Bio
Fax Ayres, President and Chief Pilot
Fax began flying in 1990, earning his private pilot certificate at Boeing Airfield in Seattle, WA. Dividing his time between Alaska and Seattle, Fax flew his 1948 Luscombe 8A with fabric wings and no electrical system back and forth, returning to Boeing Field each winter to pursue more flight training and to earn additional certificates and ratings.
In 1992, Fax began his professional flying career with Skagway Air Service, a Part 135 charter operator based in Skagway, AK. He sold the Luscombe and purchased a Citabria 7ECA. While working in Skagway, Fax applied for and received admission to the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia and, in the summer of 1994, flew his Citabria across the country to Virginia.
Living in Charlottesville for the first time, Fax earned his MBA in 1996. He continued to fly recreationally over the next twelve years while working in finance and starting other small businesses in New York and Charlottesville.
In 2008, Fax began to look for ways to combine professional flying with his background in business management. He resumed flight instructing, pursued more advanced pilot certificates, and began looking for business opportunities in aviation.
Currently he owns and operates the flight school Orion Flight Center; manages and flies corporate aircraft for clients; is in training with a local air charter company and works as a contract pilot ferrying airplanes for an aircraft broker.
Orion Flight Center represents his desire to bring a high level of customer service and professionalism to the flight training experience that is often missing in flight school environments.