Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

Editor-in-Chief

Matt Thurber

The aviation maintenance industry lost a key friend on Sunday, November 9, when retired FAA national resource specialist Bill O’Brien passed away. O’Brien was a familiar and much appreciated presence at inspection authorization renewal seminars, gently but firmly and often humorously admonishing mechanics not to cut regulatory corners and afterwards always taking time to answer detailed questions that often turned into confessions and promises to do better. At IA seminars and in airline and general aviation maintenance shops, O’Brien would be animated when discussing the program he helped create at Eastern New Mexico University to help A&amp;P mechanics obtain their associate’s degree or when introducing another deserving recipient of the Charles E. Taylor Master Mechanic Award or handing out FAA maintenance technician training awards. Since 1990 and until recently, O’Brien wrote a column for Aircraft Maintenance Technology magazine, helping thousands of mechanics understand and apply the regulations that govern their careers. “He has been an incredible mentor to so many over his long and distinguished career at the FAA,” said Jeremy Cox, vice president, JetBrokers.

In Memoriam: William F. O’Brien

The aviation maintenance industry lost a key friend on Sunday, November 9, when retired FAA national resource specialist Bill O’Brien passed away.

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