Amy Wilder is a private pilot with more than two decades of experience as a writer and editor in a career spanning journalism, marketing, and communications. 
She has worked in aviation journalism since 2023, combining a lifelong passion for flight and a love of the aviation community with a penchant for storytelling. As a licensed pilot, she brings firsthand insight to the stories she covers, lending an authentic, on-the-ground perspective to industry coverage.
She holds a Master of Arts in Eastern Classics and a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts, both from St. John&#039;s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, along with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Culture.

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Hawker 600/700/800/900 and BAE 125 Series

Amy Wilder

MRO Thornton Aviation provides around-the-clock AOG response that has kept Sea Aviation’s organ-transplant fleet airborne through situations where a grounded aircraft could mean a missed transplant window.
The Part 145 repair station at Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) in Southern California provides maintenance for Sea Aviation’s Hawker 800XP fleet. These midsize twinjets are used to transport organs, physicians, and medical teams for transplant missions across the U.S.
Sea Aviation currently operates two Hawker 800XPs dedicated to transplant logistics, with a third coming soon and a long-term goal of expanding to as many as 10. With this mission type, aircraft availability is a direct variable in patient outcomes.
“Everything is time critical,” said Sea Aviation aircraft asset manager Michael Harkins. “You see all this play out step-by-step. The aircraft fires up, they get where they need to go, and hopefully you save a life in the process.”
Thornton Aviation handles routine and unscheduled maintenance, inspections, AOG response, and avionics and connectivity upgrades. Harkins said the value of the relationship is defined by responsiveness and the ability to solve problems under pressure, including outside normal business hours.
In one instance, an organ was already in transit when an aircraft needed immediate attention. Harkins began reaching out at 2 a.m., and Thornton Aviation director of maintenance Hector Jimenez responded and resolved the issue. “Ten minutes after he completed it, the plane launched,” Harkins said. “It was that critical. We were that close to missing a flight.”
In a separate situation, a technician found a screw in one of the aircraft’s tires during an inspection. When a replacement wheel assembly arrived with the wrong part, the MRO sourced a temporary replacement, installed it for one mission, and then swapped it out with the correct assembly when it arrived. “That little thing—to use your resources like they do—is priceless,” he pointed out.
Thornton Aviation operates at Burbank and Van Nuys airports and holds FAA approval for more than 61 aircraft types.

News and issues about aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), covering all segments of the aviation industry; and modifications for aircraft and engines. Subjects include product support of aircraft, engines and avionics, MRO company mergers, acquisitions, announcements and personnel, Airworthiness Directives, Supplemental Type Certificate approvals and other topics.

MRO Thornton Aviation Keeps Sea Aviation Transplant Jets Ready for Missions

Time-critical missions leave little room for maintenance delays

Van Nuys MRO Thornton Aviation keeps Sea Aviation’s organ-transplant Hawkers airworthy, with AOG response that has kept time-critical missions on schedule.

Thornton Aviation Backs Sea Aviation Transplant Fleet

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Matt Thurber

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

Essential news and analysis on the defense aerospace business. Your trusted source for new and ongoing programs and requirements in military aircraft (manned and unmanned), engines, avionics, weapons and associated systems, including ground-based air defense.

Panel participants included Boeing, Gulfstream Aerospace, and West Star Aviation

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News and developments about everything that goes into the cabin of an aircraft, from floor coverings to headliners, with a special emphasis on in-flight entertainment, communications and other electronics for passengers. If it is in the cabin of an aircraft, it’s covered here.

What began 22 years ago as a Caravan project is now a busy multimillion-dollar business

Building Interiors at Yingling Aviation

MRO services for E1000 turboprops available at company’s Denver location

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Executives share their experience with system

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News about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

In this article

Hawker 600/700/800/900 and BAE 125 Series

Thornton Aviation

BAE Systems

More In Maintenance and Modifications

Summit Highlights St. Louis Aero MRO and Manufacturing

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What began 22 years ago as a Caravan project is now a busy multimillion-dollar business

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Executives share their experience with system

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The company was selected by OEM Héroux-Devtek

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The Kansas-based company specializes in modifying airframes

Duncan Aviation Authorized for Honeywell APU Repairs

MRO’s Lincoln facility expects to bring work online in early 2027

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