William Hynett was named chief executive of B-N Group. Hynett, a former Royal Navy pilot, was the company’s marketing director.
Mark Rosenker is the new vice chairman of the NTSB. Rosenker joined the Safety Board as a member on March 24, after serving nearly two years as deputy assistant to the President and director of the White House military office. His two-year term as vice chairman will end April 3, 2005, while his board member term will end on Dec. 31, 2005.
FlightSafety Boeing Training International has made some personnel announcements. Andrew McIntosh was named v-p of Europe for FlightSafety Boeing Training International. McIntosh, who will be based at London Luton Airport, joined the company in 1999 and has been serving as general manager of European operations. John Alexander was named vice president for the Americas with responsibilities for training operations in North and South America. Alexander joined the company in 1998 after a 31-year career with Boeing/McDonnell Douglas. Chris Johnson-Pasqua replaced Alexander as general manager of the Long Beach, Calif. training center. He was previously assigned to the technical training department in Long Beach and Seattle, where he was the manager of the 737 avionics group. Martin Schaaf assumed the position of general manager of the Miami training center. He was assistant general manager of the Miami facility.
San Francisco-based TAG Aviation named Michael Moore v-p of marketing and sales. Moore joined TAG in 1999 as v-p of aircraft acquisition and sales. Also, TAG announced the opening of a new regional sales office in Detroit. David Wingfield, base manager, and Randall Stroud, manager of business development, staff the facility.
Jet Aviation named Markus Huber as v-p and general manager of the Geneva location and Gunter Huf as v-p of maintenance sales for Switzerland. Huber was responsible for customer support and services at Jet Aviation Zurich. Huf was v-p and general manager for Jet Aviation Geneva.
Olney, Texas-based Air Tractor announced two promotions. Rick Turner was promoted to v-p of operations and Jim Hirsch was promoted to v-p of engineering.
Pittsburgh-based PPG Industries named David Morris v-p of the aerospace business unit. Morris, who was global general manager of sales and marketing for the aerospace business unit, replaced Dennis Kovalsky, who was named v-p for the company’s automotive coatings business.
Raytheon Aircraft named two family members to new positions. Jim Holstein was named regional sales director for Hawker aircraft in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and portions of Pennsylvania. His son, Shawn takes over for him as regional sales director for Beechcraft products.
Allyn Kinnamon joined Pyka Aerospace in San Antonio as director of sales and marketing. He was most recently manager/ dealer of Gulfstream accounts with EMS Technologies in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Also at the company, Bob Thornburgh was named manager of field service. He joined Pyka Aerospace from Cessna, where he held a similar position.
Chesterfield, Mo.-based Avmats named Jerry Bryant as its Hawker technical sales manager with responsibilities for coordinating the Hawker outside sales program.
Bobby Phillips joined Conroe, Texas-based Wing Aviation as avionics manager. He was previously employed with Tenneco Aviation as a manager/avionics technician and with Garrett Aviation as an avionics technician.
Stevens Aviation named Neal McGrail as v-p of finance and CFO. He was a corporate controller at Johnston Industries.
Dallas-based Business Jet Services, which includes Business Jet Center and Business Jet Technologies, named Bill Moltenberry as director of finance, administration and business development; Dale Niederhauser as director of marketing; and Paul Simon as a dispatcher.
Chesterfield, Mo.-based Thunder Aviation named Michael Schaaf as manager of service sales with responsibilities for maintenance and avionics sales. Schaff was most recently service sales representative with Premier Air Center in East Alton, Ill.
Jerry Stoor was promoted to facility manager at Cutter Aviation’s Phoenix Deer Valley facility. He was the line-service manager.
American Eurocopter named Terri Ragsdale as its air medical market manager. Ragsdale joined the company from Rocky Mountain Helicopters, where she was v-p of customer service.
Dianne Tarantino joined Air Routing International as the West Coast representative. She has worked in various Part 91 flight departments and for several charter operators.
