2022 AMT 40 Under 40 Maintenance Professionals: Jeffrey W. Turner, Director of Avionics, Jet East - Dallas

Jeffery Turner was unsure of what he wanted to do with his career post-high school. When the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics came to give a presentation at his school, Turner described it as life-changing.

"That changed my life because I ended up going to Pittsburgh to that program," he said.

Turner’s aviation career would see him taking turns in the regional and corporate side of the industry. Then six and a half years ago, he would get the opportunity to own his own business.

“I met an individual that was running a small piston single engine/ multi engine shop at a Medina Municipal Airport. I ended up asking him if he was looking to sell his business and it was just very small. It was two hangars. So we had some conversations about it and I ended up purchasing it from him. And then I opened up the repair station side of the company. It was right around the ADSB mandate that came out in 2016, which helped get my foot off the ground,” Turner said.

That business – Modern Avionics and Maintenance – would grow into a 14,000-square-foot hangar in Mansfield, Ohio, with a team of six employees. Under Turner’s tenure, the team would be given three bronze awards from Garmin for their work.

While still a partner of the business, Turner is now heading to Dallas and Jet East.

“At Jet East, my goal in life is to develop, with their team, an avionics installation department in Dallas and also an avionics mobile team that we can launch out of Dallas. So right now, I’m working on putting together proposals for the president of the company and trying to get that underway here,” he said.