ABOUT NEIL
Neil Schnaak brings four decades of aviation and safety-leadership experience to 135 Consultation. His background connects cockpit operations, executive safety leadership, organizational culture, and the disciplined review of policies, procedures, and operating systems.
EXPERIENCE THAT CONNECTS THE PIECES
Neil’s career has moved through the operating, leadership, and consulting sides of aviation safety. That range matters when an SMS decision touches more than one manual, department, or process.
Operational depth
Neil is an Airline Transport Pilot with more than 8,100 hours and six type ratings — B767, B757, DHC-8, Saab 340, BAe Jetstream 32, and SA227. His career includes line flying through Check Airman, Chief Pilot, Director of Flight, VP Flight Operations, and Director of Operations, alongside flight training, ground operations, and the review of air carrier policies, procedures, and methods.
Certification experience
Neil has led and project-managed five FAR Part 121 air carrier certifications, contributing directly to the manuals behind them. He knows what the FAA asks for, in what order, and what an incomplete submission costs in delay — from the applicant’s side of the table.
Executive perspective
As Chief Safety Officer at Hawaiian Airlines, Neil held FAA Part 119 Director of Safety authority and led safety, security, emergency response, business continuity, and regulatory compliance. Earlier, as VP Safety at Eos Airlines, he built the safety organization for a startup flag carrier while flying the line as a B757 international captain.
That experience informs a practical view of how safety systems must work across an organization — not merely exist on paper.
Industry leadership
Neil served as Chairman of the Airlines for America Safety Council for 2020–2021, after a term as Vice Chairman — elected by the safety leaders of the U.S. airline industry during one of its most demanding periods.
Organizational performance
Neil works with leaders on safety culture, organizational change, decision-making, and Human and Organizational Performance across aviation and other high-risk industries.
PROFESSIONAL FOUNDATION
WHY THAT BACKGROUND FITS THIS WORK
135 Consultation helps operators understand what Part 5 SMS readiness means for the way their organization actually functions — including the manuals, training, records, responsibilities, and controlled processes connected to the safety system.
Start with the operator’s real structure and identify where SMS requirements touch existing work.
Check the governing sources before analysis and again before consequential delivery.
Technology can support research, assembly, and workflow. Neil remains the aviation reviewer.
THE WORKING PRINCIPLE
Every consequential engagement starts with current official sources, identifies what the operation actually needs, records unresolved assumptions, and ends with Neil’s review before customer reliance.
