E. Chris Hughes was born into an aviation family and has been involved in general aviation all of his life. At age sixteen, he soloed ten different airplanes, one of which was a twin-engine airplane. After graduating from Alderson-Broaddus College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration, he continued to fly as a professional pilot for nearly fifteen years until going to work for Bell Helicopter Textron as a Regional Marketing Manager selling new Bell helicopters.

Seeing the untapped potential in used aircraft sales, Chris left Bell Helicopter Textron in 1986 to co-found a helicopter sales and service company that grew into the North America's largest Bell Customer Service Facility and second largest helicopter dealership in the world, specializing in only Bell helicopters.

After selling his interest in this company in 1996, he founded Av-One to continue buying and selling helicopters. Av-One expanded into selling not only Bell helicopters, but helicopters of all types. With the creation of Av-One, there was also an opportunity for Chris to apply his fix-wing experience, enabling Av-One to better serve clients with purchasing and selling airplanes as well as helicopters.

With over 22 years experience buying and selling aircraft internationally in twenty-five different countries, Av-One has invaluable world-wide contacts that open many markets and create unique opportunities. With experience in piloting general aviation aircraft from helicopters to corporate jets for two Fortune 500 companies, Chris brings an unusual dimension to Av-One's sales in assisting customers with operational considerations based on his experience.