we were
researching all of this, right?
And talking about like, well, hey,
how do we bring all of
our friends together?
Right, and we've done that.
Last year we were able to
talk with Preston Holland.
So we'll just take a few
seconds and talk about Preston.
Here's a young man that
comes into a business,
had some aviation
background sort of kinda,
and with a bigger
organization and starts his own company,
starts a podcast and whoof, takes off.
And Preston, what Preston's doing today
is weekly talking about
current events, what's happening?
Who's suing who, who's
buying who, whatever.
And it's good stuff.
And what you and I talk
about, as we develop the show
and talk about how
we're going into the future,
our big thing is, yeah,
talking to manufacturers,
getting them on camera.
What's your product?
What do you like about your product?
What do you wanna tell the
masses about your product?
And not only that, but learning,
we'll talk to some flight departments
and how does this all work?
How do airplanes work in your--
Right, right.
And bringing the perspective of people
that are buying jets or owning jets
and all of the considerations
that they need to go through
because it's such a,
it can be a buying field
if you don't know what you're doing.
Absolutely.
So it's just a matter of
knowing the right people,
being able to surround
yourself with people you trust
and a team that you
trust in order to get you
to the place where you wanna be with it.
But it's like, where do you start, right?
So that's what we're hoping to kind of
bring to people here.
And so backing it up a little bit,
starting Aspen at my place in life.
I wish I would have
done this a lot earlier
because I do, I enjoy
the business side of it.
I enjoy the fun of going out there
and trying to make some things work.
Going back to something
I said even earlier is,
I'm very intrigued with
people who buy airplanes.
What did they do that they
were able to get to this place
where they need an
airplane to make something happen?
How'd you get yourself in this situation?
Yeah, I mean, and
most of them, it's like,
it just fell together.
Yeah, yeah. I know you hear that a lot.
Interesting. There was no, yeah.
I didn't have a plan. I
didn't really have a plan.
I just started digging
a hole and I found gold.
Yeah, that's cool. And it's interesting.
So I really enjoy that.
So with that being said,
it's not just a transaction.
It's fun to hear your story and know you.
And how does this work for you?
And does it work for you?
Yeah, me specifically or
like the person you're selling?
Well, not me specifically, but yeah.
But we wanna make sure that--
Thanks, man. Yeah.
We wanna make sure we
put you into a position
where you're gonna succeed.
Yeah, yeah. Because if I put you
in a bad situation with an
airplane, that's not good.
And what I've learned too is that
a lot of these individuals
that get into aircraft ownership,
they're naive to it, right?
They're never gonna admit
that to you or say that to you.
These guys who have, or
these people have done
such a great job at building a business
and they've done that well.
But now aviation is complex.
Yeah, they're stepping into a world
they're not familiar with.
Yeah, and it's intimidating.
And it's maybe scary a little bit.
It's a lot of money.
And it's a lot of money.
It's a lot of money to risk.
And you wanna be sure that
you're putting that value
and that trust into
something that's gonna give you
that back, that value back.
And there's so many people in our
industry, unfortunately,
that are just looking to make that dollar
and turn that profit.
But for us, it's relational.
If I sell you an airplane or if I don't
sell you an airplane,
at least I got to know you.
Yeah, I mean, if you do right by people,
you're gonna make that dollar.
Absolutely, everything.
It's just gonna come with territory.
Well, right.
But I think going back to last year,
one of the most interesting
persons that we talked to,
we talked to a lot of great people,
people that I would look up to or admire,
would be Roger Wolsey.
Oh yeah, yeah.
Roger is great.
Here's a guy who has built a
successful aviation business
and he's done it
straightforwardly, trustworthy.
And just somebody that
just keeps plowing away
and hitting it every day.
To me, that's a great thing.
But what's cool is we
meet, not to downplay Roger,
because Roger's
amazing, but we've been meeting
so many people that are just like, wow.
Yeah, it slows your mind every day.
We haven't even got into
looking at some of the future,
the supersonic, the electric stuff.
And so that's gonna be a
lot of fun as the years go on
and as we start talking about that,
some of the innovators
and movers in those spaces.
Again, going back to
Aspen, I just felt that
it's time for me to try
something and if I don't,
then I'm gonna get
too old to try it later.
Yeah, you don't wanna be
sitting there with regrets.
That's right.
Yeah, yeah.
And well, you're doing it, man.
I mean, people are
actually buying aircraft from you
and you're building the team, you're
running the business,
you're carving out your place.
That's right.
In aviation.
In there is, we interviewed
some other brokers as well,
well, one in particular, Guardian.
They're great people and
there's other great brokers
out there and what would be great is if,
and we do, we all work together.
