Karolis Manelis is the newly-joined CAMO Manager at Magnetic Engineering. Bringing to Magnetic his extensive CAMO experience, Karolis, together with an international engineering team, will continue supporting our daily CAMO customers in Africa and Australia and will lead various technical services projects around the world. During after-work hours, he chases the thrill and excitement of aerobatic flying. Read on all about his professional path and daredevil hobbies in the interview below.

How did your aviation career start? What was your experience prior to joining Magnetic Engineering, a Member of Magnetic Group?

To be precise, it started about 15 years ago. Back then, I began to work as a part-time repairman at Baltic Maintenance MRO, which was doing maintenance for A/C wheels/brakes and batteries. At the same time, I was studying Aviation Engineering at Vilnius TECH. 

Before joining Magnetic Group, I worked for almost 10 years at a business jet airline in a role responsible for all CAMO activities, as well as in an Icelandic airline, where I was an Engineering staff.

What has been your impression so far?

While working between Tallinn and Vilnius offices, the experience has been fast-paced yet rewarding. To some extent, I knew what to expect from Magnetic Group before joining the team because I had done some projects in the past while working in previous companies. 

What are the main challenges in your line of work?

It's all about maintaining an agile mindset and remaining a flexible and dynamic team so that we can fulfill technical services according to current market demands, and all to be delivered in the most effective way possible.

What are your key goals for this year, work-wise?

To put it briefly — it's to expand our CAMO and technical services team to correspond to the market needs and simultaneously become one of the leading companies providing engineering services. 

Besides work, what are your hobbies?

I enjoy sailing, cross-country flying, riding a motocross bike, and flying R/C models. I'm also part of Iron Wolf Aerobatics, a modern aerobatic team, where I oversee technical maintenance and preparation. For those who are curious, you can see what my flying routine looks like.

And a bonus question – what are your top destinations to travel to?

Most destinations I've yet to go to, but if I had to choose only a few, it would be sailing in the Caribbean and chasing wildlife from up close in Africa.