Our Team in Action
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Mike Challenger - Owner & Founder
Mike is the owner and founder of CAS. After a decade as a licensed A&P working in commercial airlines and corporate aviation, Mike started his own maintenance company specializing in the inspection and repair of corporate jets in July 2007.
Mike has successfully led aviation operations operating under CFR Part 145, 135, 121, and 91. He is certified in Six Sigma, A&P, and IA. Mike serves on a council board and has also received personal business coaching for over a decade. Mike has a proven track record of successful leadership and bases his successes on core values and doing all things with integrity.
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Mikelle Challenger - CoOwner & HR Department
After being Mike’s home support for the first 14 years, in 2021 Mikelle became an active part of CAS’s HR department.
She works closely with CAS’s leadership team for hiring, SWPPP, drug programs, paying bills, involved in marketing and helping other team members with special projects. “My favorite part of the job is building community at CAS with monthly company lunches that recognize each employee’s birthday and work anniversary”.
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Joe Rank - Maintenance Controller
Joe joined CAS as a Maintenance Controller in the summer of 2016. He coordinates all of the maintenance performed by the team of technicians both in the CAS hangar at Hobby and on location AOG call-outs. He also works personally with customers to ensure the best quality of maintenance in a timely manner.
He started his aviation career in 1988 in the US Army. He is a licensed A&P and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Admin, majoring in Aviation Management. He has nearly 20 years of experience in engineering maintenance control positions with Part 121 and 135 Operators
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Jody Franks - Business Manager
Jody has headed up CAS’s Accounting and HR departments. She graduated from the University of Houston in Clear Lake with a degree in Business Management with a focus in HR. Her well-rounded background that makes her perfect for this job includes experience as an HR representative in the manufacturing and distribution industries and financial experience in the banking industry.
Here at CAS, Jody spends her work days in communication with every single person/company that has interactions with CAS from owners, employees, and contractors to customers, vendors, and government agencies.
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Ben Still - Quality Assurance Manager
As our QA Manager, Ben works with our team of technicians to maintain the quality and integrity of maintenance on corporate jets both in our hangar on AOG callouts. He earned his A&P in 1981 and IA in 1984.
Ben has spent the last 4 decades performing maintenance on general and corporate aviation parts 91,135 and 145 including the entire Gulfstream family (from G2 to G650) as well as on-call airline part 121. From overseeing log book entries to making sure CAS stays in daily compliance with the FAA regulations, Ben’s leadership of our team in maintaining safe practices is invaluable.
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Wolf Kayser - Lead A&P Technician
Wolf graduated “1st in his class” and earned his A&P in 1983. Over the past 40 years, his aviation titles include: Senior Technician at Cessna Air Center, Director of Maintenance, Maintenance Manager and Chief of Maintenance.
Wolf stated, “My favorite part of working at CAS is the variety of aircraft we maintain and the different tasks required to be completed. My strength is using my experience to organize and supervise large inspections to maximize efficiency and timeliness, a benefit to the customer and to CAS.
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Willie Turrubiartes - A&P Technician
After working in the aviation industry as a line service tech starting in 2006, Willie received his A&P license in 2015 and 3 years later joined our CAS team. Since then he has had first-hand experience in nearly every corporate jet including his favorite Lear 45.
Willie’s advice to any new A&P is, “Be a sponge. Never say I already know.” Willie can be found each week leading teams in our Hobby Hangar or working remotely via our MSU trucks.
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Nathan White - Parts Manager
In 2023, Nathan reorganized CAS’s entire parts library for keeping track of hardware and small parts that are used on a daily basis by our technicians. Nathan not only redesigned the parts library but he also created a detailed online parts database so that our technicians can quickly search for the parts they need to do their job efficiently.
Nathan is sponsored by CAS for a 3-year apprenticeship to earn his A&P and then plans to join the CAS technicians team in the hangar.
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Dowell Jefferies - A&P Technician
In 1976, Dowell surprised his family after high school graduation, when he announced he would be working on airplanes instead of cars. A year later he earned his A&P and got his first job working on turbo single engine Cessnas that flew to Reservations.
Later he became a Tech Rep for Raytheon which is where he first met Wolf. Dowell joined the CAS team in 2020 as an experienced A&P Technician. “My specialty is troubleshooting all aircraft. If it’s new then it’s more of a challenge which means more fun!
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Brian Belcher - A&P Technician
Brian first became aware of CAS in 2018 when he met with Mike to determine if the aviation industry would be a good fit for him. He acquired his A&P license soon afterward and secured a job in Arizona breaking down aircraft.
After a few years he returned to Houston and immediately joined the CAS team in 2023. Brian can be found working on aircraft inspections in the hangar as well as is CAS’s primary on Airline Meet and Greets. His favorite aspect of working at CAS, “I get to touch and do EVERYTHING!”