Rick proudly leads aviation and ground operations for Boston MedFlight, a rare nonprofit Part 135 air ambulance program.
Guardian, a modified Dassault Falcon 20 jet. “In the late 1980s and through the 1990s, the Coast Guard started aerial interdiction, a new mission type where we used our jet aircraft to inter- cept drug smugglers in small aircraft. It’s very challenging for a fast swept- wing jet to get behind a Cessna and trail them,” says Rick. “I got very good at formation and intercept flying. It was all very exciting.”
Flying into the Storm Those early days also included key lessons for Rick, starting with a mentor at the USCG Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Alabama. “In the late 1980s, early 1990s, the
Coast Guard didn’t have a good safety record. It crashed at least one or two helicopters a year and was pretty cav- alier about safety. I was fortunate that I had a commanding officer with a back- ground in safety who took me under his wing. He said that after you investigate your first fatal crash and you have to talk to the families, it hits you that there’s a better way of doing things,” Rick recalls, referring to Vice Admiral Richard Herr, who at one time held the distinguished Ancient Albatross title as senior USCG pilot on active duty. “You don’t think about risk a lot
when you’re 22 years old. But he really instilled in me the importance of flying safely, and I’m glad he did. Over my
Rick takes in the moment as he departs
the aircraft after his last flight as commander of Coast Guard Air Station Miami (Florida), where he flew the MH-65C Dolphin (AS365). “It was a really exciting time. I loved flying out there,” he recalls.
30 years in the Coast Guard, I saw a dramatic change for the positive in how it looked at not just aviation but safety across the board.” During an interservice assign-
ment with the US Navy, Rick flew the carrier-based Grumman E-2C Hawkeye surveillance aircraft for a year before returning to USCG flight duties. He also served as a Coast Guard fel- low in the US Senate for two years, working on the staff of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)—an assignment Rick affectionately refers to as a cultural exchange tour. Proving that rotorcraft aviation is a
small community, when Rick learned to fly helicopters at an isolated USCG air station in Oregon, his instructor turned out to be Chris Martino, who now serves as VAI’s senior director of
operations and international affairs. “Chris taught me to fly in the wicked
northwest Pacific weather, a crucible for any helicopter pilot. Twenty years later, I work with him on a routine basis,” says Rick, who spent three tours flying helicopters for the USCG and later held commands in Texas and Florida. “My second command was Coast
Guard Air Station Miami, which has the reputation for being the busiest search-and-rescue unit in the world. It’s a very fast-paced operation in South Florida. It was a really exciting time. I loved flying out there. “My final tour was as chief of staff
for Coast Guard District 7, which covers all of the Caribbean and South America,” Rick says. “As chief of staff, I interacted with foreign ambassa- dors and senior government officials,
JUN 2025 POWER UP 31
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