Procter & Gamble
With 75 years of safe and efficient operations, P&G’s flight department plays a vital role in the company’s success.
By Phil Rose
Contributing Writer
Note that mention of products and services does not imply endorsement by Procter & Gamble or Professional Pilot magazine.
Cincinnati OH-based Procter & Gamble (P&G) is a global powerhouse whose consumer products are household names in much of the world. Its catalog of personal and health care brands includes Bounty, Charmin, Crest, Gillette, Pampers, and Tide. A fixture on the Fortune 100 list, P&G boasts annual revenues in excess of $85 billion and employs more than 100,000 people worldwide.
History and evolution
P&G traces its origins to the late 1830s, when an English candlemaker, William Procter, and an Irish soapmaker, James Gamble, joined forces to create what would become one of the most successful companies in US history.
In the mid-1820s, James Gamble’s family, who had left Ireland in 1819, were making the journey to Illinois together when James took ill, causing the family to take temporary lodgings in Cincinnati. By the time James recovered, the Gambles had decided to set down roots in the city. James apprenticed as a soapmaker and began manufacturing on his own in 1828.
Shown on the ramp at LUK are (foreground) P&G VP Global Flight Ops Jeff McClean, (back row L–R) Safety/Security Mgr Zach Dunn, Scheduling Mgr Sarah Locey, Chief Inspector Dave Melk, Chief Pilot George Whitehead, and Dir of Maintenance Bradley Hennis.
Four years later, William Procter, who had arrived in the US from England in 1830, was traveling west from New York with his wife Martha when she became seriously ill, prompting them to pause their journey in Cincinnati. When Martha died, Procter chose to stay in the area and establish his own candlemaking business.
What happened next was the result of several factors. One was location. The manufacture of soap and candles requires fat, and Cincinnati was a center of the meat-processing industry, with a ready supply of excess pork fat.
This was a perfect place for candle and soap manufacturing. The second factor came about in 1833, when James Gamble married Elizabeth Norris, daughter of local Irish immigrant Alexander Norris, and William Procter married her elder sister Olivia. Alexander Norris provided the next, and most significant, factor by encouraging the brothers-in-law to go into business together. Four years later, they did exactly that.
Success came early, and by 1859 P&G had achieved annual sales of $1 million. Early on in the American Civil War, P&G won contracts to supply the Union Army with soap and candles.
This had the effect of boosting profits and introducing large numbers of soldiers to P&G products. Then, in the 1880s, P&G introduced Ivory soap, which established the company’s dominance in the consumer market. In 1887, profit-sharing was introduced as a means of encouraging worker loyalty.
By the 1920s, with customer demand beginning to outstrip the capacity of P&G’s Cincinnati facilities, it began building factories in other locations in the US. Demand from overseas customers was growing too.
In 1930, P&G became an international corporation with the acquisition of the Thomas Hedley Co in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. It followed this with further expansion in Manchester and London, but Tyneside remained its UK administrative center. As customer demand increased, more overseas facilities were added, and today P&G has manufacturing sites in more than 40 countries.
For the rest of the 20th century, P&G grew by introducing new products and acquiring other companies. Then, in 2014, it took the decision to streamline its product portfolio to concentrate on its best-performing 65 brands, which together generate 95% of the company’s profits.
Flight department – 75 years of excellence
As befits a successful company with a worldwide presence, Procter & Gamble employs a flight department equipped with state-of-the-art aircraft and staffed by highly-qualified professionals. This year, the P&G flight department marks 75 years of safe and efficient operations.
When P&G launched its flight department in 1951 at LUK (Lunken, Cincinnati OH), corporate aviation was in its infancy.
In fact, P&G was one of the first companies to anticipate the importance of business aviation. Chairman Richard Deupree authorized the purchase of 2 pre-owned Douglas DC-3s, which would become the foundation of P&G’s flight operations.
Housed in LUK’s Hangar 4 – the former home of Aeronca Aircraft Corp – the DC-3s were used exclusively on company business.
Registered N3W and N4W, they were joined in 1953 by a third DC-3, which carried the registration N5W. By the mid-1960s, all 3 had been reregistered to reflect their ownership – thus N3W became N3PG, and so on. All subsequent P&G aircraft have carried the PG suffix.
