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About Omni Air Group
MISSION STATEMENT
Omni Air Group's mission is to promote positive safety cultures
by delivering
the highest quality systems, services and training to our global aviation industry.
Omni Air Group was founded in 1997 by the Salerno family of Seattle, Washington. Retired Pan Am flight engineer and President of Salair Joseph M. Salerno earned his A&E mechanic’s license and a Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Tri-State College in Angola, Indiana, before becoming a professional flight engineer for Pan American World Airways in 1941. Serving in this capacity, Joe flew the Boeing 314 Clipper and the Martin M-130 for Pan Am during WWII, and thereafter the Boeing Stratocruiser, Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation and Douglas DC-6 / DC-7 series aircraft.
In 1947 Joe met his wife-to-be Edie Salerno while they were both flying DC-6s to Alaska for Pan Am out of Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington. Edie was a stewardess for Pan Am on the DC-3, DC-4 and DC-6. Two years earlier in 1945, she had taken flying lessons in an Aeronca Chief from aviation pioneer Charlie McAllister and soloed out of Yakima, Washington in a Taylorcraft. Joe and Edie were married in April of 1949.
In 1958, Joe was selected as one of Pan Am’s first professional flight engineers to transition to the Boeing 707 and then went on to serve on the Boeing 747 for his remaining years at Pan American. Joe was forced to retired from Pan Am in 1977 at age 60.
Three years later in 1980, Bruce and Paul Salerno purchased a DC-3 freighter and began flying fresh salmon from the beaches of Bristol Bay to Anchorage, Alaska. In 1981, Joe and Edie joined their sons in the venture and Salair was born.
During the 1980’s Salair grew quickly under the leadership of CEO Bruce Salerno, but not without drawing on Joe and Edie’s vast aviation experience. Salair’s fleet of nine DC-3 and three CV-440 aircraft flew in scheduled and on-demand service for UPS, Flying Tigers, Emery Worldwide, DHL, Airborne, FedEx and the US Postal Service.
Salair certificated under parts 125, 135 and 121 of the FARs, obtained multiple airworthiness certificates for their DC-3s, developed approved Airplane Flight Manuals and obtained several STCs for innovative modifications, including a unique 88” x 125” palletized configuration which permitted rapid transfer of cargo from narrow body jets, and remains in use today. The company also performed depot-level maintenance including DC-3 airframe overhauls from their Spokane, Washington hangar.
Salair trained and employed hundreds of pilots (who were required to be A&P mechanics), many of whom went on to become airline pilots for the majors. From 1980 through 1997, Salair / Classic Airlines conducted scheduled and on-demand all-cargo and passenger operations throughout Alaska, Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean under Salair’s 121/135 certificate and DOT authorities.
Salair DC-3s can be seen in the 1985 NOVA Documentary “The Plane That Changed The World” and other 1980s movies and TV episodes such as Rocky IV, Simon & Simon, Macgyver, Crime Story and others.
But Salair was not without incident or accident. After more than 60,000 hours of accident-free operation, the company suffered two fatal accidents and then a third accident without injury, within an 18 month period. The Salerno family knows all too well the costs of an accident, and understand that we cannot replace lives lost nor repair hearts broken. Salair ceased operations on May 5, 1997. The families of those whose lives were lost, and the company, never fully recovered.
In December of 1997 Salair was sold to Air Alaska Cargo, Inc., and Joe Salerno finally retired. Bruce and Paul Salerno began to assist other operators with consulting, certification and compliance. While conducting research regarding certification of new-entrant 121 carriers in the US under ATOS, Paul Salerno discovered SMS concepts. He quickly realized that SMS can save lives, improve morale and actually enhance an organization’s bottom line; his passion for SMS was born.
In the summer of 2006 Omni Air Group shifted its focus from compliance-based consulting to development of the company’s Quality SMS products and services, in response to new SMS requirements under ICAO Annexes 6, 11 & 14. OAG owners and directors quickly recognized the need to integrate modern information technology and quality management principles within the structure of SMS. A formal SMS Program, or manual was written and ATOS safety attributes were incorporated to achieve the highest level of safety.
Teaming up with award-winning software developer Rich Stuart, Rich’s Incident Reporter™ (IR) database was then further developed and refined to align with the OAG Quality SMS and meet ICAO, Transport Canada and FAA functional requirements for risk management, documentation and controls. IRv2.1 is currently in use by dozens of aviation service providers, worldwide. Now in its 12th year, OAG delivers the highest quality SMS products and services, and is a leader in professional SMS development.
Omni Air Group’s directors and key managers possess well over 100 years of combined experience as owners and operators of various aviation and information technology enterprises. Our aviation expertise comes from the “real world” side of industry, and includes experience with FAA and DOT certification, FAA civil penalties and certificate actions, aviation insurance and countless lessons learned. Have a question? Give us a call and we’ll do our best to answer, free of charge.
For more information, contact Omni Air Group:
Paul Salerno, President
509.838.8121
Omni Air Group, Inc.
6421 South Dorset Road
Spokane, Washington USA 99224
Toll-free within the US: 1.877.727.8121
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