Commander Zachary M. Wiest entered the Coast Guard and attended Officer Candidate School in 2008. Upon commissioning, he was assigned to Naval Flight Training in Pensacola, FL, and earned his wings and assignment to Air Station Miami, FL in 2010. While stationed in Miami, he qualified as an MH-65 Search and Rescue Aircraft Commander and frequently deployed to the Caribbean to counter migration activities. In his fifth year in Miami, he trained for and was designated as an Aeronautical Engineering Officer.
From 2015 until 2020, CDR Wiest served as Assistant Engineering Officer before fleeting to the Aviation Engineering Department Head at Sector North Bend, OR. During his tour in the Pacific Northwest, he served as an Instructor Pilot and Flight Examiner and maintained five MH-65D aircraft to support the Air Station and Air Facility Newport. While operating in OR, he twice deployed in support of Operation North Pacific Guard, enforcing international fisheries treaties in the North Pacific Ocean.
In 2020, he was detailed to Purdue University to pursue a Masters Degree, subsequently accepting assignment within the Office of Aeronautical Engineering at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC. During this assignment, he managed the service’s then inventory of 98 MH-65D/E helicopters and planned and executed a $505M budget to sustain the service’s 200+ aircraft. Commander Wiest was most recently assigned as the Aeronautical Engineering Officer at Air Station Atlantic City, NJ where he maintained 13 aircraft that supported Search and Rescue and Rotary Wing Air Intercept missions within the National Capital Region and deployed locations nationwide.
Commander Wiest has over 3,500 hours of combined military and civilian flight time and holds FAA certifications as an Airline Transport Pilot and a Certified Flight Instructor. He maintains Bachelor of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and is the 2017 recipient of the Captain Frank Erickson Rotary Wing Rescue Award.