Facilities at Hangar 4 were improved throughout the 1950s. Upgrades included the addition of a radio room and installation of a fire protection system.
In 1960, the hangar roof was raised in preparation for the next major change. This was the year that P&G moved into the turboprop age with the purchase of 2 Grumman Gulfstream Is.
For the next few years the flight department was a joint G-I/DC-3 operation. A third G-I was added in 1966.
In 1968, P&G entered the jet age when it bought its first Gulfstream II. The following year, a second G-II was added, and 2 of the DC-3s were sold.
The DC-3s had served the company well for almost 2 decades, and it wasn’t until 1972 that the last one was sold. With its 2 G-IIs and 3 G-Is, P&G was now an all-Gulfstream operator.
P&G conducted its first international flight in 1970, when a G-II flew from LUK to MEX (Intl, Mexico City, Mexico), but domestic flight operations continued to be the norm.
Even by the end of the 1980s, P&G was undertaking fewer than a half dozen overseas trips annually – most of its flight activities remained east of the Mississippi.
With the sale of its last G-I in 1977, P&G exited the turboprop era for good. The flight department has operated Gulfstream products continually since 1972, even while adding other types to the mix, including Rockwell Sabreliners (1978–86) and Bombardier Challenger 601-3As (1990–99). At different times, P&G has operated G-IIIs, G-IVSPs, and G550s.
By the early 2000s, as the international market became increasingly important, the G550s were often used for overseas trips.
In 2006, the flight department moved its base of operations at LUK to Hangar 51 – a brand new 100,000 sq ft facility incorporating a 60,000 sq ft hangar and 40,000 sq ft of
office space.
A pair of Bombardier Challenger 350s were acquired in 2013, and were used primarily on domestic ops. The 2 G650ERs that P&G operates today were added later in the decade, and the Challengers were sold in 2025 once flying had returned to pre-Covid levels and longer-range aircraft were needed.
Today, P&G operates an all-Gulfstream fleet of 2 G650ERs and a pair of G500s. Annual utilization across the fleet runs at around 2400 flight hours, divided more or less equally between domestic and international flying.
More changes are planned. By the end of this year, as the Procter & Gamble flight department celebrates its 75th anniversary, the G650ERs will have been replaced by 2 G800s. And its Hangar 51 facility will have undergone a comprehensive refurbishment – a project that is currently nearing completion.
Personnel profiles
At present, the P&G flight department has 47 direct employees, including 20 pilots, all of whom are qualified as captains. Three additional staff members are attached to the flight department – one each from HR, finance, and IT support.
Overall responsibility for P&G’s corporate flight activity rests with VP Global Flight Operations Jeff McClean. Slightly unusually, he is not a pilot, although his aviation career stretches back 38 years.
He earned his A&P license while serving as a mechanic in the US Navy, before moving into the airline world, first as a Piedmont Airlines maintenance technician, but ultimately as a US Airways hub manager at PHL (Intl, Philadelphia PA) and CLT (Charlotte–Douglas NC).
It was during this time that McClean started doing consulting work for business aviation audit company Wyvern.
He says, “I ended up leaving the airlines and working for Wyvern full-time for about 8 years. I was traveling the world doing compliance audits and IS-BAO audits, as well as helping set up or evaluate flight departments.”
He adds, “This gave me a good insight into global flight operations, and helped me understand different countries’ civil aviation rules and regulations and how to apply them. As a learning period, it was invaluable.”
In 2014, following his stint with Wyvern, McClean was the maintenance director for software company SAS Institute’s flight department when the phone rang.
McClean recounts, “Aviation Personnel Intl (API) CEO Sheryl Barden just called me up out of the blue.
She told me P&G was trying to fill an open position for director of maintenance, and talked me into coming up here to Cincinnati to talk to them. And they offered me the job. So that’s how I ended up here.”
During his tenure as maintenance director, McClean earned an MBA to compliment his BA in aviation, and in 2019 he was appointed VP Global Flight Ops. His duties touch on every aspect of P&G’s flight operations.
