Employee Spotlight: Mercer Dye
Mercer Dye is a respected name in the architecture and design industry, with 40 years of experience developing innovative maintenance facilities for some of the finest FBO, corporate and specialty operators in General Aviation. He has been a prime contact in the development of a new generation of Executive General Aviation Transient Terminals for many leading FBOs. Mercer is a recipient of the American Institute of Architects international honor award, presented to him in Washington, DC by HRH Prince Charles. He has served as Chairman of the DeKalb County Airport Advisory Board (PDK), Chairman and CEO of Airway Aviation, and administered the rapid growth and ultimate sale of the FBO to Signature Flight Services. Mercer is also a sailor, a racecar driver and an adventurer who has traveled around the world (literally…check out his Around the World blog).
Mercer serves as President of DYE | NBA Aviation, which is also led by 20-year Niles Bolton Associates veteran Cannon Reynolds as Managing Director. Read more about Mercer’s career below…
What lessons have you learned from working in the aviation industry?
Stopping for fuel at JZI FBO in Charleston, South Carolina
The aviation industry is broken up into 3 components—general, commercial and military. I work in general aviation. I have found that all forms of aviation are very ethical, and the commitment at every level is safety first. This industry has taught me to think of safety in my own life, but also to take calculated risks. We can’t afford to have a zero-risk world or else nothing would ever be accomplished. If that were the case, industries would stop. You must be able to manage risks, and I’ve learned to do that in aviation and in my own life.
What is your favorite project that you have worked on?
Interestingly, it’s not an aviation project. Dad had a design-build construction company called Dye Construction that was based in Atlanta. I worked more on the design side while Dad worked on the construction side. We worked on a lot of industrial manufacturing plants, but my favorite one we did back in the 90s was a glass tempering plant in Buford, Georgia. It was the biggest plant we had worked on and was about one million square feet. It had really high-tech construction with its own power substation, and that one plant used more power than all of Buford.
Mercer’s father, Mercer Dye Senior
How did you get started in the aviation industry?
Dad and I began doing design-build construction for a company called Hangar One, one of the early fixed-based operations founded in 1945. Billy Hulse owned the company, and I can trace every one of our aviation projects back to him.
What was it like working with your Dad? What did you learn from him?
I worked for my Dad most of my life, I really enjoyed it and learned a lot from him. He was a very ethical person and never took advantage of anybody. One thing I learned from him is “All things in moderation, except exercise. Don’t do that.” I’m not an athlete, so I live by that.
How do you and your team approach a new project? What does the process look like from start to finish?
From the time a client is looking at a site to until we break ground can be a long time because we’re negotiating leases on airports that are very bureaucratic. There are also more safety issues to consider for an airport. Our client might want to go to a new airport, we will help them identify property on the airport, then the client tells us the basics of what they need whether it’s a new terminal or hangars. We make sure everything fits, and then we bring in our civil engineers to see if there are any silver bullets that might be insurmountable. Once we get those silver bullets identified and confirm there are none, we go through the process of conceptual design, schematic design, etc.
What are your responsibilities?
I like to think of myself as a facilitator. I try to identify clients’ goals, work with our great DYE | NBA Aviation team, and then we render those projects to meet the goals. I know things to look for that aren’t readily apparent since I’ve hung around airports all my life. By knowing what to look for, we can work faster and make fewer errors. I also think of myself as a Professional Javelin Catcher, or PJC (feel free to add this to my official title) because I’m between the client and my production partners, stopping things from getting escalated and resolving issues quietly and calmly.
Left to right: Grandsons Gavin and Gabe Parker, Mercer, and airplane partner Skip Kazmarek
Do you have any interesting stories from working in the aviation industry?
