An expert team working to serve you and your aircraft
We recognize every operator is unique. This is why we take a custom approach to working with you. Here’s the expert team that supports you and your aircraft to keep you flying. Safely.
Richard Bacon
Founding Partner
Richard Bacon is the founder and face of Bacon Aviation. He is your personal navigator and advocate in building your custom inspection program. As a pilot, operator, and attorney, he knows aircraft, operations, and the regulations. Before founding Bacon Aviation, Richard Bacon was a successful executive at Lear Fan Ltd. He has worked closely with the FAA for a number of years, including serving as the industry’s “point person” in the Experimental Aircraft Association’s negotiations on 8130.2H, which addresses certification and airworthiness requirements for aircraft. He is a Commercial, Instrument, Multi-engine, and Glider pilot with more than 4,500 hours of flying time. He has an expert understanding of aircraft; he has obtained three aviation patents and rebuilt several aircraft.
John Bacon
Partner and ODA Administrator
John Bacon joined the business to grow the company and add more rigorous and formalized business and quality management processes. With his strong business background coupled with his aviation knowledge, he took the lead on obtaining FAA Organization Designation Authorization status and is currently the world’s only private citizen with this authority. In addition to leading the firm’s team of aviation experts, he develops scenarios to verify and validate the performance of documented processes to meet customer quality and reliability needs, often exceeding regulatory requirements. John Bacon oversees the company’s quality management system, including maintaining a quality audit database, documentation and tracking system, as well as audits/reviews of internal and external documents. He is a drone pilot and his hobbies include upkeep and maintenance of classic aircraft, e.g., L39 and 1979 Cessna P337H.
Carol Giles
Chief Regulatory Officer and ODA Unit Member
Carol Giles is Bacon Aviation’s top regulatory expert. Before leaving the FAA to start a global aviation consultancy, she led the agency’s Aviation Maintenance Division. As the lead for the global MRO industry, she represented the FAA on U.S. and international aircraft maintenance policy groups, provided strategic counsel to top FAA officials, led FAA-industry teams, and developed a series of aviation maintenance best practices documents. Carol Giles is the regulatory liaison for a leading U.S. organization representing aviation service businesses. She also provided regulatory support and technical assistance to an industry/government advisory rulemaking committee that made recommendations to the FAA on safety oversight and approvals. A Private Pilot, she holds an FAA Airframe and Powerplant Certificate.
Chris Leonard
ODA Unit Member
Chris Leonard is an expert in both writing technical manuals and in records management. An experienced project manager and technical writer, she develops maintenance control procedures and writes and coordinates FAA regulatory training manuals. Chris Leonard’s manufacturing background includes serving as manager of designation quality and compliance, ODAR administrator, PMA quality manager, and designated repair station inspector. She founded the International Society of Aviation Maintenance Professionals and holds an FAA Airframe and Powerplant certificate.