There’s a common refrain when you speak to friends and associates of Geoffrey Pence, Twin Commander’s long-serving technical service manager. He was universally liked, respected, and admired. After a long career helping others solve issues and serving customers, Pence was best known as honest, straightforward and, most of all, a genuinely nice guy. Soft-spoken, he possessed a sharp wit and ironic sense of humor.
Pence working from his Twin Commander office in Arlington, Washington
Pence retired from Twin Commander earlier this year, capping off 21 years with the company. Before that he worked at Aero Air, a Twin Commander Factory Authorized Service Center, and Gulfstream when it was producing Commanders.
Jim Matheson, the former owner of Twin Commander Aircraft, hired Pence. “Geoffrey was a big part of how we turned around the company,” he said. “Hiring him was the best thing I ever did.” Previous to Matheson, Twin Commander Aircraft had not fully understood all of the implications of owning an aircraft type certificate, in particular the need to provide a full range of support services for owners and service centers. Matheson knew that far from just selling parts, the type certificate holder needed to instill confidence and trust in the product. Matheson said that Pence, “gave Twin Commander the credibility that it needed to work with the service centers.”
Working with the Factory Authorized Service Centers was one of Pence’s chief responsibilities. He was the conduit between the independently owned facilities and the engineering and support staff at the factory. That meant gathering information about areas that needed improvement; helping to communicate new engineering programs, parts, and Custom Kits; and most of all, troubleshooting.
Doug Jacob was a Twin Commander technical service rep in Britain between 1978 and 1990. He first recommended Pence to Matheson, and said he’s always been happy he did. “He got the job done and was diligent,” Jacob said. A good tech rep must be able to listen, Jacob said, and Pence was certainly good at that.
