Fernando de Caralt has taken the helm of BRS Aerospace as CEO. Caralt has served with BRS for five years, most recently as senior v-p of engineering, and before that served as president and CEO of Cimsa IngenierĂa de Sistemas, director of Ingenia Ingenieria Aeronautica AIE, and director and CEO of TAF Helicopters.
Erickson appointed Doug Kitani CEO and director, permanently filling a role that had been held by acting CEO Andrew Mills. Mills will remain in an executive capacity for Erickson. Previously Kitani was CEO and director for IAP Worldwide Services and before that had been involved in portfolio strategies and corporate development for DynCorp International and had also held management roles with Honeywell and General Electric.
Metrojet named Gary Dolski CEO. Dolski joins the Hong Kong-based operator with 35 years of experience with Bristol Aerospace, Bombardier, MD Helicopters and Jet Aviation.
Mario Lepine was appointed CEO for business aircraft interiors producer F. List Canada. Lepine was formerly general manager of F. List’s Montreal subsidiary.
Private Sky named Dave Scully managing director and accountable manager. Scully, who has two decades of aviation experience, was previously director of operations at Dublin-Weston Executive Airport, founder of AEM and co-founder and president of the Irish Business Aviation Association.
Phil Condit has joined Icon Aircraft’s board of directors. Condit, a former chairman and CEO of Boeing, has served as an Icon advisor since 2010 and has been an Icon investor since 2011.
Jeffrey Robbins joined ATI Aviation Services as chief strategy officer. Robbins has held sales, marketing and management positions at Lockheed, Gulf Aerospace and Professional Aircraft Accessories.
The Chicago Executive Airport Board of Directors made some key personnel changes, including the appointment of Court Harris as chairman. Harris, who joined the board as a working member in July, spent six years an active-duty officer with the U.S. Army and logged a tour in Afghanistan as an American liaison to the NATO airport authority at Heart International airport. The board promoted Scott Campbell to director of airport operations. A private pilot, Campbell has served at the airport since February 2014. Jason Griffith was promoted to director of finance. Griffith has been an accountant for the airport since January 2012.
Quest Aircraft appointed Jonathan Payne senior v-p, sales and marketing. Payne joins Quest following a career with American Honda Motors, where he held senior sales and dealer management positions, as well as at Honda Aircraft, where he was head of global dealer sales operations.
Tamarack Aerospace hired Paul Hathaway as vice president of marketing. Hathaway previously held marketing roles with Avidyne, WSI and most recently Honeywell Aerospace.
Francis Aviation hired John Stuart to serve as vice president. Stuart, a commanding officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, previously held roles as vice president of operations for Trajen Flight Support, executive v-p of aviation operations at Astin Executive Services and as a senior officer in the Navy.
Curt Castagna of Aerolease Group was re-elected to the National Air Transportation Association board of directors. Four new members were added to the board: Randall Berg, airport director for King County International Airport; Dennis Fox, senior v-p flight operations for Executive Jet Management; Larry Jorash, senior v-p operations for Signature Flight Support; and Larry Wade, president and partner for Golden Isles Aviation.
Meridian appointed Carlos Rodriguez general manager of the Hayward operation. Rodriguez, who joined Meridian in 2002 when it was part of the Million Air franchise, most recently had been operations manager of the Hayward location.
David Sylvester has joined Raisbeck Engineering as director of sales. Sylvester has 28 years of general aviation experience in maintenance, quality control and sales, recently as a quality assurance inspector and then in maintenance sales for Banyan Air Service.
CAE promoted Brian Hogg to center leader at the North East training center in Whippany, N.J. and Tina Barnes to regional sales manager for the Central Region. Hogg joined CAE in May 2011 as an instructor on Citation programs and became training manager of the Northeast center in 2013. Barnes has served in a number of sales capacities with CAE since 2001.
FlightSafety International promoted Mark Gris to assistant manager of the company’s Toronto facility. Gris joined the Toronto center in 2002 as a simulator technician and was later promoted to manager of flight training devices and director of programs for Bombardier aircraft. Tom Montgomery was named assistant manager of the company's learning center in Savannah, Georgia. Montgomery joined FlightSafety in 2004 as a GIV instructor and has since held roles as program manager for GIV training, assistant director of programs for emerging aircraft and director of programs for Gulfstream aircraft training.
Flying Colours appointed Trevor Knox director of maintenance, based in Peterborough, Ontario. Knox brings 24 years of aviation maintenance to his new role, along with endorsements for Bombardier Challenger and Global types.
Elliott Aviation hired Mindy Zumdome as vice president of talent and culture. Zumdome has 17 years of human resources experience, most recently as member and community relations manager for HNI’s Leveraged Furniture Operations group.
