It is the stated goal of the General Aviation Awards Program steering committee, the Federal Aviation Administration and the awards program's industry sponsors that these outstanding aviation professionals receive the recognition they so richly deserve. We're happy to bring them to you.

In each of the past 40 years, the General Aviation Awards Program and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have recognized a small group of aviation professionals in the fields of flight instruction, aviation maintenance, avionics and safety for the important role they play in aviation safety and education.

This awards program is a cooperative effort between the FAA and numerous industry sponsors. The selection process begins at local Flight Standards District Offices (FSDO) and then moves on to the nine regional FAA offices. Panels of aviation professionals within the various fields then select the national winners.

This year’s national award winners are William Jeffery “Jeff” Edwards of Chesterfield (MO), named the Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI) of the Year; Thomas E “Tom” Hendershot of Littleton (CO), who is the Aviation Maintenance Technician
of the Year; Allison John “Al” Ingle of Tallahassee (FL), 2003’sAvionics Technician of the Year; and U.S. Air Force Maj. Dorward James “Jim” McDonald of Jacksonville (AR), the Aviation Safety Counselor of the Year.

Awards to be presented at Oshkosh

FAA Administrator Marion Blakey will present this year’s awards on Friday, Aug. 1, during EAA AirVenture 2003 in Oshkosh (WI).

“These awards highlight the important role played by these individuals in promoting aviation safety and education,” said JoAnn Hill, General Aviation Awards Committee Chairman. “The awards program sponsors are pleased that these outstanding aviation professionals will receive the recognition they so richly deserve before their peers in Oshkosh.”

The deserving winners:

Edwards (VtailJeff@aol.com) has been a CFI since 1982 and is currently an aircraft accident investigator and president of AvSafe, a company that specializes in aviation safety consulting services. A former Naval Flight Officer and corporate pilot, Edwards is one of approximately 300 aviation educators worldwide who hold a Master Instructor designation, a professional designation is granted by NAFI to outstanding aviation educators who are demonstrating an ongoing commitment to excellence, professional growth, and service to the aviation community.
Edwards is a regular contributor to ABS, the American Bonanza Society’s monthly publication and teaches in the Society’s pilot training program. When his local airport, Spirit of St Louis (SUS), was recently threatened with noise restrictions, he helped lead an advocacy group that successfully reconciled the noise issues. He also serves as an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner as well as an Aviation Safety Counselor.

Hendershot (THendershot@FlyFrontier.com) has airframe & powerplant certification with inspection authorization and has worked as an aviation professional for 47 years. The holder of FAA Bronze, Silver, Gold, Ruby, Diamond and Diamond Medallion AMT awards of excellence, he conducts professional training courses industry-wide and creates curricula for institutions of higher education.
While with Frontier Airlines, Hendershot has mentored all of Frontier’s maintenance technicians through the FAA maintenance awards program. He has also continued his own professional growth and development well beyond FAA minimum requirements. Recently, he was elected to the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA) Board of Directors. In addition, he is an active pilot and flight instructor with over 22,000 hours. He also finds time to serve as an Operations and Airworthiness Aviation Safety Counselor.

Ingle (Al@CapitalAvionics.com) developed an interest in avionics as a grade school student but actually began his aviation career as a pilot and flight instructor. Since going into avionics full time more than 28 years ago, he has become a prolific author. Dozens of his articles have been published in Avionics News, the Aircraft Electronics Association’s (AEA) monthly magazine. He is also nationally known as a designer of avionics test equipment including the CA2100 Universal Test System, a modular system utilizing an IBM industrial computer and an Ethernet hub.
In 1978, Ingle founded Capital Avionics in Tallahassee. An FAA approved repair station, Capital Avionics maintains avionics systems for many of the aircraft used by the State of Florida. They also have military contracts for the maintenance of avionics components on some presidential aircraft.

McDonald (Dorwardinar@comcast.net) enlisted in the Air Force in November of 1983. In 1987 he received an appointment to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. After graduating from the Academy in 1991 with a major in American Military History, he attended Air Force pilot training at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi. Currently, he is serving with the 314th Airlift Wing as a C-130 instructor pilot as well as chief of wing flight safety.
As an Aviation Safety Counselor for the Little Rock FSDO, McDonald has conducted over 150 safety briefings for more than 5,000 pilots over the past two years. His popular WINGS seminars cover such topics as runway incursions, night flying, single-pilot IFR, aviation physiology and mid-air collision avoidance techniques. In addition, he also briefed local Air Force pilots on areas of highly concentrated civilian flying. In addition to being an Air Force instructor pilot, Major McDonald is an instrument rated civilian commercial pilot (ASEL & AMEL), and is working toward civilian flight instructor certification.

Sponsors make this recognition possible:

Organizations providing support and sponsorship for the awards program include the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), and the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) along with the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA), the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Helicopter Association International (HAI), the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI), the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO), the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA) and Women in
Aviation International (WIAI).

Chairman JoAnn Hill noted, "As an interesting aside, all four of this year's national winners are flight instructors while three of the four are FAA Aviation Safety Counselors!"

FMI: www.faa.gov