“We are proud to recognize Mr. Gagnon for his leadership, contributions, and dedication,” said Mr. Hill. “This title change allows Rheal to best represent the FBO to potential new customers at industry events around the world. It also recognizes the growing contribution of FBO operations to Heritage Aviation.”

Rheal Gagnon joined Heritage Aviation in 2000 as a Line Service Technician. After working his way up to the supervisory level he transitioned departments and served as Parts Manager for 2 years. After a brief hiatus, Mr. Gagnon rejoined Heritage’s Line Service department in 2004. He has since worked through supervisory and managerial levels, most recently as Director of FBO Services. With experience in commercial refueling, deicing and customer service as his operational backbone, Mr. Gagnon oversees the FBO to ensure quality and consistency standards are met. He is currently pursuing an MBA through The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Rheal lives in Essex Junction with his family and is a native Vermonter.

The new partnership establishes Heritage Aviation as the official air charter, Fixed Base Operator (FBO), and aircraft maintenance services partner of Ski Vermont.  Ski Vermont is the association of Vermont’s 18 alpine and 30 Nordic ski areas.

“Ski Vermont and Heritage Aviation share a passion for providing the highest quality service,” said Parker Riehle, President of Vermont Ski Areas Association.  “Ski Vermont’s work with Heritage Aviation will introduce general aviation passengers and aircraft owners to the distinction and authenticity of Vermont’s mountain lifestyle,” he continued.

“These customers want the best of the best in service and quality—and we’re certain that Vermont is, in fact, the best and most authentic winter experience. Best of all, this is the type of partnership that enhances the role socially responsible employers like Ski Vermont and Heritage Aviation play in Vermont’s economy, environment and communities.”

Affiliation with Ski Vermont provides Heritage Aviation with the ability to leverage its association with the Vermont winter brand and Vermont’s world renowned skiing and snowboarding industry, said Heritage’s Public Relations Manager, Julia Atherton.

“This exciting partnership provides Heritage Aviation customers with a world-class winter experience on top of our industry-leading aviation services,” Atherton said.  “Perhaps most importantly, our relationship allows us to reach out to our domestic and international clients who are attracted to the many amenities and advantages of Vermont’s mountain lifestyle.”

ABOUT SKI VERMONT

Ski Vermont (Vermont Ski Areas Association) serves its 18 Alpine and 30 Nordic member resorts in three major areas: governmental affairs, marketing and public affairs.  It is a private non-profit trade association founded in 1969 to foster a legislative, economic and social environment in which the state’s ski industry can grow and prosper.  The association’s priorities include environmental integrity, enhancing economic and social contributions to the state’s welfare, and promoting Vermont as the premier destination for winter tourism. Ski Vermont: Winter in its Original State. For more information, visit www.skivermont.com.

Director of FBO Services, Rheal Gagnon, was enthusiastic about the new piece of equipment. “Heritage Aviation is among a small group of service providers to apply this technology in an airport setting. The addition is a natural fit with our continuing efforts to reduce carbon emissions while providing exceptional services to our customers.”

President of Heritage Aviation, Chris Hill stated “While liquid fuels clearly have a rightful place in aviation, our fleet of airport based ground vehicles is a perfect operational setting for vehicle electrification”.

The truck features an on-board air supply for servicing GA aircraft tires. Heritage Aviation’s other electric vehicles include: Eagle ETT 12 and Lektro tugs, belt loader, lavatory cart, water cart, cherry picker, fork lift, and passenger and utility ramp vehicles.

“The LEED gold certification of an aviation company highlights an area where our industry can contribute to energy efficiency and environmental sustainability and specifically demonstrate our company’s commitment to these values.” said Christopher Hill, Heritage Aviation President. “The opportunity to transform a 55 year old army National Guard facility into a high performance, leading edge maintenance facility and FBO has been exhilarating. We are particularly proud of the amount of local material such as Vermont and Québec granite and Danby marble that we were able to include in the building. The building provides a wonderful environment for both our employees and customers and will serve as great platform for our business going forward.”

Heritage Aviation achieved LEED certification for energy savings, lighting, water and material use as well as incorporating a variety of other sustainable strategies. By using less energy and water, LEED certified building save money for families, businesses and taxpayers; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and contribute to a healthier environment for residents, workers and the larger community.

