The Aircraft Maintenance Technology Top 40 Under 40 showcases top talent and leading thinkers in the aviation industry who are building success today and innovations for the future.
Candidates are vetted on innovation, outstanding attributes and commitment and involvement in the industry.
A lifelong fascination with aircraft and machines inspired Alisa Lockwood to begin studying in 2017. She truly enjoys her work as an aircraft maintenance technician for Delta ...
Alyssa Sullivan began her career in aviation, likely, as soon as was possible, helping her father in the family business of maintenance and repair of hot air balloons when she...
Andrew Kutcher joined StandardAero’s Winnipeg team in 2009 as a technician within the facility’s CF34 Destack Team. The company helped put Kutcher through college for the Gas ...
Bradley Krahn bounced around a number of industries during the beginnings of his career. Then 10 years ago, Krahn found himself hooked by aviation. “About 10 years ago, my brother...
Brandon Feagan said he just kind of fell into aviation. No one in his family had worked in it before, and his working life started out with a position in his father’s machine ...
Bryan Helm initially wanted to be a helicopter pilot. “I always wanted to fly helicopters, but the cost of flying helicopter was so outrageous, so I needed something to help pay...
David Miller said he’s always been technical and mechanically minded. “My love for applied physics and my job allow me to further my knowledge. My father introduced me to aviation...
Devan Fronk said he is following in the footsteps of his father, who has been an aircraft mechanic his entire life. “When I was younger, we went up to visit my dad at work. I ...
Emersen Cislo has a hand in saving lives in his work with Life Flight Network. He is on call 24 hours a day for seven days on, seven off, serving three aircraft that are utilized...
Aviation is something Gareth Lawson has been around most his life. “My whole family is kind of in aviation. I have two cousins that are pilots and my uncle is a pilot as well....
Gregory Tarascio grew up second generation in a flight school family business – Ventura Air Services. “I started coming with my dad here when I was about 8 years old. Started ...
Jake Stauffer grew up in a family of mechanics. His grandfather, Glenn, worked on cars, and instilled the passion in Stauffer’s father, Daniel, who in turn taught it to him. Stauffer...
As the company-owned Fleet Sustainment Program Manager for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems – the OEM for the MQ-9 Reaper, MQ-9B SkyGuardian, MQ-1 Predator and MQ-1C Gray ...
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...
Jeremy Hill's aviation career began in the Marines. For a little over three of his five years with the Marines, he worked on the V-8B Harrier II. Coming out of the service, Hill...
Joe Matz is both the vice president and director of maintenance for Vintage Wings Inc. and an AMT with Classic Jet Center. “I’ve been at Classic for around seven years. We do ...
As chief flight instructor and head mechanic of the family-owned and operated FBO Terrell Aviation, John Hardin said he is often at the airport seven days a week. Hardin’s parents...
Kasey Dixon started her career in the Army, where she was an aircraft mechanic specializing in armament and avionics systems on the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter. Her experiences...
“The dynamic environment that aviation provides gives excitement and variety to each day,” said Kirk Jacobs, who early on had a technical and mechanical skillset. Driven by a ...
Leonel Turcios finds reward in solving the complex, and sometimes confounding, problems of his field. “What I enjoy most about my job is the fact that whenever you figure something...
U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant Roscoe Tamondong is a production superintendent with the 305 Maintenance Squadron at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. He is part of...
Marissa Estebanez’s interest in aviation was sparked when she was 14. A member of her school’s robotics program at the time, a representative from the Pittsburgh Institute of ...
Mark Wygant started in aviation 10 years ago. Today, he’s part of STS Aviation Group’s staffing arm.“In general, the aviation industry’s had a labor shortage for at least the ...
Matthew Lewis pinpoints his eventual career in aviation beginning when he was a kid helping his dad repair their car.“He had an older car that was constantly breaking down. One...
