A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

EADS’s board of directors has selected Tom Enders, CEO of Airbus, to succeed EADS CEO Louis Gallois when his five-year term expires at the end of May after the company’s annual meeting. At that time Arnaud Lagardère, managing partner of Lagardère SCA, will assume the role of chairman of the board, a position currently held by Bodo Uebber. 
Hawker Beechcraft Inc. appointed Robert S. “Steve” Miller CEO. Former Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture will remain as chairman of the company’s operating subsidiary, Hawker Beechcraft Corp. 
Alenia North America announced the appointment of Alan Calegari, previously president and CEO of Ansaldo STS USA, as its new CEO. He succeeds John Young, who left the company in January. 
Greg Kinsella, previously COO of Arcadia Aviation, has joined Connecticut-based aviation services provider Key Air as v-p of business development.
Brendan Lodge, business development director of JetBrokers Europe, was named the new chairman of the Central European Private Aviation (Cepa) organization. He succeeds Jiří Matoušek, whose one-year term expired at the end of January.
Tarek Ragheb, who headed Gulfstream’s sales organization in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for the past 18 years, has been named senior advisor, international sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The Savannah airframer also named Eric Stuck, most recently a customer project and service sales manager for Hawker Beechcraft, senior manager for new business development within its product support organization. 
California-based JetSuite has hired Dave Myrick, formerly United Airlines’ v-p of sales.
Landmark Aviation has named Norman Ramirez as general manager of its Oakland International Airport location. Most recently he served as general manager at Atlantic’s Hayward, Calif. facility. 
After 47 years in aviation John Hazlet, v-p of flight for Ameriflight, has announced his retirement. 
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) has promoted Johanna O’Toole from director of administration and financial services to comptroller. 
Jeffrey Lowe, previously director of sales and marketing with BAA Jet Management, has been named general manager at business aviation consulting group Asian Sky. 
Chicago-based international aircraft dealer and jet brokerage firm The Jet Collection has hired David Potter as an aircraft salesman. Previously he was director of aircraft sales with Sabreliner.
Dr. Andreas Knoepfel has joined Swiss Aviation Consulting as managing director of Swiss AeroRisk Management. Most recently he was senior aviation manager for a Swiss insurance brokerage firm.
ExecuJet has named Karen Hein-Jones manager of its Cambridge Airport FBO. Before this appointment she was operations controller at Harrod’s Aviation’s Stansted Airport facility. 
Duncan Aviation has announced that Brad Homeyer, previously with the company’s Lincoln, Neb. Facility, is the airframe service sales representative for Duncan Aviation Provo. The company also promoted Ryan Huss to airframe service sales representative for Duncan Aviation Lincoln. Most recently he was a Challenger team leader for airframe service. 
Randy Groom, most recently executive v-p at Piper Aircraft, has reactivated his aerospace consulting firm, Groom Aviation, and is representing Raisbeck Engineering.
International law firm Maples and Calder has named Laurence Hanley, previously with Clyde &amp; Co., senior aviation finance specialist within its Finance Group. 
Arkansas-based aviation services provider Central Flying Service has promoted Joseph Reed to parts department director; Kenneth Sory was named assistant parts department director.
Elliott Aviation has added Mike Fetcko, previously a systems design engineer with Great Lakes Aviation, as avionics manager. The Illinois-based aircraft sales and MRO services provider also promoted Randy Davis from sales data administrator to accessory shop sales manager. 
Private aviation provider SC Aviation has added two new executives. Dan Morrison, most recently director of charter sales with Key Air, has taken that same role, while Andy Schweickert was named director of marketing, the same title he held with DB Aviation. The Wisconsin-based company also promoted Margaret Clark to charter manager.
Mike Benike has joined Twin Commander Aircraft as quality manager. Before this appointment he was a quality engineer with component manufacturer Kearfott.
Delaware-based Pats Aircraft Systems added Chris Bott as certification manager. Previously he was director of engineering with Aircraft Modification Design Services.
Mid-Continent Instruments has named Mark Smith, previously Hawker Beechcraft’s quality manager on the Hawker 4000 program, as quality assurance manager.
Kevin Smith, most recently Pratt &amp; Whitney Canada’s regional sales manager for the Asia-Pacific region, has joined aviation services provider Hawker Pacific as its v-p of Singapore operations at the recently completed facility at Seletar Aerospace Park.
Neil Gibson, previously head of PremiAir’s charter and management division, has joined global business aviation services provider Gama Group’s senior management team with a key role in the Middle East and Asia. 
Becker Avionics has named Floyd Roney, most recently channel sales manager with EMS Aviation, its new sales account manager
Trevor Frase, previously Part 145 maintenance supervisor at Business Jet Access, has joined West Star Aviation as maintenance manager at its Dallas Love Field location. The MRO provider also promoted Ryan Gibbs from Falcon lead technician to Falcon technical sales manager at its East Alton, Ill. facility. 
Aircraft refinishing specialist SureFlight has tapped Steven Schofield, formerly with Sikorsky’s Keystone Helicopter, as its new sales manager.
Daher-Socata announced that Chad Leeward, previously a regional sales director with Cirrus Aircraft, has joined Socata North America as a sales director with responsibility for Florida.
The Westchester Aircraft Maintenance Association has elected Brad Bertele, flight operations manager for Safe Flight Instrument, as its new president; named Mike Sullivan as treasurer; and added Ron Velivis to its board of directors. 
Awards &amp; Honors
Mark Van Tine, president and CEO of Jeppesen, was honored as the “Aviation Industry Leader of the Year” by the Living Legends of Aviation at a January awards banquet in California in recognition of his 30-year career at the flight planning and data provider. Under his leadership, Jeppesen has accelerated the pace of the paper to digital flight information transformation, highlighted by the recent development of mobile solutions for portable tablets such as the iPad. Van Tine also serves as a committee chair for the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). 
Airline captain, experimental test pilot, air race champion, aviation record-setter, aerial cinematographer, philanthropist and entrepreneur Clay Lacy received the Howard Hughes Memorial Award last month from the Aero Club of Southern California. In 1964, Lacy introduced the first Learjet to Van Nuys Airport (VNY). Four years later, he founded the first jet charter company west of the Mississippi, launching a new era in corporate air transportation and mobility. Lacy has accumulated more hours flying jets than anyone on Earth and is widely credited with revolutionizing the business aviation and aerial photography industries. 
Krys Bart, president/CEO of the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority, received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE). Under her watch, the airport has been named one of the top five most efficient airports in North America–twice. A former chair of the AAAE, she was named the best airport director in America by Airport Revenue News magazine in 2006. 
Women in Aviation International announced the latest inductees to its Pioneer Hall of Fame, which was created in 1992 to honor women who have made significant contributions as record setters, pioneers or innovators. Among those selected in this year’s class was Elizabeth (“Elsie”) MacGill, who is credited as the first woman in the world to qualify as a professional aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer. In 1927 she was the first woman in Canada to receive a degree in electrical engineering and two years later at the University of Michigan she became the first woman anywhere to earn a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering. During World War II, she was appointed chief aeronautical engineer for the Canadian Car and Foundry Plant, where Hawker Hurricane fighters were built for the Allied forces overseas. She was also the first woman to serve as chair of a United Nations aviation technical committee; in that capacity she led the drafting of the first airworthiness regulations for the new International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). She died in 1980.

People in Aviation: March 2012

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