“Every day is different,” he explains. “It’s a highly dynamic operation. We’re flying airplanes all around the world every week. My job is to support all the people in the flight department and make sure they have what they need to do their job. It could be training or other personal development. It could be new software or new tooling for maintenance. Or it could be financial support or work/life balance support.”
McClean is deeply involved with the broader world of business aviation. “I feel it’s critically important to our success at P&G to support business aviation through active participation in NBAA and OEM groups, and to attend industry events to stay current on what’s happening in the industry.”
He adds, “I’m a member of the NBAA Leadership Council and Aviation Directors Roundtable, and I serve on the advisory board for Gulfstream Aerospace for the G800 program.” McClean is also a member of the City of Cincinnati’s Lunken Airport Oversight Advisory Board.
He notes that P&G is a big supporter of the Corporate Angel Network (CAN). “It’s a way for us to give back to the community,” he says, “and it’s an honor to be able to to support CAN.”
McClean concludes, “One of my biggest roles is staying in tune with the business of Procter & Gamble and understanding how the flight department supports the business, as well as being an advocate for the flight department. We have great support from our P&G leadership. And these airplanes are really critical business tools for us to operate a global company.”
Chief Pilot George Whitehead joined Procter & Gamble in 2007. He was promoted to assistant chief pilot in 2012 and became chief pilot in 2019. His 13,200 hrs TT includes previous experience in military helicopters and regional jets.
Born and raised in a small town in West Virginia, Whitehead graduated from Fairmont State College and joined the Navy as a commissioned officer.
During his 20 years with the US Navy, Whitehead trained as a helicopter pilot, flying the Sikorsky SH-3 and various other types, and also gained valuable safety experience.
He completed 2 tours as a flight instructor in the Beech T-34 before his final tour at NQX (NAS Key West FL) flying the Beech C-12.
In 2003, he retired from the Navy with the rank of lieutenant commander. Later that year, he was hired by CVG (Intl, Cincinnati OH)-based regional carrier Comair and spent the next 3.5 years as a Bombardier CRJ200 captain.
In 2007, a pilot friend who worked for P&G informed him that the company was looking to hire a first officer. Whitehead applied for the position, passed the initial interview, the flight test and subsequent evaluations, and the follow-up interviews, and was invited to join the team.
Whitehead’s prior safety experience soon led to his being invited to take on the role of safety officer. In the 6 years that followed, he was part of the Midwest Safety Roundtable and spearheaded P&G’s adoption of a safety management system (SMS) in compliance with International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) requirements.
“We did our very first IS-BAO audit during that time,” he notes. “We’re IS-BAO Stage 3 now, and we completed our 4th audit in March.”
In 2014, Whitehead moved up to assistant chief pilot, and became chief pilot 5 years later, in 2019.
As chief pilot, Whitehead oversees more than 40 direct employees, including 19 pilots, all of whom are qualified as captains. Whitehead also assists with hiring. The flight department’s reputation means that positions are much sought after, and competition is intense.
P&G looks for a minimum of 2500 hrs TT, including 500 hrs of multi-engine experience and 500 as PIC. International captains are required to have at least 3000 hrs TT. Attitude and the ability to work as part of a team are also vitally important.
P&G pilot retention levels reflect department-wide job satisfaction. Many pilots have been with the company for 20 years, and some even longer. Crew members have every other weekend off and earn one week of scheduled time off every 8 weeks. Whitehead adds, “Our pay is very competitive for our market. I also like to think we have a good quality of life.”
Whitehead plans to retire by the end of this year, after a long and rewarding career. In conclusion he says, “It may seem a cliché, but we’re one global flight operation. We all work together as a team, and the company treats us as the aviation experts.”
Senior International Standards Captain Jim Grau has been with P&G since 2004 and is a 12,000 hr TT pilot. He earned his pilot license while attending Ohio State University. After graduating in 1993, he went to work for Miami Valley Aviation at MWO (Middletown OH), where he instructed for several months before moving to the charter side and flying Beech 18s, Douglas DC-3s, and Piper Aztecs.
Three years later he was flying Cessna Citations for a small LUK-based charter company, after which he took a position with Kroger Aviation – at that time a Dassault Falcon 10 operator – also based at LUK, staying with them for 5 years until he joined P&G.
