All photos Katie Reilly Rick Kenin: Taking VAI to New Heights New VAI chairman brings strategic view to industry challenges. By Christine Knauer Rick Kenin’s career could fuel several fast-paced TV shows. It has all the right elements—lifesaving rescues, tense drug interdictions, and a touch of international diplomacy. The 30-year veteran of the US Coast Guard (USCG) even has an ironic vulnerability: seasickness. During those 30 years, the new chairman of the VAI Board of Directors traveled the globe, from the Bering Sea to the Caribbean islands and South America, with assignments as diverse as shipboard patrols and the US Senate, and duties ranging from flying USCG jets and rotorcraft to understanding the fine points of Haitian politics. Today, he serves as COO of transport for Boston MedFlight, a nonprofit, Bedford, Massachusetts–based air ambulance organization. Beginning on Jul. 1, 2025, Rick will bring the strategic perspective gained during this action-packed career to his new, yearlong leadership role at VAI. Thrilling Adventures Rick wanted to attend the US Coast Guard Academy from a very young age. While earning an engineering degree there, he eyed a career flying rotorcraft. “A couple of months into naval flight training, the Coast Guard said, ‘We don’t need you in helicopters. We need you in jets.’ I was crushed. Turns out, it’s probably the best thing that ever happened to me, because being a jet pilot in the Coast Guard was rewarding, very fast paced, and honed my airmanship skills. Later in my career, I had the opportunity to transition to helicopters, so it all worked out in the end,” says Rick. He holds an airline transport pilot license for fixed-wing aircraft with multi-engine and jet type ratings, a commercial rotorcraft license with instrument rating, and a single-engine land certificate. He’s also an avid general aviation pilot with a total of 6,000 personal and professional flight hours. For the first 10 years of his career, Rick flew the HU-25 Guardian, a modified Dassault Falcon 20 jet. “In the late 1980s and through the 1990s, the Coast Guard started aerial interdiction, a new mission type where we used our jet aircraft to intercept drug smugglers in small aircraft. It’s very challenging for a fast swept-wing jet to get behind a Cessna and trail them,” says Rick. “I got very good at formation and intercept flying. It was all very exciting.” Rick takes in the moment as he departs the aircraft after his last flight as commander of Coast Guard Air Station Miami (Florida), where he flew the MH-65C Dolphin (AS365). “It was a really exciting time. I loved flying out there,” he recalls. Flying into the Storm Those early days also included key lessons for Rick, starting with a mentor at the USCG Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Alabama. “In the late 1980s, early 1990s, the Coast Guard didn’t have a good safety record. It crashed at least one or two helicopters a year and was pretty cavalier about safety. I was fortunate that I had a commanding officer with a background in safety who took me under his wing. He said that after you investigate your first fatal crash and you have to talk to the families, it hits you that there’s a better way of doing things,” Rick recalls, referring to Vice Admiral Richard Herr, who at one time held the distinguished Ancient Albatross title as senior USCG pilot on active duty. “You don’t think about risk a lot when you’re 22 years old. But he really instilled in me the importance of flying safely, and I’m glad he did. Over my 30 years in the Coast Guard, I saw a dramatic change for the positive in how it looked at not just aviation but safety across the board.” Rick proudly leads aviation and ground operations for Boston MedFlight, a rare nonprofit Part 135 air ambulance program. During an interservice assignment with the US Navy, Rick flew the carrier-based Grumman E-2C Hawkeye surveillance aircraft for a year before returning to USCG flight duties. He also served as a Coast Guard fellow in the US Senate for two years, working on the staff of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)—an assignment Rick affectionately refers to as a cultural exchange tour. Proving that rotorcraft aviation is a small community, when Rick learned to fly helicopters at an isolated USCG air station in Oregon, his instructor turned out to be Chris Martino, who now serves as VAI’s senior director of operations and international affairs. “Chris taught me to fly in the wicked northwest Pacific weather, a crucible for any helicopter pilot. Twenty years later, I work with him on a routine basis,” says Rick, who spent three tours flying helicopters for the USCG and later held commands in Texas and Florida. “My second command was Coast Guard Air Station Miami, which has the reputation for being the busiest search-and-rescue unit in the world. It’s a very