✈  Aviation & Supply Chain Leader  ·  Developer  ·  Tinkerer

Brian Johnson

Keeping the world's fleets flying — and building the tools that make it possible.

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01 — About

The Pilot's Log

Brian Johnson
Chicago, IL

Aviation engineer and operations leader by day. Entrepreneur, Developer, and Tinkerer by night.

I'm a commercial aviation professional with nearly two decades of experience spanning supply chain, maintenance planning, fleet management, avionics, and aircraft systems — keeping the world's fleets safe, reliable, and efficient. Along the way, I've built the software and tools that make complex engineering and operations work simpler.

19+ Years in Aviation
4 Major Airlines
515 Aircraft in COVID Storage
Name Brian Johnson
Location Chicago, IL, USA
Focus Aviation & Supply Chain · Embedded Systems · Web

02 — Experience

Flight History

Career

United Airlines

November 2021 — Present

Chicago, IL
Director — Material Management & Logistics

Leading a five-team material delivery organization spanning material forecasting, transportation, trade compliance, fulfillment, and warehouse safety — accountable for the strategy and performance of the supply chain that keeps United's maintenance operations flying.

  • Managed global material support for heavy maintenance through a team of Base Material Controllers — partnering with Heavy Maintenance on staffing and strategy while executing planned material needs and expediting unplanned sourcing.
  • Designed strategies for ordering, warehousing, and delivering materials for United's high-priority aircraft modifications (Customer Experience retrofit, Starlink, Slimline), aligning parts orders with aircraft schedules and using warehousing as a buffer for change.
  • Partnered with Digital Technology to replace legacy systems (Partselerate, Transportation Management, Forecasting Modernization) — owning business requirements, funding, user testing, and change management for successful rollouts.
  • Built the Warehouse Safety Advocate program, empowering unionized storekeepers as local safety representatives to run daily audits, deliver safety training, and feed feedback to the Safety Action Team.
  • Standardized unstructured data from transportation and customs providers, establishing SLAs, KPIs, and weekly standups to resolve network disruptions and quarterly reviews to enforce carrier accountability.
  • Diversified transportation providers to expand carrier availability and cut costs while streamlining customs brokerage for faster, more consistent clearance.
united.com →

United Airlines

January 2020 — November 2021

Chicago, IL
Director — Airframe Maintenance Planning

Led a department of unionized line and heavy maintenance planners owning the strategy, optimization, and scheduling of the airframe's full maintenance plan — maximizing yield and minimizing cost and touch time.

  • Chaired the Aircraft Storage Committee through COVID, safely parking 515 aircraft while building in the flexibility to return up to 80 per month — recognized by CEO Scott Kirby and COO Jon Roitman.
  • Re-engineered the maintenance staffing model with Resource Planning, shifting from past workload to forward forecasting of headcount by skill, location, and upcoming demand.
  • Introduced a review board and reporting format for United's top safety, reliability, and customer-focused projects — increasing project completion 430% (from 150 to 800 hours per week).
  • Built an automated package builder proof of concept that generated heavy check packages from scheduling criteria in minutes instead of hours, then partnered with IT to scope an enterprise rollout.
united.com →

United Airlines

May 2018 — January 2020

Chicago, IL
Sr. Manager — Base Maintenance Planning

Led a team of eight heavy maintenance planners and two managers responsible for building, coordinating, and executing the complete plan for heavy maintenance, special holds, gear changes, paint, and other base visits.

  • Drove the department's shift from yield maximization to a touch time minimization strategy, freeing additional line maintenance man-hours for work deferrals and operational impact items.
  • Established processes and KPIs tied to core maintenance visit SLAs — improving on-time delivery by 115% and reducing days late by 32% year-over-year.
  • Developed tooling for package building, audit, and visit analysis, raising the efficiency and quality of base maintenance work packages.
  • Led the relocation of fourteen 737 MAX aircraft from Houston (HOU) to Goodyear (GYR), managing FAA and media expectations and delivering all aircraft without incident.
united.com →

United Airlines

June 2017 — May 2018

Chicago, IL
777 Fleet Manager

Cross-divisional leader responsible for aircraft mechanical reliability and continuous improvement of Tech Ops processes. Accountable for the performance and strategic vision of the Boeing 777 fleet.

  • Overhauled the Severity Index metric, transitioning from subjective to cost-based weighting — better aligning with top operational cost drivers.
  • Designed a machine learning proof-of-concept to classify aircraft log pages by ATA code. Coded 5.2M pages with 95% accuracy.
  • Analyzed reliability modifications, recommending cancellation of ineffective projects — saving $2.4M/year in manpower.
  • Represented United as 777 fleet focal at Boeing Technical Review and Executive Review meetings.
united.com →

United Airlines

August 2012 — June 2017

Chicago, IL
Senior Engineer — Avionics Fleet Engineering

Configuration control of electrical power, instruments, indication, recording systems, printers, TPED, and EFB. Maintained compliance with FAA, EASA, and other governing regulations — partnering with Flight Operations to equip the fleet for future operational requirements.

