Jonathan Sutton

Background

About Jonathan Sutton

My career in helicopter maintenance began in 2007 whilst completing an Aviation maintenance engineering apprenticeship at City of Bristol College Filton. Here I achieved a BTech National Diploma in Aeronautical Engineering whilst gaining several years of valuable hands-on experience at Rise helicopter maintenance, a part 145 approved maintenance facility. It was here where I was able to gain experience on a wide range of aircraft types within multiple categories such as; Robinson R22-R44, Bell 206/206L, AS355 F1, MD500, Enstrom 280 and 480. After taking a year out to explore fixed wing and general aviation in 2012, my path led me to Specialist Aviation Services Ltd (formally known as Police Aviation Services Ltd) a large commercial base maintenance facility where I am currently employed. At SAS I would get my first taste of working shifts in a mission critical environment, maintaining and modifying complex twin engine helicopters such as MD902, AW169 (Hems) and AW139 (VIP) Here, my duties are not only limited to carrying out base maintenance, but there are many instances where my role requires me to be flexible and readily relocate to one of our many HEMS line stations around the UK to support our field engineers when line scheduled maintenance is required. Since the beginning of 2022, I took on a more permanent role as a dedicated Line engineer for Essex & Herts Air Ambulance. This was going to be a challenging yet exciting "step up", since I would be assuming responsibility of management and implementation of scheduled/unscheduled maintenance, with the aim to optimize aircraft availability without compromising flight safety, all whilst assuring the base's Part-145 and HSE compliance.