Hear from the perspectives of our top aviation experts:

Tom Hitchner
Ryan Beissinger
Mohamed Nouser
Ahmed Farwiz
 

ExxonMobil Aviation’s Tom Hitchner on why aviation is the “pinnacle” of lubricant technology

Despite their obvious differences, aviation has a lot in common with Formula 1 racing. Just as F1 engines run at extremely high RPMs and use specialized lubricants, jet engines have extremely high thermal requirements and are run at very high speeds. In both cases, engineers and mechanics depend on their lubricants to protect their machines and keep them cool under pressure. So, it’s no wonder ExxonMobil Aviation Global Technical Advisor Tom Hitchner landed successfully in his current role in 2016, after many years at Mobil 1.

“My favorite thing about aviation is that it’s sort of the pinnacle of lubricant technology,” said Hitchner, who began his career as a testing engineer working in automotive, developing new Mobil 1 formulations and providing trackside support for lubricants used in NASCAR and CART. He has also worked in industrial lubricants, a strategic OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) account and led the formulation development team in support of the Panasonic Toyota F1 program before joining aviation.

“[Aviation lubricants are] very specialized, and there are not very many other companies participating in this kind of product offer, because it has a lot of sensitivities,” Hitchner said. “It's a difficult business to manage. The technical requirements are very high, and so are the risk levels. And frankly, I'm an engineer and I just love the engineering aspects associated with aviation.”

Aviation is unique because it is such a specialized field that poses very specific technical and business challenges to the small number of lubricants suppliers serving the market. Hitchner is drawn to the engineering challenges in particular. “The main requirement there is safety: you have to have 100-percent flawless execution for aviation,” he said. “If we make a mistake or give a wrong piece of advice, we wouldn't want that to lead to some sort of safety concern.”

Hitchner thinks the biggest challenge for ExxonMobil looking to the future will be to understand the lubrication requirements for more sustainable aviation technology. “As aircraft evolve to use more electrification, hybridization, different fuels such as hydrogen and SAF, and new efficient airframes, the demands on the lubricants will likely change,” he adds. 

New technology is directly tied to aircraft safety and new regulations will need to evolve to encompass new designs.

ExxonMobil Aviation’s Ryan Beissinger on the true value of high-quality aviation lubricants

ExxonMobil Aviation employees share an appreciation for the company’s products, but few truly know the value of those products as well as Ryan Beissinger, Business Development Manager – Americas Aviation Lubricants.

Beissinger’s distinguished service as a pilot in the U.S. Army and as a special warfare officer in the U.S. Air Force, prepared him well for a career at ExxonMobil and introduced him to many of the Aviation lubricants products he now sells.

Beissinger was first attracted to the world of aviation as a young boy growing up in Pensacola, Florida, where he would marvel at the Blue Angels practicing and performing in the skies above a nearby beach. Later, as he grew up in central Florida, he would watch NASA space shuttle launches regularly from his back doorstep. “The idea of flight has always imparted a sense of adventure and respect in me,” Beissinger recalled.

Growing up in the 1980s, Beissinger’s dreams took him to the U.S. military. “The strongest memory I have from when I was first learning to fly was while piloting the TH-67 during the U.S. Army Flight School at Fort Rucker, Alabama,” he said. “I had never piloted a helicopter before, and it felt so unnatural to be able to take off and land vertically – to conduct high altitude hover training.” 

In addition to the TH-67 (Bell 206 Jet Ranger) and OH-58 A/C helicopters, Beissinger has experience flying a number of different aircraft, including the Piper Super Cub Floatplane and the Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopter.

“During that time, we learned to fly during the day and at night using night vision goggles and forward-looking infrared,” said Beissinger, who was awarded five Air Medals, including two medals for Valor, for his service. “This training helped me tremendously with being highly effective throughout my military career.”

Beissinger led plant safety and health for a few years at ExxonMobil’s Port Allen facility in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Aviation’s jet oil and other lubricants are blended and packaged. Now he’s responsible for ensuring ExxonMobil Aviation customers and prospective customers understand the value the company’s products bring to the industry and to their fleets in particular. 

Reflecting on his 11 years at ExxonMobil and his move to Aviation a few years ago, Beissinger adds, “I am very thankful, humble, and honored to be in my current role with the ExxonMobil Aviation Lubricants Sales organization. I absolutely love my team and our mission.”

