Response Aviation Search
About
Response Aviation Search is an independent private aviation advisory firm: advisory and talent strategy for private flight departments with no aircraft to sell, no fleet to manage, and no transaction commission in the room. That independence is the firm’s core design — in an industry where advisory, brokerage, and management constantly blur, every recommendation stays aligned with the client’s long-term interests.
The firm’s premise is that most flight departments are run like a hobby long after they have become institutions: undefined roles, reactive compensation, no succession plan, and one trusted person quietly holding the operation together. Response provides the governance layer — structure, accountability, and continuity — before a quiet gap becomes a public crisis.
Response serves corporate flight departments, principals and family offices, and the professional advisors around them — brokers, attorneys, and CPAs — and engages by mandate, a limited number at a time: ongoing advisory retainers with quarterly review and annual compensation insight, scoped project mandates, and standalone discreet talent searches.
What they do
Governance & organizational insight
Objective analysis of how a flight department is structured, staffed, and led — organizational design, leadership alignment, and long-term planning.
Succession & talent strategy
Pilot recruitment, leadership search for Chief Pilot, Director of Aviation, and Director of Maintenance roles, compensation benchmarking, and succession planning built for retention.
Leadership support & alignment
An outside perspective that strengthens a team’s structure, clarity, and cohesion — supporting leadership, never overriding it.
Our leaders engaged here
Andrew Gutterman
Executive Recruiter
Neil Capano
Executive Recruiter
Frequently asked questions
- What does Response Aviation Search do?
- Response Aviation Search is an independent private aviation advisory firm in New York providing governance, succession planning, executive search, and compensation benchmarking for corporate flight departments and family offices — with no aircraft sales, fleet management, or transaction commissions.
- Why does independence matter in private aviation advisory?
- Because advisory, brokerage, and management constantly blur in private aviation, an advisor who earns only when you transact has a conflict. Response Aviation Search takes no commissions and manages no fleet, so its recommendations are aligned solely with the flight department’s long-term interests.
- What roles does Response Aviation Search place?
- Response Aviation Search recruits and places flight-department leadership and crew — Chief Pilots, Directors of Aviation, Directors of Maintenance, accountable managers, and line pilots — for family offices and corporate flight departments.
Response Aviation Search is part of the Flight Level Partners company directory — the operators and organizations our leaders are engaged with. Read why fractional leadership took hold in business aviation, or browse the leaders in the network.