L.J. Aviation, a greater Pittsburgh area-based aircraft management and business jet charter company, has once more secured its designation as a Wyvern Wingman certified operator following a successful audit, conducted by Wyvern in June 2023. The Wyvern Wingman standard, the first air charter audit standard in the aviation industry, provides a safety benchmark that allows air charter customers to assess performance expectations against recognised industry best operating practices before purchasing air charter services.

Wingman operators are evaluated by the Wingman Standard criteria. The scope of the evaluation includes an assessment of operational activities, review on the company operational history and safety records, safety management system (SMS), internal evaluation programme, administrative compositions, technical documentation, pilot and aircraft records, training requirements and maintenance operations including technician training and experience.

“Wyvern commends Sherri Lemley, Duane Crumrine and the entire L.J. Aviation team for successfully demonstrating their continued compliance with the Wingman Standard, which not only validates their safety management system for compliance on a global scale, but also verifies their conformance to the highest standards and industry professional codes of practice in private aviation operations and aircraft maintenance,” states Andrew Day, Wyvern senior vice president, operations.

Founded in 1980 by Edward M. Kilkeary, Sr. and Mary Ann Kilkeary, L.J. Aviation is headquartered at Arnold Palmer airport in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. In addition, its growing list of satellite bases includes operations and offices in Bedford, Massachusetts; Marshfield, WIisconsin; Rochester, New York and at Greater Pittsburgh International Airport. It currently manages and operates a large fleet of aircraft ranging in size from the Gulfstream G650ER to the King Air.