Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff and Robin Schluter.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Full Throttle Aircraft Interiors is operated as a husband-and-wife team, Jeff and Robin Schluter. Together 24 years. We are a second generation of aircraft interior upholsterers. Taught by Jeff’s mother, Gayle Harrison, who ran Touch & Sew Interiors from the Venice Municipal Airport in the 90’s-2000’s. Gayle is now happily retired while we continue the family trade.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As with all businesses, I imagine, it was not always a smooth road. In 2016, we moved from Venice to Punta Gorda. Fortunately, there was a great client base here, so we bounced back quickly. We have been operating from PGD airport for 9 years now. Another struggle was during Covid, in which we had to make some prudent decisions to lower our overhead. I (Robin) had to move our sew room to our small family farm to save on expenses, but also to supervise our children while doing the online schooling. It was a blessing in disguise, to be able to flex with the times. Jeff was able to continue installing the interiors out of the local hangars. Although once everything picked back up, we proceeded operating as usual, at the airport.
Another doozy was hurricane Ian, which hit us directly. There was about a 2 month pause on work, both due to property damage and lack of sales…..because everyone had property damage. Lol. But we all continued forward and now it’s like it never happened. We love being business owners and find that faith for the future overcomes almost all obstacles. It allows space to pivot and think outside of the box when need be.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
There are many upholsterers out there. Per city, one might google anywhere from 4-20 upholstery shops. Many pilots opt to remove their interior parts, bring them to an upholsterer, and reinstall the pieces themselves. This would be considered very affordable. But it lacks the appreciation of the asset itself, the aircraft.
We specialize in privately owned 4-8 seat aircraft. These beautiful birds are tried and true, and usually vintage. (We love vintage!) What we bring to the table is the knowledge of the genre. We know the qwerks of the install for many types of aircraft. This is incredibly important, because once the new interior is reinstalled, the pieces need to be taken out and put back in every year for their annual inspection, by their aircraft mechanic. Properly installing things like new window trims, rubber windlacing around the doors, and newly fabricated side walls can make life much easier for the future mechanics as well as preserve the interior itself by acquiring less “dings and scuffs” over the years. We bring 20+ years of upholstery knowledge into our sewn products. We use good quality textiles, including Italian leather. We love to take the old upholstery, (sometimes 40 years old!), and make it new again. We specialize in clean lines, contrast stitching, and custom diamond quilting. All of our interiors come with proper paperwork and a logbook entry from our A&P’s, who supervise our installations. I use the plural form because we are also known for installing interiors in avionics and maintenance hangars. This saves a lot of time for the pilots, who value not having too much “down time” for their planes. To have interior work done during avionics/maintenance is like two birds, one stone. In the end, we cost more than a normal upholsterer would charge, but we can completely refit an interior from headliner to carpet. And that new leather smell….Lol
What makes you happy?
We love to create. I love to grow fruit trees and veggies on our farm. I love to cook and bake. I love to sew. I love to oil paint, in my spare time. Jeff loves to build things. He loves to farm. He absolutely loves airplanes. His father, Sgt. Gary Schluter of FHP, was the “Bear in the Air”, now happily retired. Having a pilot for a father and a mother who upholstered aircraft really opened up the aviation industry to Jeff at a young age. He loves upholstering aircraft and spending time at the airport.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fullthrottleinteriors.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FullThrottleInteriors
