Pentastar Aviation's VP of flight ops and ops director Robert Rufli has been elected vice chairman of the Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF). Rufli has served on the ACSF board of governors since 2015.

In his new role as vice chairman, Rufli will help the ACSF's mission to lead and support the advancement of the highest safety standards available to allow the business, charter and fractional ownership industry to offer the safest air transportation products in the world and to provide objective information about these standards and services to the public.

ACSF president Bryan Burns states: “We are pleased to welcome Bob as vice chairman. He has a deep passion for the improvement and enhancement of all aspects of the air charter industry, from safety to the advocacy and support for standards.”

Rufli has served as vice president of flight operations and director of operations for Pentastar for over two years and has 35 years of experience in the aviation industry. He is well-versed in FAA operational certification and certificate merger projects and his experience also includes worldwide flight experience, startup and operations of corporate shuttles, 14 CFR Part 121 initial operational certification, FAA authorised A 502 Merger of five Part 135 certificates and implementation of cloud-based data management tools.

ACSF has also selected Joshua Hebert, founder and CEO of Magellan Jets, as the new ACSF chairman. Hebert succeeds Mike Graham, director, flight operations safety, security and standardisation whose term expired at the end of June.

Hebert founded broker Magellan Jets in 2008 with 16 years of experience in finance, marketing and aviation. His expertise in business start-ups, transformations, search engine optimisation and marketing enabled him to grow the company, melding his passion for aviation with his knowledge and financial savvy, which he gleaned from starting his career on Wall Street at Paine Webber and Shearson Lehman Brothers.

"Both Joshua and Bob have been invaluable members of the ACSF executive committee and board of governors," states ACSF president Bryan Burns. "With their knowledge and experience as leaders in the aviation industry, they will continue to support and promote the foundation's ongoing risk management programmes."