The Maltese aviation organization Mavio presented the annual awards for the tenth time on Monday. Due to the corona pandemic, the event had to be paused in 2020 and 2021. Maltese aviation employees were awarded prizes in three categories.

In the Lifetime Achievement category, Lt. Col. Joseph Smith presented the award by Secretary of Transportation Aaron Farrugia. During his active duty, which lasted from 1971 to 1998, the pilot operated five different types of helicopters. He began his career with the Bell 47G and most recently flew the Agusta Bell AB212.

Rachel Grech, Head of Personnel Licensing at the Civil Aviation Authority of Malta, CAD, won the Executive of the Year category. Among others, it has been praised by countless people who have had to deal with the tedious process of converting or updating their license

The Aviator of the Year award went to Malta MedAir First Officer Trevor Zammit. The pilot is also active as a flight instructor and examiner. Zammit was awarded for a successful emergency landing, which he carried out on November 1, 2021 with a Piper Seneca at Luqa Airport (Malta). The aircraft he was flying had technical problems with the starboard main landing gear. Zammit managed to land the small machine safely. As the pilot is currently based in Antalya as part of a wet lease assignment that Malta MedAir is carrying out for Corendon Airlines, the award was accepted on behalf of his wife Claire Zammit-Xuereb.

Malta is the smallest member of the European Union. The population is just over half a million people. The aviation community is accordingly quite small, however due to the strong expansion of various companies steadily growing. Mavio has presented annual awards to aviation professionals based in Malta for the past decade. These also serve as recognition for special achievements. The most recent award ceremony took place in Qawra on Monday.