fast-paced operation in South Florida. It was a really exciting time. I loved flying out there. “My final tour was as chief of staff for Coast Guard District 7, which covers all of the Caribbean and South America,” Rick says. “As chief of staff, I interacted with foreign ambassadors and senior government officials, learned about Cuban and Haitian political issues, and oversaw drug interdiction and a lot of search and rescue.” Honing the Air Ambulance Model In 2014, after Rick retired from the Coast Guard, he landed at Boston MedFlight. Like most air ambulance providers, it operated under a vendor model. For three decades, aviation organizations such as Keystone Aviation, Sikorsky-Ranger Aviation, and ERA Helicopters provided the aircraft, pilots, mechanics, and operating certificate while Boston MedFlight provided the nurses and paramedics. “Boston MedFlight was ready to become their own air carrier, so they hired me to manage that process. While the company was doing exceptionally well, they wanted more control over everything,” Rick says. Over the next three years, Rick helped Boston MedFlight navigate the rigorous process necessary to earn its Part 135 air carrier certificate for rotorcraft, and then again several years later for fixed-wing aircraft. “Now the organization, from end to end, is under the Boston MedFlight flag—everyone from the mechanics, pilots, nurses, and paramedics to the communications specialists, administrators, and billing personnel. It’s pretty unique in our industry,” says Rick, who oversees both ground and air transportation. “By having our own air carrier certificate, we’ve been able to develop the culture we want. It’s not just about how we fly or train, or how we maintain the aircraft, it’s also about how we care for patients,” says Rick. “One of the achievements I’m most proud of is that we didn’t just become an air carrier, we also developed a safety culture with very active hazard reporting.” Charlie Blathras, then a paramedic and now part of the leadership team at Boston MedFlight, introduced Rick to the air ambulance world and taught him the value of that holistic approach to safety. “As a friend and mentor, Charlie helped me transition from the military to commercial aviation and, specifically, the air ambulance world,” says Rick. “He explained that the best thing we can do for the patient is get them where they need to go safely and deliver them to the hospital in better condition than when we picked them up.” Managing air ambulance services in New England is a complex task. Rick oversees a team of skilled communications specialists, including Jack Treddin (seated), who ensure that patients get to where they need to go safely and efficiently. Fine-Tuning Best Practices With a firmly rooted safety culture and a skilled management team handling day-to-day tasks at Boston MedFlight, Rick is free to shape the organization’s future, from evaluating new projects and programs and ensuring funding is in place, to engaging with regulators, transportation departments, hospitals, and others. He is also active in the air ambulance community, serving on the Air Medical Operators Association’s Safety Committee and the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems’ Standards Committee. Boston MedFlight also belongs to the North East Air Alliance, a partnership of seven air ambulance programs with 14 air ambulance bases that serve the Northeastern United States. Each member coordinates landing and flight following in their area and provides assistance to the others when transportation capacity is stretched thin. Rick sees strong partnerships like these as fundamental to operating safely and successfully. “We work together, sharing communication centers and best practices. There’s plenty of business in the Northeast for all of us, so we’re able to use that to our advantage, working cooperatively instead of competing,” he says. During Rick’s tenure, Boston MedFlight has more than doubled in size, increasing from 80 employees and three bases in 2014 to 205 staff members and five bases today. The organization operates seven Airbus H145 helicopters, a Citation CJ4 jet, and a fleet of ground ambulances. While it once served just Massachusetts and then the New England region, Boston MedFlight now flies across the United States, Canada, and to Bermuda, airlifting patients to medical care. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the organization transports some 6,000 patients annually by ground and air. “When I started in 2014, we had three different types of helicopters and a spare helicopter of a fourth type. It’s very difficult to maintain that many types of aircraft, but it’s also difficult for the pilots to maintain proficiency in multiple aircraft. When bad things happen, they have to think, ‘What aircraft am I in and what emergency procedures do I use?’ It’s just not a good way to operate. Now, all of our pilots receive the same training, and all of our mechanics go to the Airbus H145 factory school. We know that airframe really well,” Rick says. “To further enhance our proficiency, we’re purchasing our own virtual reality simulator for pilot training. We’ll be the first operator of an H145 VR simulator in the United States,” he says. “It’s another example of how we’re investing in safety.” A true Coast Guard family, the Kenins served at 12 duty stations until Rick retired and the family settled in the Boston area. An Evolving VAI In 2015, Rick attended his first HAI HELI-EXPO®, the annual conference and trade show now known as VERTICON. “I was like a kid in a candy store at my first show,” says Rick. That experience kicked off a decade of his growing involvement with the association, including serving as chair of VAI’s Safety Committee, now known as the Safety Industry Advisory Council, and since 2020 on the VAI Board of Directors. “In those early years, I was really focused on the classes. As I moved up in the company and in the association, it became much more of a business-to-business event,” says Rick. “When we started buying new helicopters and equipment, it was an opportunity to meet with vendors and talk about the latest technology. I still love going to VERTICON now because I get to see friends and, of course, it’s a one-stop shop for everything vertical aviation. For the past few years, I’ve mentored others through the Mil2Civ program, giving back to the military and sharing my experience with veterans starting their second careers.” Rick credits VAI with significantly enhancing its member benefits over the past two years, including providing a variety of low-cost safety management systems. In April, Boston MedFlight began pursuing Bronze accreditation through VAI’s industry-leading Operational Risk and Resilience Accreditation (ORRA) program. “Today, VAI is more than a fantastic trade show. It offers tremendous member benefits with a focus on advocacy and safety, both domestically and internationally. It has really expanded and evolved,” says Rick. Rick plans to focus the VAI Board’s strategic intent on member benefits and advocating for the entire vertical aviation industry. Tackling the Challenges Of the many issues facing the industry, Rick considers expanding into new opportunities, maintaining access, and integrating new technology as critical. He views restrictions on how and where operators fly as affecting the overall safety of the industry. “One of the biggest issues is the integration of new vertical aviation technologies for advanced air mobility and unmanned aerial systems. We need to figure out how to operate safely in the airspace together,” Rick says. “We have to be willing to invest in the technology for sense and avoid. I have no doubt that there will always be a need for manned helicopters. The things you can do with a helicopter are just so unique, but there is also a future need for unmanned aerial systems and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Being able to integrate all those together is key.” Managing these issues will be challenging, Rick concedes. With air ambulance, aerial firefighting, and other operators facing tight funding and economic headwinds, the downstream effect may take a toll on investments in safety technology. He’s confident VAI can lead the way. “The VAI Board is very different from HAI’s board. Today, we’re much more focused on the strategic future of the association and the industry. “The VAI staff is spectacular—it’s not the job of the board to get involved in their day-to-day operations,” Rick continues. As chair of the Governance Committee, Rick helped review the association’s bylaws, recasting the board as a strategic body and integrating new technologies under the vertical aviation umbrella. The revised bylaws, which took effect in 2024, opened the door to new types of member operators, manufacturers, and suppliers. “VAI is the voice of the vertical aviation industry. Being on the board has opened my eyes to the entire breadth of vertical aviation and its some 44 mission areas,” says Rick. He encourages VAI members with strategic planning experience to consider serving on the board. Rick says he plans to continue the work of his predecessors to enhance VAI’s member benefits and grow its membership. “I joined Boston MedFlight with the opportunity to take it to new heights, to be our own Part 135 operator. Similarly, VAI is doing exceptionally well. Our finances are in great shape. Our products, initiatives, and strategic intent are first-rate. As the chairman of the board, I’ll continue our work of taking the association to new heights.” Christine Knauer has written for major aircraft OEMs, MROs, and avionics manufacturers for more than 25 years. She holds a master’s degree in aviation safety.
