About the Speakers – 2023 NBAA PDP Course: Organizational Risk Management

This PDP course will feature three experts in the field of aviation risk management:

• Christa Hinckley, LeClairRyan
• David Norton, Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton, LLP
• Brint Smith, ARM, John F. Throne & Co./Alliant

Christa Hinckley

LeClairRyan

Christa Hinckley has over 30 years of legal and management experience. Her primary areas of practice are aviation, aviation insurance, emergency response and crisis preparedness in the transportation industry. Her experience consists of a broad range of issues in the aviation industry. Her clients include high net worth individuals who own or operate their own aircraft, charter operators, management companies, airlines, aviation maintenance technology companies, and flight departments of international corporations, as well other companies whose businesses include transportation regulatory oversight. She advises them on aircraft acquisition and disposition, regulatory compliance, insurance, and maintenance, repair and overhaul agreements.

Hinckley began her career with a major Denver based law firm before joining American Airlines’ Legal Department in 1986. From 1986 to 1994, Ms. Hinckley held various positions in American’s Legal Department. In 1994, she became the Managing Director of Insurance and Risk Management for American Airlines, American Eagle (now Envoy) and other affiliates, a position she held until late 2001. In that capacity, Ms. Hinckley was on the two airlines’ “Go-Teams,” and responded to four fatal accidents involving AA and AE and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Ms. Hinckley also managed the legal and insurance aspects of AA’s participation in the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program during Desert Shield and Desert Storm and was one of the initial Managing Directors of AA/AE’s Customer Assistance Response Effort (“CARE”) which became one of the templates for other commercial airlines’ family assistance programs.

Hinckley is frequently a keynote speaker at aviation conferences, and is active in several professional organizations, including NBAA as a member of the NBAA’s Regulatory Issues Advisory Group. She is also a member of the American Bar Association, the Aviation Section of the State Bar of Texas, the Aviation Insurance Association, the Wings Club and the International Aviation Women’s Association.

Hinckley is also a pro bono attorney for the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, and a member of the New York Committee supporting the Human Rights Watch. While at American Airlines, Hinckley was active in and held leadership positions with both the Air Transport Association (now A4A) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

She is licensed to practice law in Texas and Colorado. Hinckley is a Phi Beta Kappa, Magna cum Laude graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio with a BA in ppolitical sscience, and an Order of St. Ives graduate of the University of Denver College of Law.

David Norton

Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton, LLP

David T. Norton is head of the aviation law practice for Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton, LLP and a member of the firm’s management committee. He has a nationally recognized aviation law practice that encompasses a broad range of regulatory, transactional and commercial issues, including various transactional matters such as whole and fractional aircraft sale and purchase; management, leasing, hangaring and refurbishment arrangements; and commercial civil litigation and arbitration disputes involving the ownership, operation and manufacture of aircraft and aircraft parts. He also handles disputes involving other aviation-related businesses and overall aviation-related risk management planning.

His clients include individual aircraft owners, operators and manufacturers, corporate flight departments, certificated air carriers and repair stations, as well as various other companies whose businesses invoke transportation-related regulatory oversight. His work has earned him a place on Thomas Reuters Legal’s Texas Super Lawyers listing seven times, from 2008 through 2014.

Norton served as the Industry Co-Chair of the joint FAA/Industry RVSM LOA Process Enhancement Team of the Performance based Advisory Rule Marketing Committee, as well as on the Applicability Working Group of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Part 135/125 Advisory Rulemaking Committee, the FAA’s effort to review and potentially rewrite the regulations that govern all on-demand commercial aviation transportation activity in the United States.

Norton was an officer in the U.S. Air Force from 1984 to 1993, serving primarily as a KC-10A pilot and aircraft commander. He received several military decorations, including the Meritorious Service Medal and the Aerial Achievement Medal for his contributions in Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Restore Hope. Mr. Norton holds many civil certificates and ratings issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. He is an airline transport pilot (multi-engine land) with a DC-10 type rating, and a commercial pilot (single engine land). He also maintains his certification as a flight instructor, instrument and multi-engine, as well as an advanced ground and instrument instructor.

Norton is active in numerous professional and civic organizations. He is a past Chair of the Aviation Section of the State Bar of Texas, as well as a past Chair of NBAA’s Domestic Operations Committee, and is currently a member of the NBAA’s Regulatory Issues Advisory Group, the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association and the AOPA Legal Services Panel. He is an advisory board member for the Journal of Air Law & Commerce, published by the Law Review Association of the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Frontiers of Flight Museum, located at Dallas’ Love Field Airport, and formally served as president and a trustee of Challenge Air for Kids & Friends, Inc., a Dallas-based nonprofit corporation that provides instructional, therapeutic and educational aviation experiences for disabled children. Norton regularly writes and speaks on aviation law topics for a number of national and regional business, legal and aviation-oriented organizations.

Brint Smith, ARM

John F. Throne & Co./Alliant

For nearly 30 years, Brint Smith specialty has been placing tailored insurance with broader than standard coverage and higher than typical liability limits; and providing noninsurance asset protection and liability insulation solutions. Clients are from North America and overseas and include HNW individuals and families, private and public companies, owner-operators, charter and management companies, maintenance facilities, and more. Equipment insured includes yacht-based and supporting aircraft, VVIP airline equipment, business jets, helicopters and vintage and experimental aircraft.

Smith is ccurrent vice-chair of NBAA Operational Excellence Strategic Focus Team and past member of NBAA’s Tax Committee. He is past president and director of the Pacific Northwest Business Aviation Association.

Brint earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Vermont and has earned the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) certification. He is a single-engine rated, private pilot who speaks frequently on aviation risk and insurance topics, and has authored several technical articles.

For More Information

For more information, contact NBAA’s Molly Hitch at mhitch@nbaa.org or 202-783-9353.