MAINTENANCE AWARD For significant and distinct contributions to helicopter maintenance
Mike Iven VP of Maintenance, Rainbow Helicopters, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
As a young child in Germany, Mike Iven knew he wanted to be a pilot. But while flying was always his main goal, Iven also wanted to ensure he would be marketable and could control his own safety by obtaining his maintenance certificate. “I’ve always been very mechanical, so it was a very easy education receiving my maintenance certificate,” Iven recalls. “It really did increase my opportunities and my ability to ensure safety.” In 1995, Iven began work toward his EASA (European Union Aviation
Safety Agency) aircraft maintenance license in Germany while working as an early morning bread-truck delivery driver and a flea market manager. During breaks from maintenance training, he flew to the United States, where he earned his private pilot airplane and private pilot helicopter certificates. Iven acquired a green card in 1998 through the US State Department’s Diversity Visa Program, whereupon he flew to Helicopter Adventures in Concord, California, to complete his helicopter training. Recognizing Iven’s potential, Helicopter Adventures founder and CEO Patrick Corr hired him as a shop hand, later promoting him to full-time aviation maintenance technician once Iven converted his German license to an FAA A&P. Iven earned his helicopter ratings and added flight instructor to his duties
Mike Iven
at Helicopter Adventures before moving to Hawaii to take both director of maintenance and tour pilot positions for Rainbow Pacific Helicopters. While there, he earned his FAA inspection authorization certificate at the age of 28. An exceptionally skilled, knowledgeable, generous professional with an unwavering dedication to safety, Iven opened his own general aviation
maintenance shop before joining Makani Kai Helicopter Tours as director of maintenance. Tere, he sought and obtained an FAA Part 145 repair station certificate for the company. Troughout his career, Iven has continued to add to his skills and
expertise. He returned to the mainland to gain customer service and project management experience in the manufacturing side of the helicopter industry at Safran and, later, Schweizer. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Iven returned to Hawaii to accept
his current position as VP of maintenance at Rainbow Helicopters. He has helped the company expand its turbine fleet and integrate into Rainbow’s tour business its first Airbus AS350 helicopter. When not working in the hangar, Iven helps mentor the next
“After a lifetime of
extraordinary achievement, you can find Mike in a maintenance hangar in
Hawaii putting people first.”
— Nicole Battjes, founder, Rainbow Helicopters
generation of maintenance technicians. He talks to students about the benefits and rewards of being an A&P, using his own rich career as an example of all that an aviation mechanic/engineer can achieve with passion and dedication. “After a lifetime of extraordinary achievement, you can find Mike in a maintenance hangar in Hawaii putting people first,” says Rainbow Helicopters founder Nicole Battjes. “He serves others, which is the highest compliment we can pay him, and through his example he is inspiring the next generation of great helicopter mechanics, making the industry a better place.”
Sponsored by
50 ROTOR MARCH 2023
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