Guardian responds to increased demand for its Automated Flight Following and Satellite Messaging Solutions.

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, March 19, 2012 – Guardian Mobility today announced that it has appointed Vertical Aviation, of Scottsdale, AZ, as a Master Dealer for the entire Guardian product line including the Guardian5™, the company’s unique, portable handheld satellite message terminal and the G7-FDM™ their complete, single box Flight Data Monitoring data collection and analysis solution. Vertical Aviation will be responsible for the US helicopter market.

The appointment is prompted by a significant increase in interest in Guardian’s products since the release of the G5 and G7-FDM in the fall of 2011. Vertical Aviation, as a master dealer, will support Guardian in providing the same rapid response to all customers as the company’s customer base and product line continue to grow.

“Vertical Aviation, with its commitment to excellence in customer service and product support, is a perfect match with Guardian Mobility.” said company President and CEO Howard Pearl. “With their support as a Master Dealer, we can continue to grow and still maintain our high standards in service and support.”

Providing helicopter Services and Maintenance to a higher standard is what Vertical does and Guardian fits right in our program.
“Quotation from John Castrogiovanni”

About Vertical Aviation
Vertical Aviation is located in Scottsdale, Arizona and has established a reputation of excellence in helicopter services, including sales, acquisitions, charter, management and maintenance. They are an FAA Certificated FAR 135 Air Carrier (Charter Operator) and an FAA Certificated FAR 145 Repair Station with certifications from American Eurocopter, Turbomeca Engine Corporation and Rolls-Royce as authorized Service Centers.

About Guardian Mobility
Guardian Mobility is the provider of global tracking, voice and data communications and data management solutions to the aviation marketplace. Guardian has developed a full range of products and services targeted at assisting aircraft operators increase safety and efficiency, reduce costs and improve reporting. Guardian introduced the first portable GPS tracking device in 2002, delivering location and status information, and has since developed solutions to facilitate 2-way text messaging and automatic data communications between the aircraft and the ground. Guardian’s products are approved for government-mandated Automatic Flight Following (AFF) and are used by fleet operators worldwide for Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) and Engine Trend Monitoring (ETM) to support Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) and Maintenance Operations Quality Assurance (MOQA) as part of a Safety Management System (SMS).

For further information, contact:
Guardian Mobility
Chris Keep
ckeep@guardianmobility.com
+1 (613) 225-8885 x366

In today's competitive business environment, introducing a fresh set of eyes and a dose of creative ambition can take a tried-and-true business model and launch it toward new levels. Such is the hope for Vertical Aviation LLC (formerly Westcor Aviation Inc.) of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Vertical completed the purchase of Westcor near the end of 2010 and has been transforming the company's business goals, philosophies and priorities ever since. Until the ownership change, the Westcor name had been a familiar one to helicopter operators in the region, especially in recent years, as an unassuming, but highly regarded United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certificated repair station and an approved service center for both American Eurocopter and Turbomeca. While the core of this still remains true, other aspects have undergone significant change — notably the company's visibility and marketing push.

Accidental Beginnings
Westcor Aviation was founded in the 1980s by a prominent commercial real estate developer who specialized in shopping centers in the rapidly growing Phoenix, Ariz., metropolitan area. As a former U.S. Air Force pilot, Westcor's founder owned and piloted several fixed-wing aircraft for business and pleasure. To aid in surveying his real estate interests, he added a helicopter, an Agusta A109, to his fleet in the early 1980s, later replacing it with an Aérospatiale AS355 TwinStar.

When the desire to bring the maintenance of his aircraft in-house grew, he assembled his own staff, created Westcor Aviation, and located the new entity at the upscale Scottsdale Airport, occupying two separate facilities, each with expansive office and hangar space.

While Westcor initially existed to provide maintenance support for the founder's aircraft, the workloads were such that it soon found it could afford to take on outside maintenance work. Additionally, as the floor space at its hangars was not being fully utilized, other aircraft owners and operators sought the available storage. Suddenly, Westcor had the potential to generate income.

In the years that followed, the company maintained a comparatively low profile by business standards, choosing to rely strictly on word of mouth and letting potential customers find it. The unique tactic seemed to work exceptionally well, and Westcor's quiet reputation for customer service, workmanship and attention to detail began to attract customers throughout the southwestern U.S.

Alan Hall, who joined Westcor in 1990 fresh from airframe and powerplant maintenance training, and today is Vertical Aviation's director of maintenance, probably has the most complete perspective of everything the company has gone through since its early years. "Initially," said Hall, "we just wanted to work and stay busy, however, we were always looking for ways to improve our products and services. Consequently, we have been consistent in maintaining our workload and being booked out with as many aircraft as we could handle." With its unique way of attracting business and building its reputation, Westcor also was able to attract many bright, talented staff to fill its growing maintenance, administrative and pilot positions. This was essential as it quietly continued to accept management responsibilities for the airctaft of private and commercial helicopter owners and operators, including those belonging to several local electronic news gathering (ENG) outfits. As a result, it began to offer charter and sightseeing flights and eventually even acquired a U.S. Federal Aviation Regulation Part 135 certificate.