“Heritage Aviation’s LEED certification demonstrates tremendous green building leadership,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “The urgency of USGBC’s mission has challenged the industry to move faster and reach further than ever before, and Heritage serves as a prime example with just how much we can accomplish.”

LEED certification of Heritage Aviation was based on a number of green design and construction features that positively impact the project itself and the broader community. These features include:

•        On-site renewable energy generation through a 10 panel solar thermal (domestic hot water) system, a 120 panel solar photovoltaic (PV) array, and a 100 kW wind turbine.

•        Water Conservation and Control Strategies include a 30,000 gallon rainwater harvesting/storage system to supply landscape and green roof irrigation, and plane-washing, porous concrete parking lot and a “bio-swale” stormwater treatment area.

•        Building Envelope and Energy Conservation strategies included recycling the building structure to avoid waste normally associated with building demolition and reconstruction; thermally improved building envelope with air-sealing and testing; a vegetated (green) roof; high-albedo (white) roof to minimize absorption of unwanted solar gain; daylighting strategies, including vision/daylight glass specification, skylights, and lighting dimming; LED parking lot and interior lighting.

Since opening, the FBO has earned much recognition, including Efficiency Vermont’s 2010 Best of the Best in Commercial Building Design & Construction. It also received Hertzel N. Pasackow Architectural Excellence Award from the Burlington Business Association the same year.

Heritage Aviation’s Avionics department is also utilizing the Heliporter® to reposition helicopters for retrofits and modifications such as the Garmin G500H, HTAWS, Aspen EFD1000H, IRIS, Weather and Traffic Systems.

“This is an exciting piece of equipment to have especially with the winter weather in the northeast,” noted FBO Director Rheal Gagnon. “Now we can more safely provide heated hangar space to our expanding group of helicopter customers without wheel limitations.”

Prior to this purchase, Heritage Aviation converted its entire ground fleet to all electric. The addition of the electric Heliporter® supports Heritage’s commitment to environmental sustainability. It also compliments the FBO’s growing list of 24/7 services that include: fueling, de-icing, heated hangars, a state of the art facility, extensive pilot amenities and ground support services capable of handling any size aircraft.

Additional information about Heritage Aviation’s FBO can be found at www.heritagefbo.com.

To learn more about the Heliporter® technology and Paravion Technology, Inc., visit www.paravion.com.

“We are proud to be affiliated with the Heritage Aviation operation,” said Dave Marone, BLR vice president of Sales and Marketing. “They have a long history of demonstrated success and leadership in business aviation.”

“As a growing, full-service aviation provider, Heritage is always looking to better support our customers,” said Mark Wise, vice president of Maintenance Services. “Our new association with BLR will further enhance our overall capabilities.”

Heritage has equipped its four King Air C90s with Winglet Systems. “We’re already experiencing shorter time to climb and more efficient fuel burn,” said Heritage Pilot Eric John. “The Winglets look good on the aircraft, too!” The experience of installing and flying with Winglets will enable Heritage to better help customers understand the product.  Technician Zlatan Valjevac praised the installation experience. “The instructions and drawings were very detailed, and BLR provided great customer support at our facility,” he said. “Everything was in ready-to-paint condition, and the end result is a very modern-looking aircraft.”

Winglet Systems deliver an array of important benefits to King Air operators, including significant fuel savings. Depending on flight profile, these savings can range from 5 to 15 percent in climb and 2 to 4 percent in cruise for composite savings of 3 to 5 percent.

Winglet-equipped King Airs experience reduced drag that translates into measurably better fuel economy, as well as other performance improvements such as increased climb and cruise speeds, more responsive aerodynamic performance and stability, and safer low-speed handling qualities, especially during takeoffs and landings in short field operations. Winglets also deliver a 100 percent return on investment, according to data published in the Aircraft Blue Book.

BLR’s King Air Winglets are standard factory equipment on all Hawker Beechcraft King Air 90 GTx aircraft and are a popular aftermarket modification, with more than 250 systems in operation worldwide.

BLR’s entire portfolio of Winglet Systems is certified by the FAA, EASA and ANA

The celebration will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Heritage Aviation hangar in South Burlington, and will feature a formal introduction of Team Vermont.

“Heritage Aviation is honored to partner with Special Olympics Vermont in support of Team Vermont. We look forward to providing the athletes and their families a place to come together and celebrate before the National Games,” said Heritage Aviation’s President Christopher Hill.

The hangar, provided by Heritage Aviation, will be transformed into celebration space for the Team Vermont members.

