2015 General Aviation Awards Program Honorees
The 2015 GA Awards recipients were announced earlier this year and the FAA presented individual plaques to these four National Honorees during last month’s EAA AirVenture 2015 in Oshkosh, WI. Here are the 2015 honorees.
2015 National Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) of the Year
Donald D. Streitenberger, Jr. of Cincinnati, OH.
Don is chief inspector for The Kroger Company at Cincinnati Lunken Airport, where he is responsible for directing inspections of Kroger's fleet of business aircraft establishing methods, techniques and practices used to comply with all applicable FARs and manufacturer recommendations, and approving aircraft for return to service. He started working for Kroger as a line mechanic nearly 30 years ago, and has been chief inspector for more than 11 years. He holds FAA certificates as a Repairman and a mechanic with Airframe and Powerplant ratings and Inspection Authorization (A&P/IA).
Don has served on the board of directors of the Ohio Aircraft Technicians Society (OATS) where he held position as president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer of OATS. Don is the recipient of seven FAA Maintenance Technician Award (six silver, one gold), the NBAA 24-Year Maintenance Technician Safety Award, and has received certificates of appreciation for his pro-bono work for the aviation maintenance community.
National Avionics Technician of the Year
Ricky D. Hestilow of Arlington, TX.
Rick has had a widely varied 40+ year career in the aviation maintenance field, but for the past decade his primary focus has been on achieving professional recognition and certification of aircraft electronic technicians (AETs). Rick serves as NCATT's program director, director of standards and certification, and director of accreditation. In these roles, he helped develop industry standards for avionics technicians, developed an education and training curriculum for avionics and aircraft electronics technicians, and created a testing program for certification of AETs.
Prior to his involvement with NCATT, Rick's aviation maintenance career included 30+ years as an A&P/IA, a Designated Mechanic Examiner (DME), a Designated Airworthiness Representative (DAR), a director of maintenance for multiple Part 145 repair stations, owner/operator of three FBOs that provided maintenance services, and an instructor at a Part 147 AMT school.
2015 National FAASTeam Representative of the Year
Christopher J. Hope of Kansas City, MO.
Chris first volunteered as an FAA Aviation Safety Counselor more than 10 years ago. When that program morphed into the FAA Safety Team in 2009, Chris became a FAASTeam representative. In 2013, he founded the Kansas City IMC Club that meets monthly to discuss real-life issues of instrument flying.
Chris holds ATP, CFI, and GI certificates. He is a Gold Seal CFI and Master Instructor. Chris has been a volunteer pilot for the EAA Young Eagles program since 1992, with over 500 youngsters flown. He has served as an Angel Flight mission pilot since 2001 and since 2013 has served as Chairman of the Angel Flight Central Safety Committee.
In 1969, Chris graduated from the United States Air Force Academy with a BS in Civil Engineering. He then went through pilot training at Sheppard AFB and C-141 school at Altus AFB and served as a C-141 pilot for the Military Airlift Command out of McChord AFB for three years.
2015 National Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI) of the Year
Mary A. Schu of Tualatin, OR.
Mary currently owns and operates Mary A. Schu Aviation, providing Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) services and free-lance flight instruction in the Portland, OR, area, as well as conducting four to five Flight Instructor Refresher Courses (FIRCs) each year. She also operates Mary A. Schu Consulting, providing program support for business, government and educational entities that are developing or adding aviation programs.
Mary has been an active flight instructor since 1977, with more than 20,000 hours of flight time logged, including more than 14,000 hours of instruction given. She holds ATP and CFI certificates for airplane single and multiengine land and instruments, and is type rated in the Cessna Citation 500. She is a DPE for private, commercial, instrument, ATP, and flight instructor checkrides in single and multiengine airplanes, and also for sport pilots.
Mary is FAASTeam Lead Representative for the Portland-Hillsboro FSDO, providing numerous presentation and safety seminars. Mary is one of 31 industry leaders to serve on the FAA Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) Airman Certification System Working Group assisting the FAA to develop new Airman Certification Standards.
A more detailed history of this year’s winners can be found on the GA Awards website.
Nominations and applications for 2016 General Aviation Awards are now open.
If you are acquainted with a CFI, AMT, Avionics Tech, or FAASTeam Rep whom you think might be deserving of an award at the local, regional, or national level, or are an aviation professional with a distinguished career in one of these four categories, you are encourage to nominate him, her, or yourself.