Nicolas Chabbert joined Long Beach, Calif.-based Mooney Aerospace Group as executive v-p of sales and marketing. He was senior v-p of sales and marketing for Socata Aircraft. Also joining Mooney from Socata was Earle Boyter, as sales manager for the eastern U.S.
Woodbridge, N.J.-based NetJets ann-ounced changes to its senior management team with the promotion of Kevin Russell to executive vice president of sales and marketing and Steve Zacks to vice president of marketing. Russell oversees the NetJets fractional aircraft ownership program. He has been with the company for nine years and was most recently senior v-p of marketing and international sales. Zacks joined NetJets in 2000 and was v-p of strategic marketing for the company.
John Thomas was named v-p of Jet Aviation’s private fleet of aircraft available for charter. Thomas had been a captain at Avolar, United Airlines’ failed fractional operation, in Chicago where he was responsible for Hawker operations and was previously director of flight operations for Raytheon Aircraft.
Meredith Siegfried was promoted to vice president of Nordam International with responsibilities for directing, managing, controlling and planning activities for the repair division’s international operations Nordam Europe and Nordam Singapore. She was previously director of international operations for the Nordam repair division and manager of strategic marketing development for the division. Also at Nordam, Mike Jones was named chief information officer for the Nordam Group with responsibilities for information and technology systems, strategic planning and implementation of information technology.
Rockwell Collins named Dennis Helgeson v-p and general manager of business and regional systems for commercial systems. A 27-year employee of the company, Helgeson previously held senior management positions in business development and marketing.
Jim Pradetto was named v-p of marketing and sales for Dallas-based AOG.
Dallas-based SevenBar Enterprises named Blair Descourouez v-p of aircraft sales with responsibilities for the company’s aircraft sales, acquisitions, brokerage and management.
Tim Gabriel was named general manager of customer training for Bombardier Aerospace. He was most recently v-p of flight operations for Bombardier’s Flexjet fractional ownership program.
NBAA has announced several personnel changes. Jo Damato, Dan Wauhop and Jeff Evans were added to the organization’s full-time employee roster. Since August last year, the three have staffed the general aviation desk at the FAA Air Traffic Control Center as contract employees. Damato is the NBAA GA desk manager. Wauhop and Evans are desk specialists. Daniel Burkhart was promoted to director of regional programs. He supervises the NBAA regional representative program, which comprises staff members who act as representatives for various regions of the U.S. and are based outside of the organization’s Washington headquarters. Burkhart joined NBAA in 1998 as a regional representative for the western U.S. Sue Kaplan was promoted to senior manager of membership records and services. Dave Bascomb was promoted to manager of membership records and services. Benjamin Jones joined the organization as assistant manager of records and programs. Jones graduated from George Washington University in May. Bob Blouin, NBAA senior vice president of operations, was elected to a two-year term as chairman of the RTCA board of directors. RTCA is a private, non-profit corporation that develops consensus-based recommendations regarding communications, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management system issues. Roger Whyte, senior v-p of sales and marketing for Cessna Aircraft, joined the NBAA board of directors as vice chairman of the organization’s associate member advisory council.
Daniel Cretsinger was named director of aircraft sales at West Chicago, Ill.-based T-Bird Aviation. Crestinger’s focus is on aircraft acquisition and sales. Karen Marthaler was named trip logistics manager.
Graeme Breen was appointed general manager of Australian programs for Sikorsky Aircraft. Breen, who is based in the company’s new office in Canberra, was most recently general manager of marketing and strategic programs for Helitech Pty Ltd.
Vancouver, Canada-based Acro Aerospace named Mike Broderick as technical sales manager for southern California.
Paul Reynolds opened Reynolds Aviation Consulting to provide engineering, certification and other specialized services. The company provides ground and flight-testing of avionics, cabin entertainment and electrical systems and aircraft completions specifications. Reynolds held avionics manager and avionics design manager positions with Chrysler Pentastar, DaimlerChrysler and Pentastar Aviation.
St. Louis-based Thunder Aviation named Meghan Newman charter manager and Rick McGuire, director of charter operations.
Jeff Flack was named regional sales manager of the southeast for Innotech Aviation. Flack’s career has included positions with Stevens Aviation, B/E Aerospace and Raytheon Aircraft.
Col. Allen Weh was appointed national chairman of the National Commit-tee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve by defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He replaced Thomas Irwin, who retired from the position. Weh founded air charter company CSI Aviation Services in 1979.
Smiths Aerospace named Michael Steel as managing director of the customer services team based at Cheltenham, England. Steel will succeed John Legg, who plans to retire from the company this October.
National Flight Services promoted Dan Poling to aircraft service manager with responsibilities for overseeing the aircraft maintenance operation located in Toledo, Ohio and developing multi-shift maintenance support for National Flight Service’s customers to better aid in recovering private and corporate aircraft markets. Poling has held various positions with the company since 1973, including airframe and powerplant mechanics, maintenance department shop foreman, chief inspector, parts and purchasing manager and parts and components manager.
J. Bryan Garner joined the West Palm Beach, Fla. office of New World Aviation.
Jamie Hailer joined the General Dynamics-Ordnance and Tactical Systems as manager for alliance development with responsibilities for the sale of guided missile components and developing new business with defense and commercial aircraft manufacturers. Hailer was previously sales and marketing director at B/E Aerospace in Jacksonville, Fla. and held responsibilities for the sale of commercial galleys and executive cabinetry.
Lynwood, Wash.-based Crane Aerospace named Chad Thorne to manager of weight and balance systems. Thorne will lead the product development efforts for an automated weight and balance system. He previously led the Crane Aeropsace Wichita Regional Center in Kansas, where he served as a liaison between customers and the company.
Awards & Honors
Leonard Greene, founder and chairman of White Plains, N.Y.-based Safe Flight Instrument Corp., will be honored by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office as one of nation’s greatest living inventors. Greene, who was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1991 and who has been issued more than 100 patents, is credited with saving thousands of lives through his aviation inventions of stall warning and wind shear warning, both of which have been mandated for installation on aircraft by the FAA.
Beth Harris of Fayettville, Ark., earned a Cessna Citation II type rating after completing CAE SimuFlite’s 13-day Citation II initial training. Harris received her CAE SimuFlite scholarship through Women in Aviation International. She is currently a certified flight instructor in the Houston area.
Premier Turbines’ engine component and accessory operation in Independence, Kans., has earned its first FAA Diamond Certificate of Excellence. The award was presented to Richard McKinney, manager of operations at the Independence facility, by a member of the local Flight Standards District Office. In addition, 39 of the location’s 49 employees received bronze pin awards. Premier Turbines worked with the local junior college and the local FSDO to make FAA-approved training courses available to the staff of the Independence facility.
Final Flight
Siegfried Hansen, who pioneered the hard space suit now used in NASA missions, died June 28 of pneumonia. He was 90. The space suit originated with Hansen’s desire to improve the vacuum tube, which was a key component of electronic devices such as early television sets and FAA air-traffic-control computers. Hansen felt that the only way to improve the tube was to test it from the inside, so he and his colleagues designed a suit to be worn in the airless atmosphere of a vacuum. Hansen’s 50-lb Mark I suite maintained constant volume and geometry, which allowed wearers to breathe inside a vacuum and bend their arms 90 deg. During World War II, Hansen lived in London and helped design early radar systems before working on vacuum tubes for GE in New York. He joined Hughes Aircraft in 1946 and tested new radar equipment with the company’s founder Howard Hughes as the test pilot.