Yeah, for every buyer, there's a seller.
We'd love to do deals
with all the good ones.
We do, we work with all of them.
Well, great, so what does
the future hold for Aspen?
Obviously, we wanna see growth.
Every year, of course, we wanna be
building our business.
And again, going back
to what we talked about
and how we do that is
by values and core values
and processes and so
putting those together
and refining them with
every transaction we do,
making our business better.
If there's something, if I'm
interested in owning a jet,
if I'm somebody that I think I'm ready
to get into that
conversation, what's something
that you would want me to
know about getting into this
that maybe I'm not considering?
Well, there's a lot, right?
And we kind of went over
that, that it can be intimidating
because there is a lot that goes into it
because having an asset or
having a piece of equipment
is great and fine but this asset is also
a federally regulated asset.
Yeah.
So we have the FAA out there.
So we wanna make sure,
yeah, and this is the part
that there's trust so we wanna make sure
that that airplane is
complying with everything
it needs to comply with.
But going back to what
you asked, with that said,
we wanna make sure that you're aware
that not only is it buying
this asset and it's in a hangar,
but you're gonna need
people to fly that plane
unless you're gonna fly it yourself,
which some people do, depending.
But also it's gonna need
maintenance, it needs fuel,
it needs other things besides just--
So before I know it,
all these other things
start stacking up and maybe
I haven't thought about those
before, maybe I haven't considered this.
That's right, we wanna make sure that
you're aware of that.
Because again, going
back to what we talked about
a little earlier, the last
thing I wanna do is set you up
for failure with an airplane.
Yeah, so if I come to you and I'm like,
hey, I wanna buy this specific plane,
you're gonna have me pause
and start examining them.
Most likely.
Yeah.
Because depending on the individual,
they've already, we have this great
thing, the internet.
So people can research all of this data
and they can pull this data.
And so they're coming in
preloaded most of the time.
Hey, I'd really love to
buy this Gulfstream 500,
it looks really cool and it's really nice
and it goes a long ways.
But going to your doctor and telling them
what prescription you want.
Right, right, right.
Hey, I googled my
symptoms and I need this.
So we want to make sure
that you're well aware
of what that looks like.
And is this something that you,
now that you've seen
it fully transparent,
we wanna make sure you're aware of what
you're getting into.
Is this something that you can afford?
Is this something you need?
Do you really need an airplane?
Is it a need or a what?
Right, right.
Does it support your business case?
That's right.
So we wanna, of course,
the vetting process of that.
We just wanna make sure
that this is gonna fit
what you wanna do.
Or is this an airplane
that we're building up to?
Right, right, right.
Hey, here's an idea.
We'll start here and work the way.
Right, you're like, "Eh,
maybe charter for a while."
Yeah, very possible.
There's all sorts of options, right?
So within the industry, you have,
obviously you have
charter, you have whole ownership
and buy an airplane, and
then you have quarter share
ownerships and jet cars.
And there's multiple
ways to get to corporate
and access private aviation.
So let's say I'm ready
to have the conversation.
I have a business, I
have a business use case,
I'm having a travel
regularly and I've got the money
ready to talk.
What's the best way for
me to get the conversation
started with?
It's reaching out to
us, espanerogroup.com.
Contact us, fill out the form, and
somebody will reach out
and we'll be sure to get that
conversation rolling.
Right, and once I
start that conversation,
let's say I wanna own a jet, how long,
typically, what's my expected timeline?
Typically, depending on how eager you are
and what the market is
for what we're looking for,
you know, the availability, what
airplanes are out there
to buy the inventory.
What's today?
45 days.
Okay.
60 days.
I'm getting a jet by
Christmas, by the 4th of July.
By the, yeah, you're
getting one by Memorial weekend,
for sure.
All right, sweet.
It's great to get to
learn a little bit about
aspenerogroups, learn a
little bit more about you
and how you got here.
I'm so used to having
you in the co-host seat.
It's great to have you move over here
and actually get to know
you a little bit better.
For sure.
So, thank you. It's good.
Thank you for joining us.
Make sure, check out aspenerogroup.com
if you have any
questions about getting started
in aircraft
purchasing and owning aircraft.
Absolutely.
And until then, join us next time,
where we will learn what
it takes to own the jet.
Thank you for watching Own the Jet.
If you wanna see more Own the Jet,
make sure to subscribe
to our channel on YouTube
and leave a comment telling us what
aspect of jet ownership
you'd like to know more about.
Own the Jet is brought to
you by Aspen Aero Group,
your trusted partner in private and
corporate jet ownership.
Learn more at aspenerogroup.com.
This has been a Savage Media production.