DeWitte Binkley, the general manager of SureFlight whose aviation career has spanned more than 40 years, will be honored during Heli-Expo’s Salute to Excellence Award luncheon on March 6 with the Bell Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognizes long and significant service to the international helicopter community.
Binkley was SureFlight’s first employee in 2009 and has steered the business from a paint shop with 3,600 sq ft to one that spans 34,000 sq ft and is a certified repair station that also handles avionics and interiors.
His success at SureFlight builds on a career that began as an aircraft painter in 1977 with Atlantic Aviation in Wilmington, Delaware. He eventually joined AgustaWestland’s helicopter paint facility in Philadelphia, working with maintenance manager Mario Ceriani to design and mock-up the first Agusta A109 test aircraft. Binkley hand-carved that first mock-up. He later joined Keystone Helicopter, managing the paint shop for 23 years and continuing in that role after Sikorsky acquired Keystone.
Rampmaster founder Robert Watkins sought Binkley's consultation in 2008 to assist with the opening of a new paint shop, SureFlight. A year later Binkley was on board as the venture opened.
He is credited with carefully assembling a team that shares his passion for ensuring customers are happy with the investment they made in their aircraft. “Although DeWitte has high expectations for quality and detail, he never asks more of the employees he works with than he asks of himself. He treats everyone with respect, as valuable members of the team. That respect comes back to him in the form of some of the most talented, dedicated, and hardest-working people in aviation,” HAI said of his nomination.
In addition to his dedication to his work, Binkley is active in charitable work, donating time and materials for painting and restoration of equipment for the Chester County Sheriff’s Department, including squad cars, a SWAT Hummer, and an emergency response trailer. He also helped in the development of the American Helicopter Museum in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