Grau had had his sights set on P&G for many years. He recalls, “After I graduated college in ’93, I’d come in to P&G every 6 months with an updated résumé, knock on the chief pilot’s door and say, ‘Hi, I’m still interested.’ It helped that the chief pilot at the time, Phil Compton, was familiar with DC-3s as well, so we had a little connection there.”
In 2004, Grau was hired as G-IV SIC, and 4 years later made PIC. His transition to international standards captain followed several years as a training captain.
“We fly to support the business,” says Grau, “so we don’t have a regular schedule as such. One week I may fly 2 or 3 domestic trips, or I may be gone across the world for 5 to 7 days. But, in general, we know our schedule a few weeks out.” He adds, “One of the enjoyable things about flying for P&G is the variety – it makes it very interesting for the pilots.”
Nearly all of P&G’s pilots are dual-qualified. P&G uses FlightSafety Intl (FSI) for training, for one simple reason. “As an all-Gulfstream operator, we do most of our training, including recurrent, at FSI SAV (Savannah GA).” Grau continues, “We’ll use DFW (Intl, Dallas–Fort Worth TX) occasionally, and for my last G500 recurrent I went to ILG (Wilmington DE), but that was down to availability.”
This year will see the start of G650 phasing-out as its 2 G800s are delivered. Integrating the G800 into P&G’s fleet will require pilots to acquire a new type rating. “Fortunately,” says Grau, “because of similarities in cockpit, avionics, and airframe, FAA has approved a shortened course – 7 or 8 days – so we’ll go to a G500 recurrent and then we’ll add on a G800 type rating. We’re sending our first pilot to that program in July.”
“The best thing about working here is the people. The company does a good job with the work/life balance. They also incentivize continuing education for the pilots, the maintenance group, and the schedulers.
Many of the pilots have their CAM certification, as do multiple maintenance personnel. Many also attend the University of Virginia Darden School of Business every year. If we want to go on any courses to improve ourselves and make the department better, the company is 100% behind that.”
Keeping them flying
Director of Aircraft Maintenance Bradley Hennis has worked for P&G since Oct 2019. He and his team of 10 maintenance technicians carry out all line maintenance tasks up to annual checks and major inspections, which are typically undertaken at OEM level. Hennis himself has more than 30 years of technical and management experience.
An NBAA certified aviation manager (CAM) himself, he serves on NBAA’s CAM governing board. In addition to his A&P/IA license, he has a bachelors degree in business administration and a leadership certificate from the Darden School of Business.
Hennis discovered aviation as a teenager growing up on a farm in Winston-Salem NC, when a high school job cleaning airplanes for RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company’s flight department inspired him to pursue an A&P license.
He went on to spend 15 years with Piedmont Airlines before returning to corporate aviation in maintenance roles with Lowe’s and later Coca-Cola Bottling, ultimately joining P&G. In his 30s, Hennis undertook flight training – an experience he says made him a better technician by helping him understand the pilot’s perspective.
The maintenance department is staffed Monday through Friday, but operates 24/7, as a P&G aircraft may be anywhere in the world at any time. Company policies include a 2-hour callout for technicians on standby – the same as flight crew members – and all of P&G’s technicians live within an hour’s drive of LUK.
Hennis and his team enjoy a good relationship with all the relevant OEMs – Gulfstream, Honeywell (for avionics as well as APU support), Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls-Royce.
“We work well with Gulfstream,” notes Hennis. “We subscribe to their aircraft health and trend monitoring programs, and we’re downloading fault history data to Gulfstream weekly. We work closely with them to see any emerging trends that would allow us to be in front of a failure.
We also work similar programs with Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce, as well as Honeywell on our APU. So we use trend data, fault history database analysis, and proactive data capture. In some cases, based on institutional knowledge and experience, we’ve modified inspection intervals so that we don’t run the risk of a failure.”
Every P&G aircraft receives a thorough pre- and post-flight inspection by P&G’s licensed A&P technicians. Here Maintenance Technicians Kevin Fleming (above) and Zach Cason perform a post-flight inspection on a Gulfstream G650.