  • Chaired the Connected Aircraft Initiative, a joint Engineering and IT collaboration identifying the technologies critical for future aircraft — advocating United's vision with airframe OEMs, industry working groups, and strategy sessions.
  • Core contributor to United's 2013 policy on expanded personal electronic device (PED) use in flight — analyzing the FAA PED Aviation Rulemaking Committee report, defining risk mitigations, and securing FAA approval in under a week.
  • Identified TPED compliance risks on Wi-Fi-equipped aircraft and designed component-level evaluation and testing processes to prevent unauthorized installations.
  • Led a wide-body IDG improvement initiative — reducing long delays/cancels by 64% and increasing reliability 53% to 16,076 FH MTBF.
  • Harmonized two legacy software configuration processes, reducing admin requirements from three heads to one.
  • Designed a DFDR analysis automation app — reducing engineering workload by 80%.
  • Implemented software process safeguards — a 65% decrease (1,000+) in aircraft software errors in 6 months.
united.com →

American Airlines

October 2011 — August 2012

Fort Worth, TX
767 / 777 Electrical Systems Engineer

Configuration control of electrical systems, fire suppression, and ice & rain protection. Supported heavy maintenance and product improvement projects.

  • Identified flaws in a cargo fire bottle retrofit — $3M cost savings.
  • Chaired AFW Engineering Cost Savings Initiative targeting $20M+ in 2012.
  • Worked with Boeing as lead airline for 767 service bulletin evaluations.
aa.com →

Delta Air Lines

August 2010 — October 2011

Minneapolis, MN
Project Engineer

Managed conversion of Delta's legacy engineering projects to post-merger standards — developing Engineering Action Authorizations, reviewing Airworthiness Directives, and drafting work cards for proper modification procedures.

  • Developed Engineering Action Authorizations detailing aircraft modifications.
  • Reviewed Airworthiness Directives to ensure FAA compliance.
  • Drafted work cards to instruct mechanics on proper modification procedures.
  • Trained engineers in SCEPTRE and AMDS maintenance information systems.
delta.com →

Pedal Brain

January 2010 — August 2010

Minneapolis, MN
Electrical Engineer

Designed, constructed, and debugged electronic sensors for the cycling industry.

  • Built RF modules using Nordic radios and the ANT+ standard.
  • Designed low-power sensing equipment with MSP430 microcontrollers.
  • Prototyped a micro speed/cadence sensor using Hall effect and ANT+.

Northwest Airlines

May 2007 — August 2009

Minneapolis, MN
Co-op Avionics Engineer

Assisted in avionics troubleshooting, reliability analysis, and aircraft installations.

  • Contributing author on A320 fleet life-extension feasibility study.
  • Developed weight savings initiatives — reduced annual fleet costs by $500K+.
  • Recommended Autoland equipment replacements — 9% fleet performance increase.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Airlines →

03 — Education

Education & Honors

Degree

University of Minnesota

B.S., Electrical Engineering

Long nights in the lab letting the magic smoke out of as many capacitors as I could get my hands on.

Minneapolis, MN September 2005 — May 2010
Minor

Carlson School of Management

Management Minor

University of Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN September 2005 — May 2010
Honor

Boy Scouts of America

Eagle Scout

Scouting's highest honor — member, National Eagle Scout Association.

National Eagle Scout Association

04 — Skills

Systems & Capabilities

Supply Chain & Operations

Supply Chain Strategy100%
Material Forecasting & Planning95%
Transportation & Carrier Management95%
Trade Compliance90%
Warehouse Operations & Safety100%
SLA & KPI Performance Management100%
Change Management & Rollout90%
Process Automation90%

Aviation

Electrical Power Distribution100%
Connected Aircraft90%
Flight Data Recorders100%
Display & Indication Systems100%
In-Flight Wi-Fi Systems90%
Standard Wiring Practices100%
Airworthiness Directives100%
Regulatory Administration100%
Aircraft Troubleshooting100%
Aircraft Repair / Alteration100%
SCEPTRE100%
Service Bulletins100%
Engineering Authorizations100%
Root Cause Analysis100%
Component Repair & Overhaul100%
Configuration Control100%
STC Modifications90%
AMIS80%

Web Development

PHP100%
Laravel100%
Vue.js70%
JavaScript90%
HTML5 / CSS100%
MySQL100%
Redis90%
Nginx90%
Progressive Web Apps90%
APIs100%
Automated Testing90%
Async80%
Payment Processing100%
Python60%
Ruby50%

Embedded Systems

Prototyping80%
PCB Design80%
Digital Circuit Design80%
Arduino100%
Raspberry Pi90%
Soldering100%
Hot Air Rework100%
Testing / Troubleshooting80%
C / C++80%
IoT90%
Analog Circuit Design80%
TI MSP43080%
Bluetooth80%
802.15.480%
Antenna Design60%
Nordic60%
Display50%

05 — Contact

Let's Connect

Whether you're looking for an aviation operations or supply chain leader, a developer who understands complex systems, or just want to talk shop about aircraft — I'd love to hear from you.

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