Every year, the General Aviation Awards program and the FAA have recognized aviation professionals in the fields of flight instruction, aviation maintenance, avionics, and safety for their contributions to aviation, education, and flight safety. The awards program is a cooperative effort between the FAA and more than a dozen industry sponsors. Recipients will receive their awards at this summer’s AirVenture in Oshkosh.
“These awards highlight the important role played by these individuals in promoting aviation education and flight safety,” said JoAnn Hill, General Aviation Awards Committee chairperson. “The awards program sponsors are pleased that these outstanding aviation professionals will receive the recognition they so richly deserve before their peers in Oshkosh.”
2010 NATIONAL CFI OF THE YEAR: Master CFI Jeffrey Robert Moss of Los Angeles is the 2010 National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year. He is an independent instructor and mentor pilot on the Cessna Citation Mustang & CJ series, Eclipse 500, Embraer Phenom 100/300 and Hawker Beechcraft Premier IA. He specializes in training piston pilots for their initial single pilot jet type rating. He trains mostly out of Santa Monica (SMO), Van Nuys (VNY) and Burbank (BUR) airports. His company, Flying Like the Pros, produces computer-based avionics training programs.
2010 NATIONAL FAA SAFETY TEAM REPRESENTATIVE OF THE YEAR: Master CFI Thomas Turner is the executive director of the American Bonanza Society, which represents approximately 10,000 Beech aircraft owners, mechanics and enthusiasts around the world. He is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the society as well as all technical and educational member support functions.
2010 NATIONAL AMT OF THE YEAR: Neil Nederfield of Fairfield, New Jersey, has been an airframe and powerplant (A&P) technician for 45 years and has held inspection authorization (IA) for 15 of those years. Neil and his son Sean own C & W Aero Services, an FAA Certified Repair Station, located at Essex County Airport (CDW) in Caldwell, New Jersey.
2010 NATIONAL AVIONICS TECHNICIAN OF THE YEAR: Kirk Peterson holds a Federal Communications Commission license with Radar endorsement, an Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) Technician Certificate with inspection authorization (IA), a Repairman Certificate, and has over 25 years of avionics maintenance and repair experience. For the past 20 years, he has been employed by the University of North Dakota’s John D Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences. He is the avionics manager of an FAA Part 145 repair station that maintains over 100 aircraft ranging from Supercubs to turbine helicopters and turbine aircraft that are used by UND’s flight training department.