West Star Aviation appointed Bob O'Leary Embraer business development manager. O’Leary brings 27 years of aviation experience to his new role, including stints with PHI, Garrett Aviation and Midcoast Aviation/Jet Aviation.
Bryan Johnson joined Aviation Management Consulting Group (AMCG) as a consultant based in the firm’s Colorado office. Johnson has 20 years of airport planning, management, operations and development experience at a mix of general aviation and airline airports, most recently as airport director at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (BJC) in Broomfield, Colo.
Duncan Aviation added Susie Corn to the turbine engine service sales team, where she will focus on the South Central region. Corn has 17 years of aviation experience, holding roles involving accounting, customer service and regional sales.
The Asian Business Aviation Association expanded its reach at the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) with the appointments of Chris Buchholz and Joanne Wong to the IBAC Standards Board. Buchholz, currently a board member of Wijet, formerly had led Metrojet/Heliservices and Hongkong Jet, and held roles with Universal, Minsheng, Goldman Sachs and UBS. Wong has served with Jet Aviation since 2013, currently steering safety and security at Jet Aviation Flight Services, and also has served with Hongkong Jet, QAS Aviation International and Viva Macau Airlines.
Awards and Honors
NBAA has selected MedAire founder Joan Sullivan Garrett and former Gulfstream executive Preston Henne as this year’s recipients of the association’s highest honors. Garrett will receive the Meritorious Service to Aviation Award, which recognizes “extraordinary lifelong contributions to aviation.” Henne will be honored with the John P. (Jack) Doswell Award, which recognizes “lifelong individual achievement on behalf of and in support of the aims goals and objectives of business aviation.”
The awards will be presented during the NBAA Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition, to be held from October 10 to 12 in Las Vegas, Nev.
NBAA called Garrett an industry pioneer in critical-care medical response. She founded medical training, equipment provider and logistics specialist MedAire in 1985 and served as CEO until 2006. During that time she had become a renowned advisor and expert on health and safety-related issues. Her testimony before Congress is credited with helping to lead to a regulation requiring U.S. airlines to carry automated external defibrillators and enhanced emergency medical kits.
She is also a 30-plus-year NBAA member. During that time, Garrett served as chair and vice chair of the association’s Associate Member Advisory Council and a member of the board of directors.
Henne retired in 2013 as senior v-p of programs, engineering and test at Gulfstream Aerospace, following a 44-year career in the aviation industry. At Gulfstream, he steered product program management, engineering, flight operations and advanced design and technology development. While at Gulfstream, Henne led design, development, test and certification of the Collier Trophy-winning Gulfstream V. His organization also developed the G150, G280, G450, G550 and G650. The G550 and G650 also captured the Collier Trophy, the National Aeronautic Association’s honor for the greatest achievement in aeronautics and astronautics in America.
Henne joined Gulfstream in 1994 after serving with McDonnell Douglas for 25 years. There, he steered the aerodynamic design of the wing on the C-17 military airlifter. Later he was chief design engineer for the MD-80 and became vice president and general manager of the MD-90 program.
The National Air Transportation Association honored Arkansas-based Central Flying Service with its Aviation Milestone Award for reaching 475,000 flight-training hours. NATA presented the recognition to Central Flying Service CEO Dick Holbert. “NATA is pleased to recognize the contributions of one of our charter members,” said Tim Obitts, NATA executive vice president. “Founded in 1939 by Dick’s father, Claud Holbert, family-owned Central Flying Service has been doing its part to ready the nation’s supply of pilots since the company’s establishment as part of the pre-World War II Civilian Pilot Training Program.”
The Air Traffic Control Association selected Amtrak president and CEO Richard Anderson as the 2017 recipient of the Glen A. Gilbert Memorial Award, the association’s highest honor. Before joining Amtrak in July 2017, Anderson spent 25 years in the aviation industry, most recently as executive chairman of Delta Air Lines. He also has chaired the NextGen Advisory Committee.
Final Flights
Vlado Lenoch, 64, died in the crash of P-51 Mustang Baby Duck at Atchison County, Kansas, in July. Also killed was passenger Bethany Root, 34, the manager of Amelia Earhart Airport, where Lenoch had performed the day before. A corporate pilot, Lenoch began flying at age 17. He had accumulated 17,000 hours of flight time, some of them in his own P-51 (subsequently sold) and F4U Corsairs, F6F Hellcats and P-47 Thunderbolts. With degrees from Purdue University and MIT, he was a 747 test pilot for Boeing and was type-rated in the 727. He also flew gliders and competition aerobatics in a Pitts Special he built. Lenoch was a long-time member of the Heritage Flight, Commemorative Air Force and Experimental Aircraft Association, among other groups.