Difficult Times
In the mid-2000s, Westcor's owner began considering plans for scaling back his business holdings. He sold his real estate company and decided to look for a buyer for Westcor. Then, a dramatic and unexpected shift in priorities occurred.

In summer 2007, as the business changes were occurring, tragedy struck Westcor. The company's operations manager and pilot was killed when the ENG helicopter he was piloting collided in mid-air with another ENG helicopter over downtown Phoenix while they were covering a police pursuit.

The incident rocked the very foundation of Westcor and served to confirm the owner's decision to sell the company. He believed Westcor had developed beyond what he had originally envisioned and the associated liability was more than he was willing to shoulder in his retirement.

In the nearly two years that followed, the company was almost on autopilot. Work continued, but the impending sale of the company and feelings of loss after the accident created an emotional void for those still with Westcor. Worse, while prospective buyers expressed interest, for one reason or another all the offers and proposals fell through.

While this was happening, a long-time Westcor contractor, who had years of intimate knowledge of and insight into the company, was watching from the sidelines. John Castrogiovanni, a successful businessman in his own right, having founded and operated Southwest Jet Aviation and Phoenix Jet Services, had long recognized the potential of Westcor.

Castrogiovanni originally started working with Westcor in 1998, obtaining a contract to manage and pilot the owner's Cessna Citation X business jet. Through the years, he developed a close relationship with Westcor's owner, and in the past had expressed a casual, curious interest in acquiring the company. In December 2008, the owner asked Castrogiovanni if he still had thoughts of buying Westcor. Over the next few months, the two men began working on a proposal. By June 2009, they had come to an agreement for the company and various portions of its assets.

"They hired me as a general manager at that point, to come in and run the company as I saw fit," said Castrogiovanni. "I wanted to be able to get involved with it to see what was actually going on with the business. Then I had the option at the end of nine months to buy the company, or any of the pieces of the company, or to help them shut it down."

Needed Changes
One of the first areas he addressed was staffing. With everything that had gone on, the company was no longer flying very much, but it still had the structure of when it did. Explained Castrogiovanni, "When I got here in June 2009, I had a director of operations, a chief pilot, and a line pilot, and three helicopters on the 135 certificate, and everybody was drawing salaries. They had flown 42 revenue hours since January, the first six months of the year, between three people. So, something needed to change. Once we pared it down to a core group of people, we were left with a business with real potential."

In March 2010, Castrogiovanni exercised his option to purchase the company, although it took another eight months to wade through the associated red tape. In early November the deal was finalized and Vertical Aviation LLC was in business.

Castrogiovanni then wasted no time in re-defining the company's direction. He started by focusing on what Westcor had become best known for: helicopter maintenance. The maintenance team had a long history and an established reputation with customers. And, it consisted of individuals that worked well together and possessed a great depth of rotorcraft experience, especially with Eurocopter products. Castrogiovanni felt the existing maintenance team framework was a "diamond in the rough" and required only minor restructuring. "That's where I saw the potential; marketing and promoting the maintenance."

To further that direction, Vertical Aviation has been focused on expanding its maintenance capabilities to meet the needs of a wider array of makes and models. Said Hall, "In the past, our focus has primarily been Eurocopter, and we have become known for that. Even though we already service other makes of helicopters, we want to expand on those services to attract the owners of those other makes . . . such as Bell, Agusta, MD and Robinson."

But, it's also solidifying its traditional Turbomeca and Eurocopter sides, too. In addition to maintaining its status as a Level 1 and Level 2 Turbomeca service center, plans are in the works to add the capabilities to take the company to Level 3. And in March of this year, Vertical became one of only three American Eurocopter service centers to achieve the company's diamond rating for the year — the manufacturer's highest rating for its service centers.

Continuing Forward
In addition to Vertical's expanded maintenance capabilities, other planned new business offerings will include a wider array of services to assist owners and prospective owners with various aspects of aircraft ownership, and increased operational capabilities — including potentially acquiring Part 133 (external load) and Part 137 (agriculture) certificates to take advantage of contract opportunities throughout the region.

A more immediate part of the plan to increase helicopter operations will see Vertical Aviation acquire another aircraft and try to become carded to be eligible to bid on USDA Forest Service call-when-needed and exclusiveuse contracts throughout the Western U.S. This calls for a Eurocopter AS350 B2 or B3 to be brought on line in the next six months, so it can be ready for 2012.

As a businessman, Castrogiovanni understands the value of the three-part foundational model of products, relationships and reputation — all of which Vertical Aviation has in abundance through Westcor's 20+ successful years in business. Combine that strong Westcor foundation with Castrogiovanni's own experience, insight and willingness to embrace both opportunities and challenges, and you have a mix that should provide Vertical Aviation with the strength to continue to ably service its many existing clients, while also significantly growing its client base and expanding its service offering in the years to come.

