March 21, 2018, Moline, IL - Elliott Aviation, a leading aviation services provider, has recently expanded their sales team by hiring industry veterans Bill Forbes as Avionics Sales Manager and Mike Mettscher as Parts Sales Specialist.
As Avionics Sales Manager, Bill Forbes will be in charge of day-to-day customer avionics sales for major avionics projects, such as their industry-leading Garmin G1000 and G5000 retrofit programs, and major ADS-B STC sales. Bill has over two decades of experience in avionics sales, operations, and technical experience in the aviation industry. Under his leadership, he has earned the Garmin Platinum Award for nine years in a row and secured industry partnerships with Rockwell Collins, Raisbeck Engineering, Honeywell and Universal Avionics.
Most recently, Bill was the Avionics Director at Executive Aircraft Maintenance in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he led a team of 12 avionics technicians. Bill also spent over a decade with Cutter Aviation in Phoenix, Arizona as Avionics Manager. Earlier in his career, he served in the United States Air Force as an E-4 Crew Chief and performed a critical role as Crew Chief on T-38A aircraft and Senior Airman below the zone.
As Parts Sales Specialist, Mike Mettscher will be in charge of selling aircraft parts, rotables and aftermarket avionics with the company’s expanding aftermarket airframe parts division. Mike has 20 years of experience in Aviation Sales. He has managed multi-million-dollar inventories at a number of aviation companies including Professional Aviation and Duncan Aviation. He has also served as team-lead of a group of eight rotable managers.
Most recently, Mike was the Materials Manager and Sales Representative for Professional Aviation where he handled all aspects of maintaining rotables, purchasing, pricing sales and program development. In addition, he served for 13 years in Aviation Parts Sales at Duncan Aviation where he managed eight rotable employees.
“We’re happy to add to our growing Avionics Sales and Parts Sales teams,” said Mark Wilken, Vice President of Avionics Programs & Operational Logistics for Elliott Aviation. “Bill and Mike will be great additions to our team. As we continue to innovate with our Avionics Programs and STC’s, their experience and customer interactions will be critical to our continued success.”
Elliott Aviation is a second-generation, family-owned business aviation company offering a complete menu of high quality products and services including aircraft sales, avionics service & installations, aircraft maintenance, accessory repair & overhaul, paint & interior, charter and aircraft management. Serving the business aviation industry nationally and internationally, they have facilities in Moline, IL, Des Moines, IA, and Minneapolis, MN. The company is a member of the Pinnacle Air Network, National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), National Air Transportation Association (NATA), and National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA).