PAMA is pleased and honored to announce the FAA's 2010 National Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) of the Year is our own Neil Nederfield. PAMA is a strong supporter of the General Aviation Awards program and supports GAA through hosting their website.

A note from the PAMA Chairman:

“Neil is a personal friend and long time supporter of PAMA and the Teterbobo PAMA chapter. Neil is an excellent choice for this award, not only because of his maintenance knowledge and expertise, but also because of his unselfish energy to give back to the aviation community.
Please support me in giving Neil our sincere congratulations. Neil, you deserve this award.”
– Clark Gordon, PAMA Chairman of the Board

About the 2010 National AMT of the Year

Neil Nederfield of Fairfield, New Jersey, has been an airframe and powerplant (A&P) technician for 45 years and has held inspection authorization (IA) for 15 of those years. Neil and his son Sean own C & W Aero Services, an FAA Certified Repair Station, located at Essex County Airport (CDW) in Caldwell, New Jersey.

A four-year tour in the United States Navy launched this Viet Nam veteran's career in aviation maintenance. Neil attended schools for aviation airframe sheet metal and paint corrosion control and then served with VA72 aboard aircraft carriers from 1965 to 1969 working on Douglas A-4 Skyhawks. After an honorable discharge as a Petty Officer 2nd Class, he continued to work in aviation maintenance. Following ten years of employment at C & W Electronics, Neil became the owner and manager of C & W Aero Services at Essex County Airport in 1983.

C & W Aero Services ( http://CWAero.com/) is a fixed base operation and FAA Certified Repair Station specializing in aircraft modifications, painting, annual / 100-hour inspections, avionics installations, and heavy sheet metal repairs. They are also a factory authorized service center for Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, Mooney Airplane Company, and New Piper Aircraft as well as most major avionics manufacturers. Neil and his son Sean are co-owners of the company while their wives, Gail & Jennifer respectively, share the responsibilities for office management. C & W Aero employs 11 full time and two part time workers.

An average day for Neil begins at 0500 Eastern Time in an effort to beat the Interstate-80 traffic on his 40-mile commute to the shop. After breakfast at a local diner, he opens the shop at about 0630. His staff of seven full time mechanics and one avionics repariman generates a great deal of paperwork in the form of work orders, logbook entries, weight & balance calculations, and Forms 337. When he's lucky, the workday ends around 1600.

In the evenings and on weekends, Neil spends time with various volunteer groups or down in his basement with his model trains. As a lead representative for the FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) in the Teterboro area, he both hosts and presents safety programs for pilots and mechanics. He has been a member of the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA) since 1989 and has served as director and FAA liason for the PAMA board of directors since 1992. For the past ten years, he has organized and hosted an annual IA renewal for PAMA. Neil also serves as an advisory board member for the Teterboro School of Aeronautics.

Nederfield (NNed@CWAero.com) represented the Teterboro FSDO as well as the FAA's Eastern Region. This year's other regional AMT winners include JoAnn ARNOLD of Blytheville, AR (FAA's Southwest Region); Hatton Nicholas BATSON of Cordova, TN (FAA's Central Region); Darrell Eugene BOLDUC of Ham Lake, MN (FAA's Great Lakes Region); Joseph MORALES of Lakewood, CO (FAA's Northwest Mountain Region); Marlin Jerome PRIEST of Hoover, AL (FAA's Southern Region); and Gerald Wayne ROSE of Grass Valley, CA (FAA's Western Pacific Region).

About the GAA Awards Program and 2010 Awards Recipients

In each of the past 47 years, the General Aviation Awards program and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have recognized a small group of aviation professionals in the fields of flight instruction, aviation maintenance, avionics, and safety for their contributions to aviation, education, and flight safety.

This awards program is a cooperative effort between the FAA and more than a dozen industry sponsors. The selection process begins with local FAA Safety Team managers at Flight Standards District Offices (FSDO) and then moves on to the eight regional FAA offices. Panels of aviation professionals from within those four fields then select national winners from the pool of regional winners.

Recipients of this year's national awards are Neil John Nederfield of Lafayette, New Jersey, Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) of the Year; Kirk Harold Peterson of Larimore, North Dakota, Avionics Technician of the Year; MCFI Jeffery Robert "Jeff" Moss of Los Angeles, California, Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI) of the Year; and MCFI Thomas Paul "Tom" Turner of Rose Hill, Kansas, FAA Safety Team Representative of the Year. Previously, this award was the Aviation Safety Counselor (ASC) of the Year.

The FAA administrator will present the national awards in July during a "Theater in the Woods" program at EAA AirVenture 2010 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Included in the prize package for all four national winners is an all expense paid trip to Oshkosh for the recipient and a guest to attend the awards presentation and other GA Awards activities.

"These awards highlight the important role played by these individuals in promoting aviation education and flight safety," said JoAnn Hill, General Aviation Awards Committee chairperson. "The awards program sponsors are pleased that these outstanding aviation professionals will receive the recognition they so richly deserve before their peers in Oshkosh."