The FAA will present individual awards to each National\nHonoree in July during EAA AirVenture 2022 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and their\nnames will be added to the large perpetual plaque located in the lobby of the\nEAA AirVenture Museum. In addition to being recognized at AirVenture and\nhighlighted in the aviation media, National Honorees also receive gifts\nprovided by sponsors and contributors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Michael-Everhart.jpg\")
Michael Everhart of Charlotte, North Carolina has been named\nthe 2022 National Aviation Technician of the Year. Michael\u2019s professional\naviation maintenance career began in 1981 as an aviation machinist mate while\nserving in the United States Navy. However, Mike\u2019s passion started at an early\nage while watching his father, an engineer, fix anything and everything around\nthe house. At an early age, Mike\u2019s father taught him how to disassemble and\nreassemble items such as his bicycle. Sadly, Mike\u2019s father passed when he was\nonly 11, but the passion had already been passed from father to son. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While still a teen, Mike began restoring cars and after high\nschool decided to join the United States Navy. While on active duty stationed\nin Sicily, Mike had the opportunity to work on various airframes including the\nGrumman C-2A, the Rockwell T-39, and the Sikorsky RH-63D. After active duty,\nand while still serving in the reserves, Mike looked to his long-time mentor\nand friend Dave Harmon for his first civilian role in aviation maintenance.\nMike later received his A&P Certification in 1989 and his Inspection\nAuthorization in 1994. Over this time, Mike had the chance to work with and on\na variety of civilian use aircraft including airliners, the EAA\u2019s Ford\nTri-Motor, and even a 1946 Funk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2010, Mike and his family relocated to Hendersonville,\nNorth Carolina after he accepted a job with Belle Aircraft Maintenance. A year\nlater, Mike was promoted to Director of Maintenance, a position which he held\nfor just shy of 11 years before accepting a new role as the Director of\nMaintenance with Fenix Air Charter in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Mike is\ncurrently part of the team at Stevens Aerospace and Defense Systems where he\nperforms maintenance on the Beechcraft King Air. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mike is described as a \u201chands-on\u201d Director of Maintenance as\nhe oversees maintenance scheduling, the other technicians on staff, running a\nprofessional and smooth shop, and ensuring the fleet of Beechcraft Barons,\nCessna 402s, and King Airs are all in airworthy condition at a moment\u2019s notice.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Outside the workplace, Mike has represented his trade and\nthe industry well. Mike currently serves as a FAASTeam Lead Representative who\nconducts in-person and virtual training events for the aviation community. He\nprovides mentorship for newly licensed A&Ps and also serves as the\nmaintenance liaison for the Western North Carolina Pilots Association where he\nprovides crucial advice and updates on what\u2019s happening in the aviation\nmaintenance sector of our industry. In addition to all of this, Mike also makes\nhangar space available to local middle school and high school students to\ndiscuss career opportunities in the aviation industry. Mike is also a Merit\nBadge Counselor for the Wester North Carolina Council and assets the scouts in\nachieving their \u201cAviation Merit Badge\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the last three years, Mike has been awarded Regional\nAviation Technician of the Year and in 2018 he received the FAASTeam \u201cRising\nStar Representative\u201d award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time of this release, Mike has worked on over 30+\naircraft including popular GAA aircraft such as the Cessna 172, Piper J-3, and\nthe Cirrus SR20, while also having worked with airframes such as the YAK 52TW,\nERJ-170, and the CRJ 200\/700\/900 series aircraft. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mike is an avid volunteer and supporter of the Western North Carolina Air Museum in Henderson, the Western North Carolina Pilot\u2019s Association, and is President of the local Volkswagen club. Mike is described in his letters of recommendation as being a safety-conscious aviation professional with a deep dedication to aviation education, mentorship, and excellence. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Every year for more than 50 years, the General Aviation Awards program and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have recognized aviation professionals for their contributions to general aviation in the fields of flight instruction, aviation maintenance\/avionics, and safety. These awards highlight the important leadership roles these individuals play in promoting safety, education, and professionalism throughout […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-north-carolina"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21251,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21249\/revisions\/21251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}