Prior to joining Piedmont Airlines, Michael Goudreau spent five years in the Marine Corps, working on F-18s as a structures and hydraulics mechanic.“Fundamentally, it was anything...
Michael Petrossian was raised immersed in aviation. His father owned a small maintenance shop in Fort Lauderdale and, as a child, Petrossian would spend an exceptional amount ...
Miguel Cruz has been at AAR since 2014. He started as a support technician with little experience, but quickly rose through the ranks.“I worked my way up from support tech, utility...
Mike Costello’s start in the aviation field began with going to air shows as a child. “I was growing up, my dad liked to take me to all the air shows. I was just always fascinated...
Mitch Lutze-Morris got into aviation on a whim, he said, having never seen nor flown on an airplane, outside of one time skydiving, before. “I was working as a bank teller for...
Nathan Rich was once a farmer in central Wisconsin, after spending his early childhood in Gloucester, Massachusetts. “I vividly remember stopping my tractor in the middle of nowhere...
Nathan Hewitt started his career in aviation when he was 19 years old. Originally planning to pursue a career in information technology, he instead was bit by the aviation bug...
Neal Reagor said there isn’t one specific experience that led him into aviation, but he attributes his career to a love of aviation and military history. “My fascination has always...
U.S. Air Force Captain/GS-12 Paris M. Krula is the director of operations for the 714th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (Reserve), and was recently selected to “dual hat” for the...
A high school tennis coach introduced Patrick Reed to aviation. When Reed said he didn’t know what he wanted to do after high school, his coach told him he was going to be an ...
Rolando Rodriguez is the director of maintenance for Sun Valley Aviation, a fixed-based operator in Harlingen, Texas. He graduated from the Texas State Technical College Aviation...
Stanley Rhodes is a lead avionics technician for AVEX Aviation in Broomfield, Colorado. His story is perhaps best described as one of hard work, determination and old-fashioned...
Travis Reed has a passion for customer service. He shows commitment to his job and the aviation community. As a quality control inspector for West Star Aviation and specifically...
Uzair Shahid was born and raised in Pakistan. He started his aviation career as an apprentice with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) at age 21. His passion for aviation came...
At age 20, Veronica Leacock-Borchardt earned her Associate in Aircraft Maintenance from the Instituto Superior de Formación Profesional Aeronáutica in Panama. She also earned ...
AJ Silva is committed to both the preservation of aviation history and the continued safety of modern aircraft. He spent much of his childhood at Carson City Airport in Nevada...
Aaron Simmons is the face of the shop at Gibson Aviation Services LLC. As the lead aircraft technician and shop manager, there are few aircraft (or pilots) that Simmons doesn’...
Aashish Grover is the senior technical operations lead at Archer Aviation, which plans to bring electric aircraft taxis to the market in 2025. Initially, Grover worked...
Alexsander Garcia began working in aviation in 2007, following in the footsteps of his father, himself a 43-year veteran of the industry. Garcia worked various jobs during his...
While in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2012-17, Amber Garrett worked on CH-53s, Hueys and Cobras. Her military experience running the structures shop for the Marine Aviation Logistics...
After leaving the military in 2016, Austin Newby was unsure of what to do. His stepfather, Richard Rawling, began taking Newby with him to work on his planes. Here, he fell in...
Benjamin Cohen caught the aviation bug as a kid, thinking originally that he would one day be a pilot. A trip to the local A&P school while in high school changed his mind. “Once...
Bradley Campbell is a welder – certified by the American Welding Society as a Certified Welding Inspector in 2015 – and launched into the career path straight out of high school...
In his role as manager – ProOwnership Maintenance, Textron Aviation, Caleb Gibson leads a team of maintenance specialists, all serving in a director of maintenance-like capacity...
Serviceable part inventory has tripled, and sales have increased by more than 2,000% since 2019, when Chelsea Pearse began managing Duncan Aviation’s Engine Parts Reclamation ...
