“Given Paul Stinebring’s remarkable contributions to the International Business Aviation Council [IBAC], we believe it is entirely appropriate that he is receiving the John Winant Award,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “After all, it was John Winant who more than any other individual is responsible for the creation of IBAC.”
Winant, who died last year, was president of NBAA for many years. “We felt this award would be a fitting tribute to John Winant, who not only served as a resource to all of his successors but who also wrote two books on business aviation and NBAA after he retired from the association,” Bolen said.
“IBAC was John Winant’s vision,” Stinebring, director of international operations for Emerson Electric, told AIN. “I have a lot of respect for him and for all he did for business aviation. I’m really excited about this award. It connects so well with where my interests lie.”
A member of the NBAA board of directors from 1995 to 2005, Stinebring also served for 12 years on the governing board of IBAC, a group of 15 business aviation organizations around the world, founded in 1981. NBAA is IBAC’s largest supporting member and its newest member is the Russian United Business Aviation Association.
Stinebring was chairman of the IBAC Governing Board from 2003 through 2006 and has been vice chairman and chairman of the IBAC International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations
(IS-BAO) Standards Board since 2004. He also served as NBAA’s representative to the IBAC Finance Committee from 2003 through May. “IBAC gives us a voice in Montreal, representing business aviation at ICAO [International Civil Aviation Organization],” Stinebring told AIN.
This year’s Winant Award recipient served on several NBAA committees, including those dealing with international operations, air traffic and airspace and government affairs. “My work with NBAA has always been supported by my company,” he said. Emerson Electric has achieved IS-BAO certification, a product of IBAC, which developed the standard for the safety management system, “a code of best practices [that] covers everything that goes into a flight operations manual,” he noted.
Stinebring became interested in aviation when he took an introductory airplane ride at the age of 21. He attended Parks College in Cahokia, Ill., now part of St. Louis University. He was initially interested in maintenance and engineering, then learned to fly. While working as a mechanic for TWA, Stinebring continued flying at St. Louis Lambert Field, then after earning his flight instructor certificate, he started teaching others to fly.
In 1967 Stinebring joined the Bank of St. Louis, flying a Twin Beech at Spirit of St. Louis Airport, then a King Air. He joined Emerson in 1974 as a pilot and has since held positions of increasing responsibility.
He continues to fly frequently. His FAA certificates include the ATP and his aircraft type ratings in the Dassault Falcon 7X, 10, 20 and 50; Cessna Citation 500; Gulfstream 159; Hawker HS125; Lockheed JetStar and Learjet. He also is an A&P mechanic, and lists the Falcon 7X and the JetStar among his favorite airplanes to fly.
Stinebring is receiving another award at this year’s convention: NBAA’s Pilot Flying Safety Award. He is second on the list of top pilots with 26,713 safe corporate flight hours, and it’s not the first time he has been among the top five.
He attributes his outstanding safety record to “professional training and his company’s disciplined use of standard operating procedures.” He told AIN, “training is very important and the company is very supportive, providing good training with no budgetary compromises. Safety is a culture within the department; it starts with the chairman of the company and goes down to the people who fly.”
The John Winant Award recognizes former NBAA Board members who, as Winant did, continue to dedicate their time and expertise to promoting business aviation after they have concluded their service as NBAA directors. It was first given last year to Phil Roberts and David Vornholt, two former NBAA directors who have been instrumental in establishing the Ohio Regional Business Aviation Association, “enhancing the visibility of business aviation within the National Aviation Hall of Fame and bringing business aviation to the attention of Ohio’s university system.”