Leslie Space joined JB&A Aviation’s Coral Gables, Fla. office as sales associate. He is CEO and co-founder of Sankaty Capital Aviation.
Mercury Air Centers named Gina Hicks as manager of marketing and customer support. She was director of marketing and customer relations for Air Service Hawaii.
Piedmont Hawthorne announced several personnel changes in its FBO divisions. Jim McNeill is the new general manager for the Washington Dulles Airport location. He was general manager at the Toronto, Ontario, Canada Piedmont Hawthorne Shell Aero Center. McNeill was replaced at Shell Aero Center by Andrew Storey, who
was operational manager. Markus Brucks replaced Storey as operational manager. Brucks joined the company from Avtech, where he was a ground-service manager. Bill Shoe was promoted to general manager at the Winston-Salem, N.C. headquarters location. Shoe has spent the last 16 years with Piedmont Hawthorne at the Greensboro, N.C. facility and has held the position of operational manager, airline fuel manager and assistant general manager. Isaac Lee is now general manger of the Norfolk, Va. FBO. He was general manager of the Charlottesville, Va. location and was replaced by Roy Lynch, previously general manager at the Knoxville, Tenn. location. Taking over the Knoxville location is Robert Alexander.
Janese Thatcher-Buzzell was elected to the board of the Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance. She is manager of aviation education at the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s office of aeronautics in St. Paul.
The board of directors at EADS named Arnaud Lagardère as one of its new chairmen. He replaced Jean-Luc Lagardère, who died in March (see Final Flights). The organization’s other chairman is Manfred Bischoff.
Awards and Honors
Bob Elrod, the technical training coordinator at Duncan Aviation, was named the FAA’s maintenance technician of the year for the Nebraska district and the north central region. Elrod has worked in aviation maintenance for 47 years.
NBAA presented 2003 international operators scholarships to Michael Pape from Boise Cascade and David Ball from Allstate Insurance during the International Operators Conference in March in Colorado Springs, Colo. Each received $2,500 and complimentary registration to the conference. Pape plans to use his award to complete the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Corporate Aviation Management Program. Ball intends to pursue leadership training through Embry-Riddle’s online distance education program.
Peter Wright Sr., founder of Keystone Helicopter, received Overhaul & Maintenance magazine’s lifetime achievement award. He was recognized for his insight and innovation in providing maintenance, repair and overhaul helicopter services for 50 years.
NetJets will be honored with the Fred L. Wehran Aviation Achievement Award by the Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey on May 21. The award is presented to corporations, airports and organizations that have made significant contributions to aviation in New Jersey.
Douglas Schwartz, aviation director for AT&T and former director of standards for FlightSafety International, received the Flight Safety Foundation Airbus Human Factors in Aviation Safety Award for his contributions to improving pilot-training programs and developing the flight-operations risk-assessment system for measuring risks to flight safety.
Larry Byerly was inducted into the Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame last month. Byerly is a founder, past president and board member of the Illinois Aviation Trades Association.
Mike Wilson, manager of Brownwood Regional Airport, Texas, was named general aviation manager of the year by the State of Texas Department of Transportation’s airport division. Under Wilson’s tenure, a new runway has been built, resurfacing was completed on another runway and new taxi lights and signs were installed.
Final Flights
Milt Sills, who played a role in the development of every Cessna Citation model, died on March 27 at the age of 69. After joining Cessna as an engineering test pilot in 1965, Sills eventually became senior v-p of product engineering.
Willard Walpole Sr., founder of Wichita-based aircraft parts company Wilco, died March 27. Walpole was active in many Wichita aviation organizations.
Carter Dosso, chief pilot and aviation department manager for San Francisco-based Vallejo Investments, died April 2. He was 59.
Jean-Luc Lagardère, the French industrialist whose interests spanned widely from cars and missiles (Matra) to broadcasting (the failed La Cinq TV station) and publishing (Hachette), died March 14. Most recently he was joint president of EADS. Before moving to Matra, Lagardère had worked for Dassault.
