Rancho High School’s aviation maintenance students recently got an all-access look at Maverick Aviation Group’s corporate headquarters, as well as interacted with pilots and maintenance technicians.
The behind-the-scenes tour kicked off April 8 as Bryan Kroten, vice president of marketing at Maverick Aviation Group, welcomed students to the Maverick Airlines terminal and Maverick Helicopters on-site maintenance facility before bringing them inside the hangar. Upon entry, he gave a brief history of the company and how it began modestly with one aircraft and a group of committed flight personnel, approximately 20 years ago.
Kroten then introduced the CEO and founder of Maverick Aviation Group, Greg Rochna, who discussed how he once had a vision to create a company that would provide a VIP-level experience that was not previously offered in the helicopter industry. Rochna emphasized the constant demand of skilled employees in the aviation field and how the industry is continuously growing each year.
Rochna finished by announcing that Maverick Aviation Group will launch an annual scholarship that will be awarded to aviation magnet program students in the Las Vegas community. The scholarship program is under development and further details will be announced soon.
The students were broken up into three groups; one group led by Tim Hoffman, quality assurance manager at Maverick Helicopters; another by Jim Ogletree, chief pilot at Maverick Helicopters; and by C.R. Sherman, chief pilot at Maverick Airlines. Each group leader explained their roles at Maverick Aviation Group and the importance of maintenance and flight operations working together.
The students also had a chance to get an up-close look at an Airbus EC130 ECO-Star helicopter, tour the facility’s in-house paint shop and go inside a fixed-wing aircraft. The visit concluded with a question and answer session.
