New Project Reunites Old Friends
February 24, 2026
Two longtime associates of King Aerospace Chairman and Founder Jerry King recently came out of retirement to lend a hand with a VIP Boeing 777 undergoing maintenance and interior refurbishment at the company’s facilities in Bentonville, AR.
Industry professionals Chris Mason and John McWilliam have both known King for nearly 40 years, dating back to their time at Associated Air Center in Dallas, TX. McWilliam joined AAC in 1988 following his graduation from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
“My degree was in maintenance management, but my background was general aviation,” he recalls. “Jerry hired me as a mechanic and gave me the chance to prove myself and get to know the aircraft better before I moved into management and planning.”
McWilliam continued working at AAC after King left to start his own company, and it was there he met Boyd Hunsaker, who now serves as Director of Sales for King Aerospace. “Boyd was fresh out of A&P school and working as a mechanic, and I hired him into management,” McWilliam says. “We’ve been buddies going way back, camping and hunting with our kids and whatnot.”
McWilliam later moved to Gore Design (which became GDC Technics) where he worked on two Boeing 787s and a 777 for a Saudi operator. He remained with that company until it shifted focus away from MRO work to 777 cargo modifications, at which time he retired.
Mason joined AAC after leaving the military in 1990. He worked there for more than 20 years before moving to Comlux, where he launched their sales department.
“My final gig was down in San Antonio, where I worked for [King Aerospace Senior Director for Special Projects] Ron Soret at Aeria Luxury Interiors,” Mason continues. “After Aeria shut down during the pandemic, I retired and figured I was just kind of done… Until I got a call from Ron a few years later about another VIP aircraft project.”
That led to his work on the foreign government 777 currently in the hangar in Bentonville. Mason previously sold aircraft to the customer, which made him a natural for this project. “I really like the customer and I really like King,” he says. “Those two things came together nicely.”
For McWilliam, “Boyd called up and asked me to help with some scheduling work on the 777 ahead of its arrival in Arkansas,” he says. “I’m one of those people who has a hard time saying no, but they knew Chris and I could help out, so we agreed to make sure they got off on the right foot.”
Mentoring ‘A Very Capable Group of People’
Scheduled work on the 777 includes refurbishment of the main lavatory and several rooms in the cabin, along with a full interior structure inspection with an emphasis on eliminating squeaks and rattles that developed over the past fifteen years.
King Aerospace will also perform heavy maintenance on the aircraft, and ensure all service bulletins are up to date. “Chris and I agreed early on, ‘you handle the interior and I’ll handle the maintenance,’ and we’ll get them going,” McWilliam says.
“I really like the facility up at Bentonville,” Mason adds. ” There are a lot of moving parts to bringing one of these airplanes in and turning it back around in four months, and this is truly an opportunity for them to excel. If I can be a small part of that, it’s a great way for me to kind of close out my career on a higher point than where I left it in 2021.”
Technicians in Arkansas are highly experienced with working on corporate jets and special operations aircraft. However, “the large aircaft VIP market is a very different world,” McWilliam says. “There aren’t a whole lot of us left with experience there.”
“Chris and I kind of stepped in and said, ‘Okay, we’ll show you how we do this,'” he continues. “We’re here to advise and to mentor this very capable group of people. There are some things they just aren’t used to doing and certain ways that things need to be done. They’re picking it all up very well.”
“I’ve never been a ‘my way or the highway’ kind of guy,” Mason adds. “Instead, I show them how I’ve handled that task in the past – And if somebody says they may have a better way of doing something, I want them to tell me. I just like being part of a team.”
The men work closely with King Aerospace personnel in Bentonville, and also interact with the customer’s program manager and their on-site representatives. As they look forward to delivering the customer’s aircraft on-time, on-budget and squawk-free, Mason and McWilliam both expressed their appreciation for the team at King Aerospace.
“This company’s longevity is pretty incredible,” Mason says. “Jerry looked into the future a bit and diversified with government, military and commercial sides. A lot of companies that were around when King Aerospace was founded are no longer there.”
“They’re a good group of people in Bentonville,” McWilliam adds. “I hope I’ve been able to help them ‘fine tune’ their operations and I look forward to working with them again anytime they need me.”