FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Dale Meiler, floor inspector at Banyan Air Service at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (KFXE), has earned the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award from the FAA.
Dale is one of only 3,018 recipients of The Charles Taylor Award, the most prestigious FAA award to an aviation maintenance technician. Named in honor of Charles Taylor, the first aviation mechanic in powered flight, the award honors mechanics who have 50 years of civil and/or military maintenance experience with no violations.
Dale began his aviation maintenance career in the U.S. Army as a helicopter mechanic and served in the Vietnam War. After the military, he graduated from Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University with his A&P license. Dale joined Banyan Air Service in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1983, as the lead technician.
During those early years, Dale was crucial to Banyan’s maintenance department’s certification because of his experience and relationship with the FAA, according to company officials.
“He added quality into the inspection process and increased awareness, safety, and efficiency for the entire MRO department as the floor inspector,” officials add.
“It was an honor and a pleasure to work with a man of Dale’s caliber. His professionalism and integrity served as bookends to his core commitment to quality and our customers’ safety,” said Lewis Homsher, Quality Manager of MRO Services at Banyan Air Service.
Dale has mentored countless junior technicians and has been promoted to several positions of increased responsibilities during his 37 years with the Banyan team. Dale was also the recipient of the NATA Technician of the Year award in 2006.
Banyan Air Service is a full-service FBO with more than 1 million square feet of hangar and office space within a 100-acre aviation complex. Banyan provides aviation services, including ground services, aircraft sales, heavy maintenance, exterior and interior upgrades, turbine engine service, structural repairs, avionics installations and services, and aircraft part sales.