Reha (Ray) Ekinci
Chief Pilot

• Date of Birth - 19th April 1964
  
  
• Place of Birth - Burdar, Turkey (Emigrated in 1970/Age 6)
  
  
• Nationality - Australian
  
  
• Years Flying - Twenty two (22)
  
  
• Licenses Held
  - CASA and FAA fixed wing air transport licenses
  - 24 piston
  - Turbo-prop
  - Jets
  - Rotary wing aircraft

• Regional Flying - Australia, New Zealand, USA, Germany, Poland, Croatia, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Macau, South East Asia, East Timor, South America and most South African countries
  
  
• Primary contractor for the supply of fast jet training for the Croatian Air Force during the Serbo-Croatian conflict of 1991
  
  
• Tactical support and transport flying for the British Army Ghurka
  
  
• Guards on secondment to British firm Jardines Securicor in Hong Kong
  Captained a Boeing 727/44C in the Liberian and Ivory Coast war zones during 2003
  
  
• Currently one of only two testing officers approved by CASA to test pilots for low level aerobatic displays in combat aircraft
  
  
• Qualified air combat and strike fighter pilot and instructor (over 3,000 hours tactical flying experience)
  
  
• CASA approved as a maintenance test pilot for Eastern Bloc fast jets
  
  
• Numerous performances and displays flying fast jets at air shows
  
  
• Ratings and ApprovalsChief Pilot and Chief Flight Instructor
  - Grade one instructor rating
  - Command instrument rating
  - Authorised testing officer for the issue of Pilots Licenses
  - Low level aerobatic approval
  - Low level flight approval (below 150 feet)
  - CASA fast jet maintenance test pilot on Eastern Bloc jet fighters
  - Low level fast jet aerobatic testing approval

Reg (Reggy) Aydogan
Tactical Director

• Date of Birth - 5th February 1947
  
  
• Place of Birth - Ismir, Turkey
  
  
• Nationality - Australian
  
  
• Joined Turkish Air Force in 1965 as an Officer Cadet.
  
  
• After 3 years of academic study at the Turkish Air Force War College he commenced flight training and earned his wings in 1970.
  
  
• Six years spent flying F100 Sabre strike fighters as an attack pilot.
  
  
• In 1972 Recai won the all-NATO Air-to-Ground bombing and gunnery competition held in Italy. This was achieved using manually adjusted gun and bombing systems against the fully automated systems used in the more modern aircraft used by other NATO member nations.
  
  
• In 1974 Recai took part in the Cyprus conflict as an attack pilot in an F100 Super Sabre. A total of 14 hours was spent on target against ground and maritime assets. This included planning and executing attacks against heavily defended airfields and ports in Cyprus as well as being a member of an 8 plane strike force that attacked and sank a NATO class destroyer.
  
  
• In 1978 Recai was posted to command an air defense squadron and lead the squadron in defense and surface attack exercises.
  
  
• In 1980 Recai was promoted to the rank of Colonel and posted as the Wing Commander of the multi-national NATO Wing stationed in Eskisehir, Turkey.
  
  
• Recai retired from the Turkish Airforce as a Colonel in 1992 and migrated to Australia.
  
  
• Recai has worked with ACA since 1992.
  
  

Trevor Merton
Technical Director

• Date of Birth - 17th September 1945
  
  
• Place of Birth - Melbourne, Australia
  
  
• Nationality - Australian
  
  
• Pilot since - 1962
  
  
• Flinders Island Airlines/Melbourne during 1966-67.
  
  
• Australian Army contract flying including low level reconnaissance, target and drop zone marking as well as supply dropping operations.
  
  
• Executive Air Services/Melbourne from 1969 to 1973
  
  
• Royal Australian Navy target towing. This entailed towing banner targets for shore installations and ships as live ammunition gunnery practice.
  
  
• Senior Check Captain for Qantas from 1990
  
  
• NSW state aerobatic champion in 1992
  
  
• National Test Pilot School, Mojave California in 1998 doing fixed wing performance and handling quality evaluations
  
  
• Resigned from Qantas in 2003 and has been on ACA staff since.
  
  
• Holds CASA Air Transport Pilot License with over 20,000 flight time in over 50 different types of fixed wing aircraft including fast jets and multi-engine jets.
  
  
• Senior Vice President of Precision Aero Engineering, LLC, Camarillo, USA
  
  
• Managing Director, Merton & Associates P/L, Aeronautical Engineers and Aviation Consultants