Our story
Kelly Kidwell first saw the Olympic Peninsula from the cockpit of his own airplane about twenty years ago, flying in with his family to camp and hike. He and his wife, Cristy, kept coming back, and eventually made the Peninsula home.
When he could not find a fractional share of an aircraft to fly from Fairchild, Kelly called Jeff Well about buying a plane. Jeff had run Rite Bros. Aviation, the Peninsula's charter service since 1981, for more than twenty-five years. Jeff had worked for decades to keep air service at this airport and wanted to know it would continue. Over lunch, the conversation moved from buying an airplane to buying the company.
Kelly formed Citizen Air in 2024 and acquired Rite Bros. in 2025. Every Rite Bros. employee stayed on, and Jeff stayed too, as our Director of Operations. Since then we have added fractional ownership of a Cirrus SR22 and an Embraer Phenom 100, aircraft management and the FBO, and grown the maintenance department Rite Bros. built.
Charter flying begins from Fairchild International in Port Angeles.
He leads Rite Bros. as president and director of operations for the next twenty-seven years.
Kelly Kidwell founds Citizen Air.
The charter certificate, the aircraft and every employee carry forward.
A Safety Management System, the Cirrus SR22 on our charter certificate, Tecnam Authorized Service Center status, and the Tecnam P2012 Traveller.
Leadership team
Between them: careers in the Air Force, the Navy and the Coast Guard, and more than 30,000 hours in the air.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Private pilot · Instrument
A pilot since 2000 and the founder of Pacific Advisors, the financial services firm he built over three decades and now chairs. He founded Citizen Air to keep air service on the Peninsula and to build it out for the long term.
President
A&P · B.S. Management
More than thirty years in aviation, starting as a U.S. Air Force aircraft technician. He has helped run maintenance for a Part 135 operator, directed maintenance for a Fortune 200 flight department, and led aircraft acquisitions and hundreds of deliveries. He oversees flight operations, maintenance and the FBO.
Director of Operations
ATP · Phenom 100 type · CFII · A&P
Ran Rite Bros. Aviation for twenty-seven years before it became Citizen Air. A former U.S. Air Force F-111 aircraft commander and instructor and an airline first officer, with more than 20,000 flight hours. A check airman on our certificate.
Chief Pilot and Safety Manager
ATP · CFI, CFII, MEI · A&P, IA
Twenty-six years as a U.S. Navy aviator, flying the EA-6B and F/A-18, graduating as an experimental test pilot and commanding a squadron. Then Alaska floatplanes and chief pilot of a U.S. Forest Service Beaver program. More than 10,000 flight hours. A check airman on our certificate.
Director of Maintenance
A&P · B.S. Aeronautics
Nineteen years as a U.S. Coast Guard aviation maintenance technician, including running the maintenance department at Air Station Port Angeles and teaching at the Coast Guard's technical training center. Then quality assurance manager for two Navy flight test squadrons.
Director of Administrative Operations
Runs the business side of the company: insurance, accounting, benefits and the paperwork that keeps an air carrier in good standing. If you have worked with us on a contract or an invoice, you have worked with Kecia.
FBO Manager
Runs the FBO: fuel, the ramp, the line team and the front desk in the terminal. He is usually the first person you meet when you arrive, whether you are flying with us or flying in.
Twenty-two people behind every flight
Our maintenance technicians are introduced on the Maintenance page and our instructors on the Flight Training page. Our pilots, line team and office staff are the rest of the twenty-two people behind every flight.
Safety
Safety is easy to claim and hard to show. Here is how we run the operation, in enough detail that you can ask us about any of it. If something here raises a question, call us and ask for Henny or Brian.
No accidents or incidents since operations began. We intend to keep it that way, and everything below is how.
Charter, flightseeing and SoundPass flights are flown under our FAA Part 135 air carrier certificate, with its approved training program, maintenance program, operations manual and FAA oversight. Fractional ownership is flown under Part 91 Subpart K management specifications.
We adopted a Safety Management System under 14 CFR Part 5 in May 2026, a year ahead of the FAA's deadline. It covers charter, fractional, training, maintenance, the FBO and the fuel farm. Every employee is trained in it, and it is checked by quarterly internal evaluations and an annual independent audit.
Our Accountable Executive and Safety Manager lead a safety committee, and we hold regular safety meetings, both as a committee and as a whole team.
Anyone at Citizen Air can report a hazard, a mistake or a near miss, anonymously if they choose, and an honest report is never grounds for discipline. Every report goes to the Safety Manager for review.
Anyone at Citizen Air, from the line team to the pilot in command, can cancel a flight for safety, with no penalty and no argument. Sales, schedules and customers never override that call.
Our company operating minimums are tighter than the FAA requires. When the weather is at the edge, we wait or we cancel, and we tell you early.
Every Citizen Air pilot holds a commercial certificate with an instrument rating and flies to our FAA-approved training program, with competency checks every year and, for pilots flying in instrument conditions, instrument proficiency checks every six months. Our own check airmen give those checks.
Any of our single-pilot aircraft can be flown with two pilots on request. Ask when you book.
We load every aircraft on the actual weight of each passenger and every bag, not on standard averages, so the pilot knows exactly what the airplane is carrying.
Single-engine aircraft that carry passengers in instrument conditions meet the FAA's additional maintenance requirements for that kind of flying, and fly with a qualified autopilot.
The fleet is maintained in our own hangars by our own A&P technicians and Inspection Authorization holders, factory trained on Cirrus, the Phenom 100 and Tecnam, under each aircraft's approved maintenance program.
Maintenance →Everyone in a safety-sensitive role, including our pilots and maintenance technicians, is covered by our FAA drug and alcohol testing program.
Our values
Five values for how we work on the ramp, in the hangar and in the cockpit.
Careers
Pilots, technicians, line service and the office: we are growing.
Careers at Citizen AirQuestions
info@flycitizenair.com
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1402 Fairchild Airport Rd, Port Angeles, WA 98363
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