On Monday, 17 March, Jim Viola took up his new position as President and CEO of GAMA, having held the same role at Vertical Aviation International (VAI) since the beginning of 2020.
Prior to joining VAI, he served as a Senior Executive for the Federal Aviation Administration in the positions of acting Deputy Associate Administrator of Aviation Safety and Director of General Aviation Safety Assurance. As Director, he was responsible for maintaining consistency and standardisation in the application of safety oversight activities for the GA community. He was a government representative on both the International Helicopter Safety Team and the United States Helicopter Safety Team, and most recently as the Industry Co-Advisor (with ICAO as the co-authority) on the Vertical Aviation Safety Team, VAST. Viola served on the DOT Advanced Aviation Advisory Committee to the FAA and has testified before Congress on safety issues and priority policy issues for the vertical aviation industry.
Viola’s aviation career began with the U.S. Army, with much of his military flying with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Nightstalkers). His final military assignment was as Division Chief for Army Aviation, Current Operations in the Pentagon.
A strong advocate for GA, Viola flies as often as he can. He splits his time flying between an R44 and an AG-5B Tiger, depending on whether a runway is involved. He holds airline transport pilot ratings for helicopters and airplanes and is a dual-rated CFI, having flown more than 80 makes and models of aircraft. His accumulated flight hours are 8,000 plus, which includes 1,100 hours NVG.
Image: GAMA
