Correspondent photo / John D. Bagnola This is the aircraft training and maintenance hangar inside the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics at the Youngstown / Warren Regional Airport where Father Bosko Stojanovic worked and prepared for his certification, which he earned last December.

YOUNGSTOWN — Very seldom in our lifetime do we get to meet someone on a mission and a daily grind to save souls and save lives at the same time.

Father Bosko Stojanovic, 43, was ordained a Serbian Orthodox priest in 2010 and is the parish priest at Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church in Youngstown, where he is responsible for a congregation of more than 60 families.

He also had a lifetime ambition to become a private pilot. He realized early on that in order to fly safely, he would need to know everything about the mechanics of an aircraft. So as of December 2023, Stojanovic can proudly boast about his newly acquired Aviation Maintenance Technician certification at the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics.

Stojanovic spent 15 months in the aviation maintenance program at PIA at the Youngstown / Warren Regional Airport in Vienna. During that time, he also participated in the job shadow program at Winner Aviation that elevated his skills. After graduating, he accepted a position at Winner in the maintenance, repair and overhaul piston shop.

“It is a perfect arrangement. I work at Winner Aviation every weekday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Then after making sure the aircraft I am working on is safe to fly, I head over to my parish. I make sure I allow time to tend to my parishioners in the evenings. Then the entire weekend is dedicated to my parish, including hospital visitations, funerals, weddings, baptisms, Sunday and holiday services, the best Friday fish fry in town, and so much more,” he said.

When asked if he ever feels worn out or burned out, he replied, “If you love what you do, you will always find the strength to perform your duties. And I love both of my responsibilities. It is what God sent me here to do. He gives all of us natural abilities, and we should make the most of those talents during our lifetime. It is said that only 5% of people enjoy their job. But I have two full-time jobs and I love them both.”

Childhood was not pleasant for 10-year-old Stojanovic. It seemed the war was never going to end when Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991 to proclaim their independence. Several members of his immediate family died during that five-year war.

In 2001, Stojanovic came to the United States from Yugoslavia with his mother, father and sister. He studied computers and math and thought that would be his future. But he also pursued a number of different careers from concert music production in Wayne, New Jersey, to surviving hard work at an asbestos company, and even working at Kohl’s department store. His calling to become a priest, though, came in the eighth grade in his homeland.

“A calmness always came over me while in the presence of the Lord,” he said.

So in 2003, he entered the seminary in Libertyville, Illinois.

“The Orthodox Church allows priests to get married, but they must do so before their ordination. So my lovely wife and I got married on Feb. 12, 2010, and the impatient bishop could not wait for our honeymoon to be over so that my ordination could take place on March 14, 2010,” Stojanovic said.

The bishop obviously had big plans for him. Once ordained a Serbian Orthodox priest in 2010, he was instructed to lead a parish in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For the next four years, he set up six new parishes and was even instrumental in setting up the Eastern American Serbian Orthodox Diocese there. This was all done without pay.

Following that stint, he was sent back to the U.S. by the Serbian Bishop Vladyka (ruler) to serve as a parish priest at the 100-year-old St George Serbian Orthodox Church in Lorain. That is where he found his second calling to become an aircraft mechanic.

It was at this time he got the chance to fulfill his dream to fly a plane. He admits that the only thing he flew before this date was a kite. But he knew he had to first find a plane he could afford on his priest’s salary.

“It was an experimental kit plane that had been crashed by the original owner. But I thought I could fix it until I found out it wasn’t like a piece of Ikea furniture. It was a 601-XLB Zenith Zodiac Experimental Kit plane with no wings. That is when one of my parishioners, a private pilot, experimental plane owner, and teacher at Chaney High School, Marko Marinkovic, introduced me to a place called PIA (Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics),” Stojanovic said.

In 15 short months, he had his AMT Aviation Maintenance Technician certification. And with a global labor shortage of AMTs, there was no better time to enroll in this program.

Winner Aviation offers a job-shadowing program at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport. During his training, Stojanovic took advantage of this six-week program. It focuses on hands-on-learning, career exploration, mentorship and skills development. Winner also offers a career development program that could potentially lead to a job opportunity. And it did.

After graduating from PIA, Stojanovic was offered and accepted a position at Winner’s full-service Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facility.

“It is a dream come true. It is never too late to pursue your vision. Winner currently has a contract with The Ohio State University’s flight school aircrafts to perform their 100-hour annual inspections, and I plan to continue my training and perhaps someday become an aircraft maintenance instructor and also earn my pilot’s license,” he said.

Now Father Bosko Stojanovic will be able to safely repair his own and many other planes as he continues to save lives and save souls.

To suggest a Friday profile, contact Metro Editor Marly Reichert at mreichert@tribtoday.com or Features Editor Ashley Fox at afox@tribtoday.com.