Our Team
Please meet our Butterfly team which came together with years of flight experience:
Colin has over 20 years of aviation experience and over 5000 flight hours as a helicopter pilot. Over the course of his career Colin has flown a multitude of airframes such as Bell models 206, 205, 407, 505, multiple variants of the Airbus H125, H130, MD 500, Schweizer S300 series, and Robinson R22. Colin is also typed in the Embraer 175.
Starting his career as a flight instructor Colin expanded into and gain experience in several sectors of the industry to include: aerial photography, tours, vertical reference long line work, powerline work, and wildland firefighting.
Most recently, and for the later half of his career, Colin was engaged in the challenging environment of wildland fighting serving as a Type 2 Helitac pilot in a Bell 205A1++. This rewarding work provided flying experience over diverse high altitude terrain and in a variety of mission profiles ranging from long line bucket suppression, long line cargo support, belly tank suppression, aerial ignition, and airborne rappel.
Colin is a native to the Sonoma County area having grown up in the town of Sebastopol. After returning home from the Marine Corps he pursued his passion to become a helicopter pilot and settle in Sonoma County to raise his family.
"Living the dream!"
John has 16 years of experience in helicopters. After graduating Chico State University in 2002, he followed his passion of flight and went to flight school at Helicopters Incorporated. John is a Certified Flight Instructor with an Instrument rating (CFII). He is a Night Vision Goggle instructor and is carded for fire suppression operations with Cal Fire. John has also been working for the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office for the last 13 years as their Chief Pilot. John does various missions with the Sheriff's Office including vehicle pursuits, missing people, fire suppression, short haul rescues, and helo casting. As their Chief Pilot, John was instrumental in helping the Sheriff's Office build and develop their rescue and fire fighting program when it first started 2014. John has done multiple rescues while using a 100'-150' long line, moving injured people from a dangerous or hard to access place to a safer place and a higher level of medical care. John has 6800 hours in many different light helicopters including Bell 407's, Bell 206B3's and Bell 206L4's, Airbus H125's, and EC 130's.
Dan is the director of The Squadron, Inc. where he conducts project management, teaches applied safety management system principals, and instructs super-yacht crews/pilots in support of shipboard helicopter operations. Dan also serves as an inspector of helicopter landing areas aboard super-yachts for the international shipping registry Republic of Marshall Islands.
Dan has served 20 years as a helicopter pilot both for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, retiring from the military in 2011. During that career he has conducted a variety of rotary wing missions worldwide and served as a helicopter flight instructor for the U.S. Navy’s Flight School. He holds a Masters Degree in Aviation Management and is a graduate of the U.S. Navy’s Aviation Safety Officer Program. He currently flies a Bell 429 in support of VIP transport in the Washington D.C. and New York Metropolitan airspaces.
Dan holds an FAA Commercial-Fixed/ Rotary (CFII) & FAA Class 2 Medical. He has flown a total of 5,800 hours.
Originally trained in the US Army, Paul served for 24 years as an EMS, rescue and law enforcement helicopter pilot, safety officer and Chief Pilot for the Fairfax County Police Department. From 2013 to 2015, Paul held the position of Vice President of Operations for the Helicopter Association International.
Paul currently serves as a pilot for Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC and manages a fleet of three helicopters and three fixed wing aircraft. He also serves as a technical advisor to the American Helicopter Society where he is actively involved in the single engine IFR helicopter certification initiative and the development and introduction of new helicopter safety equipment.
Paul has over 10,000 flight hours in a variety of aircraft, with instructor-level expertise in the Bell models 429, 407, 206, 205, Airbus EC145/H145, H130, Pilatus PC-12 and Cessna Columbia 400 aircraft. Paul’s professional emphasis is the development of tailored operational procedures, focused crew training and flight operations quality assurance programs aimed to contain the most significant helicopter risk factors and eliminate accidents. He is active in heliport design, construction and helicopter-specific IFR infrastructure development.
Dr. Steven Ungerleider has been in the sport psych/medicine field for nearly 4 decades. He continues to serve with the United States Olympic Committee, the IOC, and the International Paralympic Committee. His six books and two films have earned him Oscar and Emmy Award nominations. He started Butterfly Aviation LLC in 2015; with a model for outreach and service to the Northern California support network. His model is a non-profit service organization, donating proceeds to several agencies that are in need.
Airline Transport Pilot FAA Certificate
CFII & AGI teaching certificates
Sean is the 135 Director of Operations and has operational control for all passenger carrying flights conducted by Butterfly Aviation.
Prior to joining the Butterfly team, Sean was the Director of Training for Heli Malongo, a gas and oil company based in west Africa. Upon returning to the U.S., he began flying corporate VIP helicopters in the north east region.
Sean began his flight career in Oregon where he received an aviation degree in flight technology. He then moved on to flight instruction, Grand Canyon tours, EMS, Utility and Offshore flying, holding the titles of Chief Flight Instructor, Chief Pilot, Check Airman, Director of Operations and Vice President of Commercial Operations along the way.
Sean has over 20 years of aviation experience and is an FAA designated pilot examiner for all levels of FAA pilot certificates. He is qualified for testing in the RobinsonR-22/R-44, Cabri G2, MD 500, Bell 505 & H-130.