ExxonMobil Aviation’s Mohamed Nouser on meeting the industry’s future lubricants needs

One of ExxonMobil’s strengths throughout the company’s long history has been its ability to attract top talent in a variety of fields. ExxonMobil Aviation is no exception, as the company has remained at the forefront of the aviation fuel and lubricants industry since the Wright Brothers historic first flight in 1903.
 
Mohamed Nouser joined the company’s long list of creative innovators in 2018. He quickly developed his skills in the analytical science group, which is focused primarily on testing different lubricants and helping formulators decide on the best formulation for ExxonMobil products. As a research technician in the analytical division, his initial work consisted mainly of running tests to ensure lubricants met a certain quality standard that the formulators were looking for. “That role helped me understand the different methods of lubricant testing and how it works,” according to Nouser.
 
In his current role as an Aviation Technology Solution Professional, Nouser sees his lab experience as an advantage when it comes to formulating and troubleshooting. “The tests don’t always work the way they’re designed, so when customers get weird results, my troubleshooting background helps me analyze the validity of the outcomes,” he said.
 
Nouser’s favorite thing about working at ExxonMobil Aviation is providing customer and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) technical support.

As the aviation industry explores the potential of electric or hybrid aircraft in the future, Nouser knows the broader decisions OEMs and airlines make will impact his work. “Maybe the jet oil can provide what they need, and maybe they would need something different, in which case the role will change to adapt to that,” he said.
 
“Eventually, we’ll need to develop new products, and at that point it’ll be about meeting the niche requirements that aviation demands,” Nouser added. “For example, we’ll need background requirements, like that a lubricant can’t have additives with a metals background. Things like that will give us a head start in meeting not just the specifications for approval, but the expectations of OEMs and customers for performance.”

ExxonMobil’s Ahmed Farwiz explains the secret of aviation’s success with OEM customers

ExxonMobil is one of the few companies whose presence and influence in the aviation industry extends all the way back to the beginning. Over the past 120-plus years, aircraft may have grown more sophisticated and air travel expanded globally, but one thing hasn’t changed – ExxonMobil’s commitment to the aviation industry. 

In his roles as ExxonMobil OEM Global Business Development Manager and elsewhere for more than a quarter century, Ahmed Farwiz has proved himself a pillar of that commitment.

Farwiz oversees all the commercial relationships with original equipment manufacturers including Airbus, Boeing, Embraer and Bombardier, as well as engine manufacturers like Pratt Whitney, GE and Rolls Royce. “What’s exciting about that is some of these relationships are over a hundred years old,” he says. “So, we’ve had time to get to know the industry and build trust.”

Born and raised in Egypt, Farwiz graduated from American University at Cairo’s industrial engineering program and joined ExxonMobil shortly after, in 1998, as a sales engineer. In that role, he managed relationships in sectors including oil and gas, utilities, steel manufacturing and construction. “As a key account manager, I oversaw that relationship from A-to-Z,” he says. “We supplied lubricants and fuels, we managed their credit, we did all the engineering services — I kept that up for about five years, all across Egypt.”

During that time, Farwiz learned that “little things matter” when working with customers. “A slight price change on a product can cause major downstream repercussions, and a shortage in one of the products we deliver can cause an entire plant to shut down,” according to Farwiz. “In my line of work, people rely on all of us doing our jobs perfectly, and I take that very seriously.”

Farwiz brought that mindset to ExxonMobil Aviation in May 2023. “I’d been a Commercial Manager in Egypt, and I found out the Aviation team was trying to create a role that would streamline things, identify inefficiencies, and find what’s missing through a commercial lens — someone who would ask ‘why are we doing this, why are we doing that?’” he says. 

The move from ExxonMobil Industrial Lubricants to Aviation was not without challenges for Farwiz. Whereas regulatory approvals for new industrial lubricants can take about two years, aviation lubricant approval is a 10-to-15-year process. Then, there are the products themselves. “In industrial lubricants, I worked with something like 360 types of oil — now I work with only three or four oils,” he says. “And we have different competition.”

ExxonMobil’s long, distinguished tenure in the aviation industry has been built on such relationships, from that fateful day at Kitty Hawk more than a century ago through today.

“We might be one of the very few who have been on this journey from the very beginning,” Farwiz says of ExxonMobil’s role in the aviation industry. “That shows we have invested in the success of this industry and of our customers. And we’re going to keep on investing to make sure, in another 120 years, we’re still here delivering on our promises.”