Pentastar Aviation announced today that Robert J. Rufli has joined them the position of Vice President of Flight Operations and Director of Operations.
Mr. Rufli reports to Greg Schmidt, President & CEO, and will also serve as the 14 CFR 119 Director of Operations, responsible for the oversight of all flight operations activity, including the Operations Control Center.
“I am pleased to announce that Robert J. Rufli has accepted the position of Vice President of Flight Operations at Pentastar Aviation,” said Schmidt.
“This position is critical in our quest to deliver world-class aviation services and his reputation for excellence in business aviation precedes him. Bob has a distinguished career, gaining incredible experience in general aviation operations of large and small business jets as well as corporate shuttle operations. We are excited to welcome him into the Pentastar family.”
Among the many responsibilities of his new role, Mr. Rufli will apply his exceptional customer management skills and experience in technology to further evolve Pentastar’s robust Safety Management System (SMS) and ensure the implementation of processes to keep Pentastar Aviation as a leader in safety, efficiency, and world-class customer service.
With more than 35 years in the aviation industry, Mr. Rufli is well-versed in FAA operational certification and certificate merger projects. His experience also includes worldwide flight experience, startup and operations of corporate shuttles, 14 CFR Part 121 initial operational certification, FAA authorized A 502 Merger of five Part 135 Certificates and implementation of cloud-based data management tools among others.
Most recently, Mr. Rufli served as President of Landmark Aviation. Prior to that, he served as Director of Flight Operations. For more than 22 years, Mr. Rufli was Executive Director of Flight Operations at Aerodynamics, Inc., and Chief Pilot at PDQ Air Service. He’s also served as a flight instructor at Northwestern Michigan College and Florida Institute of Technology.
Mr. Rufli earned his Bachelor of Science in air commerce from Florida Institute of Technology and completed flight training in Gulfstream III, Hawker 800XP & 700, McDonald Douglas MD-80, Airbus A-320, Beechjet 400A and 400, Mitsubishi Diamond, Beech Starship and Merlin VIC and 300 through Flight Safety International.