“We are privileged to be able to utilize this state of the art space to introduce and celebrate the members of Team Vermont and their supporters. Through the generous donation of this space, we can give Team Vermont the send-off they deserve,” said Special Olympics Vermont President Bill Porreca.

Following the celebration, members of Team Vermont will await their departure to the National Games where they will compete in athletics, bocce, bowling, Unified Soccer®, and aquatics. The weeklong event will feature 13 Olympic-style competitions in both traditional and Unified® sports. Special events and activities will include Healthy Athlete screenings, Special Olympic Town designed for families and supporters, and the final leg of the Law Enforcement Torch Runt, symbolizing the official start of the Special Olympic Games. A national youth and education summit will be held in conjunction with the Games as young leaders work towards creating change while promoting unity and acceptance for those with intellectual disabilities.

At the conclusion of the National Games, Heritage Aviation will provide a private charter back to Vermont for the members of Team Vermont as part of the Cessna Citation Airlift.

“We are excited to have completed one of the first G500H installations at our facility,” said Heritage Aviation Director of Avionics, Bill Hanf. “We pride ourselves on providing customers with the latest advances in technology and this marks our journey into expanding our helicopter specific line of services.”

The G500H is optimized for the rotorcraft market and it builds upon the best features of the G600 and G500, which are for the fixed-wing aircraft market. It offers capabilities such as over 900 SafeTaxi® airport diagrams, optional helicopter synthetic vision technology (HSVT™), optional XM WX Satellite Weather with NEXRAD, and the option to display video from a forward looking infrared (FLIR) camera or other video sources.

The right mounted PFD screen displays attitude, airspeed, vertical speed, altitude and course/heading information, and the MFD shows detailed moving map graphics with the helicopter’s current position in relation to terrain, chart data, navaids, and flight plan routings. The G500H communicates and integrates with two other systems also installed by Heritage Aviation. It receives GPS/WAAS position data from the Garmin GNS530W and Traffic information from an Avidyne TAS600. The G500H also includes the GDU 620 display/control unit, GRS 77H AHRS, GDC 74H digital air data computer, GMU 44 tri-axial magnetometer, and GTP 59 temp probe.

Additional information about G500H installations and Heritage Aviation’s Avionics and Maintenance services can be found at www.flyheritage.com.

At the opening gala on May 20th, guests will have the opportunity to experience Heritage Aviation’s FBO and hangar, complete with aircraft on display. Heritage Aviation engaged local Vermont companies and crafts people in the design, construction and outfitting of this building.  The event will highlight that important local association.  A Vermont Symphony Orchestra quintet will provide the musical accompaniment while the chef from Vermont’s Culinary Resort and Spa, The Essex dishes up bites utilizing local ingredients. A sampling of local microbrews along with paired wines from Vermont and around the country will also be served.

Heritage Aviation caters to transient pilots, their passengers, and aircraft owners.  The facility houses a well-appointed lounge featuring handcrafted furnishings by Vermont artisans of natural woods, stone and textiles from reclaimed and sustainable sources. Pilots can enjoy the well-equipped gym, game room, media room, as well as flight planning and snooze rooms.

“We are tremendously proud of our new FBO, from the hangar that needs little to no electrical lighting during daytime shifts, to the LEKTRO tugs that provide exceptionally safe aircraft handling while still minimizing our carbon footprint,” said Heritage Aviation President, Chris Hill. “This new facility is also a great way to celebrate our sister company, Heritage Flight, and their 25 years providing charter flight services.”

Heritage also offers avionics, maintenance, detailing and aircraft management services. The maintenance department earned the FAA Diamond award and the avionics division, has been recognized by the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) for excellence. For ground handling, detailing, fueling, hangar space and to request line services, Heritage Aviation is the area’s largest and most luxurious FBO with U.S. customs located conveniently on site.

Heritage Aviation’s brand new state-of-the-art FBO designed by TruexCullins, utilizes green technology, eco-friendly material, and is on track to be LEED Silver certified. The facility is partially powered by renewable resources including solar and wind energy generated by solar panels and the nation’s first community scale wind turbine at a general aviation facility. Rain water is collected and reused, and the building has one of the largest green roofs in all of New England. Additionally, the parking lot was constructed using pervious pavement, a porous substitute for traditional asphalt, which allows water to be absorbed into the ground rather than runoff into storm drains.