While the G650 is equipped with the Honeywell Primus Epic-derived PlaneView II avionics platform, both the G500 and G800 have Gulfstream Symmetry – the latest iteration of Primus Epic. Hennis considers it “a very nice suite.” Overall, he says, “support has been good. Honeywell has faced supply chain challenges when it comes to parts availability – but, by and large, we get good support from Honeywell and Gulfstream.”
He continues, “We enjoy good relationships with our field service reps and customer support managers. Gulfstream has a desk and workspace in our hangar, and they’re often here on site. It’s the same with Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce. My philosophy is that we can’t operate these airplanes without a strong partnership with our OEMs, and we see them as an extension of our team.”
Hennis has nothing but praise for his team of technicians.
“We’ve assembled a phenomenal group, and I just enjoy being able to support them and see what they get done week in and week out, and how they work together as a team, and just embrace the challenge. It’s a lot of fun for me to support this team and work with the group. I feel like we have the best team in the business. We get the best people and we have the best equipment.”
In conclusion, Hennis says, “I really am passionate about CAM certification. I believe that maintenance technicians can be leaders, and that they should pursue educational opportunities and professional certifications. CAM helps to develop technicians and schedulers and others within the department, but I’m really focused on my team, and I would like for us to have a department with the most CAMs. That’s my goal.”
Scheduling and dispatching
A Cincinnati native, Scheduling and Flight Attendant Manager Sarah Locey joined P&G in Apr 2023 after more than 14 years working for another company at LUK – American Financial Group – first as a flight coordinator and flight attendant, and then as flight ops supervisor.
Locey recalls, “I was already familiar with P&G, and knew they were a first-class operation – so, when a couple of their pilots approached me in late ’22, told me about an opening, and asked if I’d be interested, I told them I was, applied, and got the job.”
In addition to scheduling trips and dispatching flights with the help of 3 other flight coordinators, all of whom she hired, Locey manages P&G’s 7-strong flight attendant group.
“A lot of my work is managing communications with authorized users, taking trip requests, and coordinating all the details,” she says. “We work on everything from what’s happening this week all the way to 6 months out or more for the bigger international trips.”
Locey continues, “We use myairops for flight scheduling. For domestic trips, we do our own ground handling. We call the FBOs, and we coordinate catering and any other passenger needs with the flight attendant group.
When a flight departs from LUK, we always have a flight coordinator from our scheduling group here on site. For international trips, we use Universal as our third-party handler for planning, permits, and so on.”
The group works closely with Chief Pilot George Whitehead, and schedules are reviewed at daily meetings. Pop-up trips are rare. Ultimately, it’s the flight coordinators who are responsible for scheduling pilots and flight attendants on trips.
“Most of our pilots are dual-typed, but some aren’t,” says Locey, “so we take all those factors into account, and make sure the schedule is not too heavy on any one person.” And, she adds, P&G’s maintenance team is “fantastic.”
Maintaining a 24/7 operation requires flexibility. Standard office hours are 7:00 AM to 5:30 PM, but the flight schedulers work out a rotation to accommodate flight schedules. And, adds Locey, “There’s always a primary on-call flight coordinator for the week and weekend.”
She continues, “We encourage all our flight coordinators to take one domestic and one international flight a year. I do that as well, and, being the flight attendant lead, I also take flights to observe their work.
Not only that, but I think the observation rides are invaluable for schedulers to understand life as a crew member. Likewise, we encourage crew members to come in, sit with a shadow, and join some of our meetings so they have a full picture.”
Locey enjoys her work. “P&G is a good organization to be with,” she says, “and I’m happy to be here. The company supports us 100%, which allows us to do our jobs well and have a good quality of life.”
Conclusion
As it marks its 75th anniversary, the Procter & Gamble flight department stands as an example of all-round excellence. As Director of Aircraft Maintenance Bradley Hennis puts it, “We have one of the best flight departments in the business, and the company supports us and gives us the tools and resources, because they understand that we need the airplanes to run our business.”
Phil Rose is a Virginia-based aviation writer and editor. He is the former managing editor of Professional Pilot magazine, and also works as a photographer and musician.