My team was working on an FBO project in Van Nuys, California, and we just finished the terminal building that was 18,000 square feet with maybe close to 100,000 square feet of hangars. As we were getting ready to turn the project over that week, I got a call about a big earthquake that just happened in California, the Northridge earthquake of 1994. I flew out there to assess the damage. I landed in LAX and on the way to our project, I saw all these destroyed buildings along the 405 Freeway. I was very anxious, but when I got to the Van Nuys airport, our building looked completely fine. It was calculated that the building went vertical four feet in the air in a microsecond and came right back down. The only way you could tell something happened was in the hangars’ ceiling fans, which had turned down and looked like upside-down tulips. That was the only damage. It was amazing. I think our building’s modern seismic design helped a lot. That, and lots of luck.
What was the process like to become a pilot?
I started flying when I was sixteen, and I worked at Baskin Robbins all throughout high school, scooping ice cream to fly. I loved flying, but I hated studying. I ended up taking a compression class one weekend where they cram in a lot of material and you take the test before you leave. This is how I got my private license and my instrument license. The license exam has three parts: written, oral and practical. The written exam is based on the book knowledge (aeronautics, weather, instrumentation, etc.), the practical exam is showing proficiency of basic maneuvers you’ve been trained to do (landing, taking off, steep turns, stalls, etc.), and the oral exam is a combination of the practical and the written exams based on what you’ve learned. You must also do a solo cross-country flight to three different airports and put together your own flight plan. It’s a miracle I made it through all of that. I think it would’ve been harder if flying wasn’t a passion for me.
Any interesting travel stories?
I’ve been blessed to go to a lot of places. I’ve been to every continent except Australia and Antarctica. I traveled around the world back in 2008 with some friends in a little jet, Juliet Papa, which was a lot of fun. Aside from flying, one of my passions is sailing. My greatest experiences have been on sailboats and being able to appreciate the natural beauty of the world.
The 2008 Around the World crew with their Juliet Papa jet
Mercer and his wife, Mary, with travel guides in Kenya
America’s Cup sailboat, Stars and Stripes, in San Diego, California
Looking across the Bosporus at Europe from Turkey
What is the biggest change you’ve seen in aviation design over the years?
Avionics is the biggest change. When people started flying, they literally flew by the stars and a magnetic compass. Now, we know exactly where we are because of GPS. We know wind speeds and wind directions while we’re flying. We have onboard weather radar. We have situational awareness and know other planes’ locations. We have everything. The way airplanes are being built has also changed dramatically. We first started with fabric and wood construction. Now we have progressed into aluminum, and this is still a big way to build an airplane. New generation aircraft are almost all composite with far less steel and aluminum, which is a big game changer because we use so much less fuel than we used to.
What advice would you give a young designer?
Use every opportunity as a learning opportunity. Go out every day and try to look at things differently. Have an inquisitive mind and then take what you see or experience and relate that to architecture. Live your life like it’s a 24-hour job, and the rest of those hours where you’re not sleeping should be involved in creating, learning and enjoying life.
Mercer with friends in Granada, Spain
Flying lesson with grandson, Gabe
Where do you see the private aviation industry in 10 years? 20 years? What does the future hold?
We’re going to be the beneficiary of what is happening with COVID-19. I think people are going to be less willing to get on an airliner with their very high-density seating. I think airliners are going to have to take a lot of seats out and make changes before people will want to get back on them at the numbers we have seen in the past. I really hope they are successful. Our world is dependent on air transportation of all types. Alternative to an airliner is driving or using general aviation, smaller airplanes where you get on with families or your close working group. The charter companies are coming back fast. I really think general aviation is going to be more of an important part of travel in general, especially business travel.
Mercer and Mary in San Diego, California
‘08 Around the World crew
Fishing in St. Simons Island, Georgia
Young Mercer
Rapid-fire Questions
Have you ever jumped out of a plane?
Not yet…one day.
What would your call sign be?
BLESSED
What is your favorite airport in the world?
Dubai and Beijing are two of my favorites. They’re pretty far out there.
What city would you most like to live in, other than Atlanta?
Chicago in the US, Venice outside the US.
If your life were a book, what would its title be?
The luckiest man on earth!
What is your favorite emoji?
The little red helicopter. I had one in real life called Lipstick (see below).
Mercer’s helicopter, Lipstick