Team Member Spotlight: Lead Maintenance Technician, Walter Wilken

Walter Wilken: Service With A Smile

One of the primary things that sets APEX Flight Solutions apart from our contemporaries when it comes to aircraft management is our in-house maintenance team. We only work on aircraft in our management stable at our 26,000 sq. ft. facility located at Austin Executive Airport, so our clients know they are the sole focus of our crew of expert A&Ps. Heading up our crew is Lead Maintenance Technician, Walter Wilkin.

Walter was born on the east coast, growing up in his early years in New York and Pennsylvania, but he eventually settled in southern California where his stepfather was based as a pilot for United. Having a keen interest in wrenching on cars and motorcycles, along with his ties to aviation, Walter decided to give A&P school a try and found a program in Los Angeles where he completed his training.

Shortly after earning his certificate, Walter went to work for Global Wulfsberg, a subsidiary of Sunstrand Data Control and one of the first companies to offer satellite datalink services to corporate aircraft, taking care of their fleet of King Airs. In 1993, Allied Signal acquired Sunstrand and dissolved Global Wulfsberg, and with that acquisition, they moved their fleet to Prescott, Arizona, and Walter with it. Walter would spend 26 years in Prescott where he would raise his family. He has two children who still call Arizona home.

By fortuitous happenstance, Allied Signal’s hangar was right next door to the budding operation that would become APEX Flight Solutions. Walter and Ross became close friends, loaning tools and offering assistance between the hangars. When Ross moved APEX’s operation to Texas in 2014, the two men kept in close touch. Eventually, realizing he needed a gifted A&P, Ross tapped Walter to move to Texas. Walter found himself looking for new horizons due to changes within Allied Signal, which by this time was a multinational subsidiary of Honeywell. So, in 2017, Walter pulled up stakes and took Ross up on his offer.

Since his move, Walter has been a driving force in ensuring APEX’s clientele is afforded the highest caliber of maintenance services. His 35 years of experience and encyclopedic knowledge of every aircraft we have in the stable make him an invaluable part of the APEX maintenance crew. Additionally, he is a vital mentor to our newer technicians, conveying his knowledge to the next generation of the APEX team and ensuring the APEX standard is met throughout the entire maintenance operation.