Josh Cronin

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Having become Kestrel’s Chief Engineer in 2018, Josh Cronin leads our highly skilled engineering team. An out-of-the-box thinker, he has been instrumental in the development of several important improvements and engineering projects that have placed Kestrel as the leader of the pack for innovation in helicopter operations in Australia.

Josh began his career in Aircraft Maintenance in a General Aviation workshop in Bendigo Victoria before moving to Kestrel in 2006.  At Kestrel Josh has gained years of experience operating and maintaining the fleet in the challenging environment of Victoria’s fire flighting campaigns.  

Josh’s out-of-the-box thinking has placed him as the lead innovation/special project designer at Kestrel and has been responsible for the design of the Conair/Kestrel firefighting tank, now standard on our fleet.  The tank used by Kestrel and developed by Josh has proven to be superior in effectiveness and reliability than other helicopter systems.

Josh has also been instrumental in the development and modification of our NVIS systems used in our aircraft to permit Kestrel to lead the way into the NVIS/night fire suppression realm.  Amongst other special projects, Josh also leads the integration project for the “captive carry system” into our fleet for the department of Defence and provided crew support during CCS campaigns.  

Also qualified as a winch operator/aircrew, Josh has participated extensively in SAR operations, aircrew and pilot training, and training of FRV / AMSA teams in helicopter insertion/extraction.

He holds the following qualifications – Cert. IV in Aeroskills Mechanical and Avionics; LAME B1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 (Large Type Ratings for Airframe / Engine Systems) and B2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5 (Avionics and Instrument Systems).