AIN Staff

&nbsp;Boeing has named Ralph Boyce president of Boeing Southeast Asia. Boyce succeeds Douglas Miller, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems vice president and leader of the Boeing Singapore office, and Paul Walters, who led Boeing’s business activities in Southeast Asia. Miller and Walters are retiring. Boyce previously served as the U.S. ambassador to Thailand as a member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service.
DB Aviation has announced the following promotions: James Barnes, COO; Joe Knoebl, CFO; Carl Robst, director of operations; Jeff Read, chief pilot; and Robert Kelly, assistant chief pilot.
Stephan Asper has been named president of Aero Records &amp; Title Company. He joined Aero Records in July 2004 as vice president and national sales manager. NBAA has announced the addition of three new board members: Paul Anderson, vice president of United Technologies’ UTFlight; Elizabeth Dornak, safety director of DuPont Aviation; and Jay Mesinger, CEO of J. Mesinger Corporate Jet Sales.
The International Aviation Women’s Association (IAWA) has elected the following board members and officers for 2008: Debra Fowler, president; Katherine Staton, president-elect and vice president; Connie Lewis Lensing, secretary; Kathy Guilfoyle, treasurer; and Patricia Moores, chair, advisory board.
Russell Chew, former COO of the FAA ATO and president and COO of JetBlue Airways, has been appointed to the board of directors of Era. In addition, Dr. Werner Langhans has been appointed director of the Europe, Middle East and Africa region for Era’s Air Traffic Management business unit.
St. Augustine, Fla.-based SKJets has promoted Brian Bowie to vice president of international operations.
Dallas-based Atlantic Turbines announced the following appointments: Jeff Holdridge, director of sales for all product lines throughout North American and international locations; Tim Cox, vice president of sales and development; Mike Frazier, service center manager for the Latrobe, Pa. facility; and Rick Halipchuk, sales and service for PT6, JT15D and PW100 engine lines in Canada and the northern territories.
Dan Keady has been appointed by Hawker Beechcraft to lead the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa sales team as division vice president. The company also announced the following promotions and appointments: Jason Liao, regional vice president for China and Southeast Asia; 
Jeff Anastas, regional sales director, India; Allan Stanton, regional sales director, Africa; and Brett Carlson, regional sales director, Middle East and Australia. Cessna Aircraft has appointed Mike Shih to lead the company’s China operations. In addition, Mark Withrow has been named general manager of Cessna’s Bend, Ore. facility.
Tom Lark has been appointed vice president of operations for Texas Aviation Services.
Crane Aerospace &amp; Electronics announced the following appointments: John Higgs, vice president of fluid management systems; and Faina Zaslavsky, director of microelectronics solutions.
Ulrich Gehling has been named managing director of Grob Aerospace. He previously worked for Pilatus in Switzerland, where he led development of the Next Generation Pilatus PC-12.
Delta AirElite Business Jets has announced the following promotions: Clark Earick, senior director of business development; Rebekah Biddle, marketing manager; James Murray, manager of flight control; David Leland, manager of supplemental lift; and Brandon Greene, sales director for aircraft management.
NOAA has named Robert Maxson director of the Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City. 
David Mitchard has joined AirTanker Services as managing director. He most recently served as managing director of Flagship Training.
Patrick Duffy has been selected as the managing director of TBI-abertis airports. Management charter company Aviatrade Asia announced the following appointments: Gui Ye, director for information technology; Joy Ingruye, director of client relations; and Kitty Long, director of sales and marketing. Frank Caruso has left the company to pursue other opportunities.
White Plains, N.Y.-based Alerion announced the addition of five new employees: Tehmina Jauhar, Lisa Hays and Clay Moore, directors of sales; Ashley Santini, private flight advisor; and Sam Gordon, manager of vendor relations.
Tom Toth has been promoted to operations manager of the three Kansas City, Mo. offices of Executive Beechcraft. 
Carlsbad, Calif.-based Jet Source has promoted Debi Carlston from marketing manager to director of sales and marketing.
Steve Leidigh has been named general manager of Landmark Aviation’s Lakeland, Fla. facility.
Viking Air has appointed Ken Copiak general manager of manufacturing at the company’s Calgary, Alberta facility. 
Chadd Mertz has joined Schubach Aviation as chief pilot. 
Aviation Research Group/U.S. (ARG/US) has added four new employees to its organization: Steve Witowski, ASOS program manager; John Neefe, Cheq program manager; Janine Leddy, Western region sales manager; and Naveena Tripurana, market research assistant.
Ryan Hauge has been appointed manufacturing engineer for Raisbeck Engineering. He was previously a manufacturing engineer at Precision Aerospace.
Dave Cramer and Rudy Lotz have joined Paradigm Aerospace as customizing/completions manager and quality assurance manager, respectively.
Business Jet Access has named Casey Barr executive flight solutions representative for the aircraft charter and management divisions. 
Epps Aviation at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in Atlanta has named Kristi Cherry a Cessna sales representative.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 

<h2>Final Flights </h2>
Frank Piasecki, developer of the CH-47 Chinook and the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, died February 11 at his home in Main Line, Pa. He was 88. Piasecki was born in Philadelphia and attended the University of Pennsylvania and New York University. In 1940 he started Piasecki Helicopter and in 1943 became the second American to build and fly a helicopter. (Igor Sikor-sky flew the first in 1941.) Chuck Allen, vice president and general manager of Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, called Piasecki “a visionary and an amazing designer. He will always be remembered as a pillar of American aerospace history. His daring and courageous approach to vertical flight inspired years of advancements.” In 1986, President Ronald Reagan awarded Piasecki the National Medal of Technology, and in 2005 he received the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Lifetime Achievement award. His daughter Nicole is president of Boeing’s operations in Japan, and sons Frederick and John are vice presidents at Piasecki Helicopter.
Gilbert DeVore, founder and first president of DeVore Aviation, died in Albuquerque, N.M., on February 2. He was 89. He earned an engineering degree with honors from Purdue University. His first job was at Curtiss- Wright in Buffalo, N.Y., where he did design work on a number of military aircraft, including the P-40. After the war he worked for the CAA, where he was involved in certifying helicopters. In 1954 DeVore founded DeVore Aviation as a consulting firm. One of his projects was the design and certification of the Umbaugh autogiro, which later became the Air&amp;Space 18A. The company’s major product became the TelTail vertical tail floodlights that were STC’d on everything from a Cessna 150 to the 747. Today, TelTail lights are still a major product, but exterior lighting for business jets, including landing lights and collision avoidance lights (strobes), exceed them in volume. –Jack Elliott John Myers, a WWII civilian test pilot who flew the first American fighter designed specifically for night combat, died January 31 at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 96. Myers began his career in law and served as assistant general counsel of Lockheed. He ferried airplanes for the company in his spare time and later became a test pilot for Lockheed. Myers joined Northrop Aircraft as its chief engineering test pilot in 1941 and tested, among other airplanes, the P-61 Black Widow. In 1946 he became a vice president at Northrop and later in life pursued a number of business ventures in private aviation. He is survived by his daughter, Lucia Myers Wolff, and three grandsons.

People in Aviation: March 2008

&nbsp;Boeing has named Ralph Boyce president of Boeing Southeast Asia.

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