July-August 2022 - 26

Joe Matz
Vice President, Director of Maintenance & AMT,
Vintage Wings Inc. & Classic Jet Center
Age: 26
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Someone I look up to in
the industry: Mike Toman
and Steve Dowling, and Paul
Bazeley and Jim Gentry.
Favorite hobby: Working on
airplanes.
Favorite thing about
aviation: I just love things
that fly.
Joe Matz is both the vice president and director of
maintenance for Vintage Wings Inc. and an AMT
with Classic Jet Center.
" I've been at Classic for around seven years. We
do everything from jets to Piper Cubs Aeronca
Chiefs, stuff like that. And then at Vintage Wings,
I'm vice president and director of maintenance.
Our flagship is Beach City Baby, which is a 1942
C-53, which is basically a DC-3, " he described.
With the two duel roles, Matz said he enjoys the
variety they bring.
" The variety of it, that's what I love the most. Classic
gives a unique variety. How many places you can
go from working on a Lear 75 to an Aeronca Chief
in the same day, " he said.
Matz's interest in aviation was sparked by his
father, a pilot, who bought his first plane when
Matz was 2 years old.
" That gave me the bug and I loved taking stuff
apart when I was a kid. I just kind of gravitated
towards that side of aviation. That doesn't say I
don't want to be a pilot eventually, but I did enjoy
the mechanics of it, " he said. " There are not many
industries like it. There's a unique set of challenges,
like at Classic we deal with all kinds of stuff. So,
I enjoy learning about all kinds of different systems
that you wouldn't normally be learning about - just
the challenges of it. "
He began his aviation career as a line service tech
at Classic after figuring college wasn't for him.
When a mechanic later quit, Matz was asked if he
wanted to take on an apprenticeship.
" That's how I got my A&P start really. I did the
whole apprenticeship and got my A&P that way,
but I learned so much more doing hands on than I
would've ever learned in the classroom, " Matz said.
It's a route Matz said more people should consider
for education.
" It's a unique experience. You get to work on some
really cool stuff. It's also very rewarding getting to
see a project you've been working on for maybe a
month or so take off and watch it fly. I just enjoy it. If
there's other people out there like me, it's definitely
worth it, " he said.
www.AviationPros.com/21274346
Michael Petrossian
Director of Maintenance, R&L Carriers & Loyal Jet LLC
Michael Petrossian was raised immersed in aviaAge:
37
Hometown: Pembroke
Pines, Florida
Someone I look up to in the
industry: My father, Steve
Petrossian
Favorite hobby: Gardening,
building my own tube
amplifiers for guitars and
spending time with family.
Favorite thing about
aviation: The satisfaction of
completing a job.
tion. His father owned a small maintenance shop in
Fort Lauderdale and, as a child, Petrossian would
spend an exceptional amount of time at the airport
learning from his surroundings.
" I was lucky to be born into aviation and quickly
became pretty good at working on aircrafts. I had
many mentors who shared a lot of the old knowledge
with me. It was great being around maintenance
hangars in the late '80s, early '90s. It gave
me a great foundation, " he said.
Petrossian said he loves everything about working
on aircraft.
" I love the job, working on the aircraft, troubleshooting,
saving the customers money, and then,
the satisfaction of, completing jobs so that the
principles are happy, " he said.
Petrossian is currently the director of maintenance
for R&L Carriers and during his off hours, runs his
own company - Loyal Jet - where he performs
maintenance on a wide variety of corporate jets.
" Pretty much any corporate jet on the market, I'll
work on, " he said.
The complexity of the work, Petrossian said, is
what he enjoys the most.
" The complexity of the job and the challenge that
the job brings. One of the things I love is when
an authorized service center is having difficulty
resolving an issue and after exhausting all possible
solutions, an interested party will call me for my
input and within 10 minutes, we have the problem
resolved. It's like solving a puzzle and I really enjoy
that, " he said.
And working on corporate jets, Petrossian feels
a pride in that he is able to keep his principles
flying safely.
" I keep a lot of high-net-worth individuals safe
while they're flying. They're able to make their
meetings and scheduled trips with reliable aircrafts.
So the satisfaction to me is, the principles
are able to operate their airplanes to make these
important trips to further their success, which in
turn, shows that I was successful in my job as well.
If they're able to utilize their aircraft, within 98%
capacity and not have AOG events or reliability
issues, I am doing my job well and take pride in
that, " Petrossian said.
www.AviationPros.com/21274354
26 JULY/AUGUST 2022
AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY
http://www.AviationPros.com/21274346 http://www.AviationPros.com/21274354
July-August 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July-August 2022
