FLYING Magazine
South Mountain Aviation, located at Hagerstown Regional Airport (KHGR) in Maryland, has been awarded Part 145 certification from the FAA.
The certification grants the company official authorization to operate as an approved repair station. The business is located in Rider Jet Center, a full-service FBO.
South Mountain Aviation was founded in 2024 by aviation maintenance professionals Terry and Jayce Keefer, and is co-owned by Rider Jet Center owner Ben Rider. The company provides jet maintenance for customers across Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Before South Mountain Aviation was established, jet maintenance and repairs were not widely offered in the mid-Atlantic. This meant corporate flight departments and small jet owners had to travel outside the region, incurring more travel costs, when their aircraft needed service.
The company employs six people and has summer interns to support the mission. More workers will be added as the company continues to grow; South Mountain Aviation expect to double its workforce by 2027.
It takes months of painstaking work and documentation to achieve certification as the FAA needs to be sure the business has the skills, experience, and attention to detail required to perform the necessary and highly regulated maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services on aircraft and components, and then officially return them to service.
The staff bring industry experience and factory training from Textron Aviation, Williams International, and Cirrus Aircraft. The new FAA authorization also permits the company to perform avionics services on Gulfstreams, Globals, Hawkers, and Citation Jets. The company also sells, installs, maintains, and repairs avionics systems for general aviation aircraft, including business jets, twin turboprops, and single-engine piston airplanes.
The services provided by South Mountain Aviation include aircraft phase and document inspections; avionics sales and service; AOG mobile service; aircraft management and tracking services; heavy check inspections; airplane fabric and interior repairs; heavy maintenance on Citation line; non-disruptive testing; and jet X-rays.