Vince is responsible for the management of the company’s FAA Part 135 Flight Operations department. His responsibilities include the supervision of all organic flight operations personnel, managing the company’s FAA approved Air Carrier General Operations Program, ensuring the operational integrity and regulatory compliance of all DOD (CARB) contracted operations and CSI’s air ambulance and commercial flight operations. Before Joining CSI, he held several key positions at L3 Technologies, Inc. involving management of major DOD contracts. He is a retired U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander, and Naval Aviator, and also served in the U.S. Army as an Instructor Pilot, Flight Examiner, and staff officer. He previously served as CSI’s Vice President of Business Development and Government Contract initiatives. Vince Van Ness was also inducted into the US Coast Guard Hall of Fame in fall of 2020.
John D. (Doug) McKinney has 41 years of aviation maintenance and management experience, as he went into A & P technician school, TSTI (Waco, Texas) straight of High School in 1978. His first job as an A&P mechanic was at Hooks Airport in Tomball, Texas where he spent the next 4 Years in General Aviation, maintaining all Cessna Single & Multi-Engine airframes, Mooney, and Piper Single & Multi Engine airframes. For the next 25 years at Hooks Airport, McKinney served as an Aircraft Mechanic, QA to Maintenance Manager, and FAA Repair Station Accountable Manager on the U.S. Customs Air Interdiction Fleet—later known as the CBP maintenance contract—maintaining numerous aircraft supporting multiple forward operations in Mexico, Central, and South America. Starting in 2010 and for the next 5.5 years, he managed a fleet of King Air 350 ISR aircraft and maintainers on the ground—flying upwards of 100 hours a day 7 days a week.McKinney then spent 2 years as Operations Manager for a Cessna MRO and modification center in Uvalde/San Antonio, Texas maintaining numerous Citation models and Engine Modification Kitting for Hawker 400A aircraft. He spent 6 months on the T-45C contract in Kingsville, Texas as a Maintenance Control Supervisor supporting (95) T-45C jets flying 120 sorties per day. Following this, McKinney spent 18 months in Corpus Christi, Texas as the Director of Maintenance for a small non-profit 135 Helicopter EMS company maintaining 3 Bell 407 and 1 Bell 429 helicopters. During the Covid, lockdown he assisted in the maintenance of a fleet of Bell 206/OH-58 helicopters for an agriculture spraying company in Conroe, Texas until transitioning into a role as the Director of Maintenance of a small on-demand 135 Charter company in Houston, Texas maintaining 5 Hawker 800 XP and 1 Learjet 60A aircraft.
Katkov is responsible for the management oversight and training of CSI’s flight crews. Prior to becoming the Chief Pilot for CSI, Alex worked as CSI’s Assistant Chief Pilot and as Line Check Airman. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Aviation – Professional Flight and Criminal Justice – Private Security and Asset Management from Saint Cloud State University in Minnesota.
John is responsible for CSI’s standards and training program that ensures compliance with all FAA and DOD CARB requirements. Prior to joining CSI, he served as a Charter Captain for both Part 135 and 121 air carriers. Fugedy is a U.S. Navy Nuclear Submarine Officer and Airline Transport Pilot with extensive experience in fixed wing aircraft. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and M.S. from the University of Arkansas.
Steve provides guidance and direction for the planning, implementation and operation of CSI Aviation’s SMS program to sustain and grow CSI’s creative and cost-effective customer services with integrity and reliability. Preteska is a retired USAF Lt. Col. fighter pilot, accident investigator, air traffic controller and satellite sensor engineer. The depth of his aviation experience include decades of teaching aviation mishap prevention and investigation to undergraduate, graduate, and professional audiences world-wide. A USAF Academy and Air War College graduate, he also has a M.S. from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He volunteers as a Reserve Deputy Sheriff in Socorro County, NM when not flying or helping to expertly risk manage flight operations.
