Associate Vice President, Aviation Operations
Gerald M. Pagano is the Associate Vice President of Aviation Operations for the Health Care District of Palm Beach County. In this role Pagano oversees operations, staffing and maintenance of the District’s two Trauma Hawk helicopters which provide medical transport for traumatically injured patients who receive life-saving care at one of the county’s two Trauma Centers.
Pagano guided the process of transitioning the District’s Aeromedical Program from operation under the public aircraft rules to FAA certification as an on-demand Air Carrier in accordance with Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations.
Besides directing an efficient, effective and safe air ambulance program, he maintains the working relationship with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue for the provision of EMS services on the aircraft and has initiated regular improvements to the Aeromedical Program’s level of service and operational safety. Pagano played a key role in the District’s purchase of aircraft and hiring of pilots as well as the design and development of the Aeromedical hangar facility, the District’s first ground-up development project.
Pagano began his aviation career in the military and attended the U.S. Army Aviation School. His experience includes a tour of duty as a Chinook pilot in Vietnam and assignments in both rotor and fixed-wing aircraft during his active and reserve service. After leaving the active military, he worked for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an air traffic controller at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center where the knowledge and experience he gained proved invaluable in his future employment with the District.
After service with the FAA, Pagano moved to Connecticut and started a manufacturing business. In 1988, he returned to Florida where he began employment with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue and separately started his own helicopter training center in Boca Raton. Shortly after the District’s Aeromedical Program began to take shape in late 1990, Pagano was assigned to a Trauma Hawk pilot position. In 1993, he was promoted to Part 135 Program Coordinator when the Board decided to pursue the FAA Air Carrier Operating Certificate.
Pagano holds a Bachelor of Science from Barry University. He holds an FAA Airline Transport Pilot’s license, is a certified flight instructor, FAA check airman and has been certified by the Transportation Safety Institute as an aviation safety program manager.
Pagano is active in the air medical industry and emergency medical services. He is the current chair of the national Air Medical Operators Association Board of Directors, a past chair of the Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS) Board of Directors and of the AAMS Safety Committee. He has also served on the Palm Beach County EMS Advisory Council, is a past president of the Florida AeroMedical Association and a recipient of the Florida EMS Pilots Association’s “EMS Pilot of the Year” award and the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation’s Winged S award.