airWing Aviation Consultants-Contact Information

Richard retired in April 2007 after nearly thirty nine years with Marathon Oil Company. He has formed a consultancy called airWing Aviation Consultants (www.airwing.us) to provide audit and safety management services for those needing aviation supports, both domestically and internationally.

History:

Richard was hired by Marathon Oil Company in 1968, and held positions as co-pilot, Captain, Division Chief Pilot, Training and Safety Officer (1983–1987) and Manager, Contracts, Audits and Charters (1987–2007). Typed in Cessna Citations, Hawker aircraft -700 and -800’s and Gulfstream’s GI , GII, GIII and GV. He has flown over 15,000 hours in helicopters (3000+) and airplanes (12,000+).

For the past twenty years Richard was the Manager of Contracts, Audits and Charters. In that position he was responsible for all outside aviation requirements, (Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Russia, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Australia, Korea, Canada, Alaska and domestic US), fixed and rotary wing, plus internal departmental audit functions.

When Marathon audited their corporate flight department, Richard was tasked with developing the audit, and coordinating all associated requirements. Following the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) audit Marathon’s management elected to pursue International Standards – Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) certification. Richard led the team in developing all requirements, manuals, training, processes and procedures. Marathon was also developing a safety management system called Global Performance System (GPS), which was complementary to IS-BAO’s Safety Management System, and developed and implemented concurrently. Certification was granted in August 2005, six months after the team began their work.

Additional information:

Prior to joining Marathon in 1968, Richard was a US Army helicopter pilot. Trained in 1964, he flew helicopters in Viet Nam in 1965, and two years as a helicopter instrument flight instructor 1966-1968.

Richard’s joined Marathon in 1968 and his job assignments at Marathon were mostly in the training a safety area.

Training that he received during that time:

Helicopter Association International’s Safety Management Course in 1987, course descriptions can be found: http://www.heliexpo.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1137

HAI Advanced Aviation Management Course in 1992, course description can be found: http://www.heliexpo.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1125

Attended numerous internal Marathon safety management and auditing courses.

Attended the IS-BAO Auditor Certification Course and was certified in March of 2006.

Richard has conducted audits on both airplane and helicopter operations in many domestic and international locations. He worked closely with many of Marathon’s top level managers and aviation providers to provide safe, efficient, and cost effective flight operations. Richard also has experience in developing start up flight operations in Russia and Korea, utilizing both nationals and foreign pilots, and technicians while incorporating local, ICAO and JAA regulatory guidance. These operations also required working with aviation regulatory authorities in both the US and international locations.

All of Marathon’s contracts, local operating instructions, safety guidance, and audit procedures are based on FAA, ICAO, JAA and local regulatory requirements.

Richard was also the Chairman of the Helicopter Safety Advisory Conference (HSAC) www.hsac.org for six years and has been Marathon's representative on the Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) Aviation Sub-Committee for many years (http://www.ogp.org.uk/). Richard was a member on committees, that developed the OGP Aviation Management Guide http://info.ogp.org.uk/Geophysical/reports/S1.pdf and standardized audit procedures http://www.ogp.org.uk/pubs/337.doc .