Guardian Flight Inc. appointed Steve Kelly Director of Safety for the leading air medical transport company. As a member of the Executive Management Team, Kelly reports to Fred Buttrell, Guardian Flight President and President and CEO of Air Medical Group Holdings (AMGH), which is Guardian Flight’s parent company.
Kelly is based in the company’s South Jordan, Utah, facility. He is responsible for the safety and safe operations of all of Guardian Flight’s more than 50 bases serving 15 states including Alaska and Hawaii.
“In our company our most important goal is to remain safe every minute of every day,” says Buttrell. “To accomplish this, Steve is leading our safety culture and demonstrating through our actions that Guardian Flight embraces safety first.”
As Director of Safety, Kelly leads the company’s Safety Advisory Board, which consists of executive and senior management representatives from the company’s safety, aviation, rotor-wing and fixed-wing operations, maintenance and clinical operations, as well as human resources, education, and subject matter experts from throughout the organization.
The Board reviews all safety reports, evaluating root causes of incidents and situations reported, and then implements solutions and shares the results and accountability with all employees. This rigorous process helps create transparency throughout the organization and shapes a culture that promotes safety and safe operations in an environment that advocates continuous improvement.
Kelly joined the air ambulance industry as an IFR line pilot for STAT MedEvac in the Greater Pittsburgh area. He holds an airline transport pilot (ATP) rating in helicopters and airframe and powerplant (A&P) ratings and is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force in operations and maintenance. He holds a bachelors degree in science swell as degrees in aviation technology and small business management.
Kelly has worked in operations, training, and safety for Metro Aviation and STAT MedEvac. He has held positions as an incident review board member, safety officer, traveled as an aviation safety guest speaker and served as pilot base lead and instructor pilot. Additionally he has worked with the Dartmouth-Hitchcock IFR Helicopter Program where he collaborated with regional aviation management to promote operational standardization and safety through line oriented flight training for pilots and medical-crew members.
Air Medical Group Holdings, Appointments, Civil, Guardian Flight, News, Safety