Dan Megna recently retired after nearly 30 years with one of Southern California's sheriff's departments. His last 18 years were spent serving in the department's aviation unit, where he logged over 8,000 hours in helicopters as a tactical officer, pilot and flight instructor.

Vertical Aviation LLC, Scottsdale AZ has added an EC130B4 to its 135 certificate. The Helicopter will be based in Provo Utah. The 2003 720tt hour ship just completed maintenance and conformity inspection at our facility and is on its way home. Helicopter features quiet technology Fenestron fan tail and seating for 6 in a beautiful new leather interior. Call Vertical for availability and scheduling of this excellent helicopter.

Vertical Aviation LLC is an approved American Eurocopter and Turbomeca Service Center, FAA approved Part 135 and 145 Certificate holder providing complete helicopter maintenance, completions service, charter, sales and acquisitions.

The Arizona Republic

Schnepf Farms of Queen Creek is calling in air support to battle the freezing temperatures that threaten their peaches.

Owner Mark Schnepf is renting a helicopter - at a cost of about $850 an hour to hover over one of their orchards for a couple of hours before sunrise Thursday and Friday mornings. The idea said, is to replace the colder air near the ground with the slightly warmer air above. A difference of just a few degrees can mean the difference between light damage and total loss of what they claim is Arizona's largest peach crop.

In addition to the helicopter, Schnepf, who runs the farm with his wife, Carrie, is using hot water from a geothermal well and about 50 propane heaters to try to protect their peaches, which they value at around a quarter of a million dollars.

"It's our largest crop that we grow here," said Schnepf. "We've only had one crop failure in over 40 years of growing peaches, from a freeze a number of years ago. So we're hoping not to get a repeat of that." This is the first time they've used a helicopter for frost control, Schnepf said.

John Castrogiovanni, owner of Vertical Aviation in Scottsdale, is supplying a Robinson R44, a light utility and training helicopter that seats four, for the operation.

"Hopefully this will save their crop," said Castrogiovanni, who plans to hover about 100 feet above one of the Schnepf's orchards. "Their peach trees are budding right now. With a bigger helicopter, you get a bigger downwash, and too much wind can be detrimental."

Vertical Aviation often uses helicopters for frost and freeze control in Willcox and Safford. "It's a pretty normal operation for us," Castrogiovanni said.

Many orchards use fans to circulate air, said Kelly Young, an urban horticulture agent with the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County.

Schnepf, along with a small crew, planned to spend much of the next couple of nights in the orchards. Although their small geothermal well produces water that is nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit, it doesn't produce enough volume to protect the farm's six orchards, which total about 40 acres, he said.

Because the propane heaters only have enough fuel to run about six hours, they plan to light them around midnight, Schnepf said.

"I can't control (the weather)," he said. "But we'll light the heaters and start the water and have the helicopter come in and there's not much more I can do."

According to the National Weather Service website, temperatures in Queen Creek are expected to drop into the low-to-mid-20s Thursday and Friday mornings, and to just below freezing on Saturday morning. Overnight lows will then climb into the upper 30s for the next few days.

Regardless of temperatures, Schnepf Farms, at 24810 S. Rittenhouse Road, is holding its Peach Blossom Celebration every Thursday through Sunday this month, one of numerous events the Schnepfs have scheduled to mark the farm's 70th anniversary this year.

"Whether we have a peach crop or not, we'll have the Peach Blossom Celebration," Carrie Schnepf said. "So people can come out and see the trees in bloom, take hayrides around the farm, see how we're getting ready for the peach season."

Because they grow a variety of peaches, the trees sport blossoms ranging from snowy white to deep pink, and are at different stages of growth.

"Even if there aren't any peaches, we can still enjoy the blooms," Carrie Schnepf said, adding that they won't know for about three weeks if their frost-fighting efforts will be successful.

Monday, November 1st, 2010, marks the official start of Vertical Aviation! Under new ownership and management, Westcor Aviation, Inc. will now be known as Vertical Aviation LLC. For the past year, operations have been conducted under the direction of John Castrogiovanni as General Manager, and now as Owner and President, they anticipate the transition to be a seamless for their clients. The company will continue to provide the highest standard of helicopter service and maintenance as an FAA Certificated Repair Station and authorized service center for American Eurocopter, Turbomeca and MD Helicopters. In addition, Vertical Aviation offers sales, acquisitions, management and charter services to make them a "one stop shop" for helicopters. As Castrogiovanni sees it, "All great companies are built on the character of their people and we are fortunate to have an existing cohesive team of "people of excellence". Our attitude is one of never being satisfied with the "status quo", so we are always challenging ourselves to improve on our services to our customers. Our entire team is excited to take the company to new heights as Vertical Aviation!"

Inquiries can be directed to directly to John Castrogiovanni, President, johnc@verticalaviationllc.com or Alan Hall, Director of Maintenance, alan@verticalaviationllc.com.