Alan Klapmeier, chairman and CEO of Cirrus Design, has been named chairman of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) for next year. Jeppesen president and CEO president Mark Van Tine has been named vice chairman. He will continue to serve as chairman of the association’s international affairs committee.
The Aerospace Industries Association of Canada has named Jean-Pierre Mortreux chairman of the board for 2007-2008. Mortreux is CEO and president of CMC Electronics.
Brent Smith has been appointed CFO of Executive Jet Management. He previously served as senior v-p of financial planning and analysis.
Jeppesen has named Brad Thomann senior vice president and COO. The company also named Greg Bowlin senior vice president of its business and general aviation unit. Bowlin replaces Kevin Collins.
Bell Helicopter has promoted Barry Kohler to v-p for commercial production programs. He previously served as the light helicopter development program director.
Paul Tattersall has been named v-p for trading and services of the BAE Systems asset-management business. He most recently served as v-p of sales and marketing for Macquarie Aviation Capital in Dublin.
L-3 Communications has named Kris Ganase president of aviation products for the company’s products group. He will oversee the aviation products businesses, including ACSS, Avionics Systems, Aviation Recorders and Electrodynamics. He was most recently president of ACSS.
Sebastian Groeger has been appointed senior vice president and general aviation and general manager of Jet Aviation Singapore. He succeeds Michael Sattler, who will be vice president of maintenance at Jet Aviation Basel.
Business Jet Center has announced the following appointments: Bill Moltenbrey, director; Jason Pons, manager of FBO operations; and DJ Korzyniewski, manager of the concierge services department.
Mark Stuesse has been promoted to senior manager of Sabreliner’s St. Mary, Mo. aviation manufacturing operation. He was previously proposal manager for the company.
Adam Elkins has joined TAC Air as general manager of its Raleigh-Durham, N.C. location. He previously served as chief pilot of several flight departments. The company also has appointed Mike Wilwerding general manager of its Omaha FBO.
FlightSafety International announced the following appointments and promotions: Chip White, manager, Columbus, Ohio Learning Center; Pete Nily, manager, Long Beach, Calif. Learning Center; Charlie Harvich, manager, Savannah, Ga.-based Gulfstream Maintenance Training Center; Matthew Cox, assistant manager, Greater Philadelphia/Wilmington Learning Center; David Glass, assistant manager, Houston Learning Center; and John Kelleher, assistant manager, Teterboro Learning Center.
CRS Jet Spares has announced the following appointments: Forrest Bullard, assistant repair coordinator; and Steve Sharkey, sales representative for Florida.
Vaisala Management Group has announced the following appointments: Lauri Rintanen, director of operations; Tapio Engström, director of business development; and Helena Marjaranta, director of communications.
Mesa, Ariz.-based communications provider BDN announced the following staff additions: Blaine Anderson, senior production artist; Lisa Sifuentes, account executive, client services group; and Annie Hazama, senior graphic designer.
Lenn Phegley has been named site leader of Crane Aerospace and Electronics’ Chandler, Ariz. site.
Cleveland-based Cee-Bee Aviation has named Eric Bolland a sales representative for the Eastern U.S.
Awards & Honors
Paulo Escobar, a former National Institute for Aviation Research employee, received a NASA Space Flight Awareness Honoree Award. The award recognizes his dedication to quality work and flight safety.
Tony Reece has won the Helicopter Association International’s (HAI) 2008 Robert E. Trimble Memorial Award. Reece operates Hi Line Helicopters in Cascade, Wash. He has been a pilot for 51 years and a helicopter pilot since 1972.
The award will be presented at the organization’s Heli-Expo event in Houston. It recognizes a helicopter pilot for distinguished mountain flying.
Reece began his career working on Mount Rainier at the 10,000-foot level, flying a Hughes 500. Over the years, he has flown numerous rescue missions in support of injured or stuck climbers on Mount Rainier, evacuated more than 250 lost or stranded visitors to the North Cascades National Park, performed body recoveries and provided lift for the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Reece received the association’s Pilot Safety Award in 2002.
Final Flights
Karl Keller, 75, died Sunday, October 21, in Colorado Springs, Colo. After a stint in the Air Force, Keller became chief engineering test pilot and director of flight operations for Aero Commander, a division of Rockwell Standard.
In 1974 he founded Delta-Kay, specializing in oil and gas investments. He operated the company until his retirement in 1981.
Barbara Cesar, 56, died last month in California. Cesar and her late husband, Ed, founded Syncro Aviation and Syncro Aircraft Interiors, which specialized in completing the interiors of business aircraft.
Toimi Bill Okerblom, a former Grumman employee, died October 15 at the age of 98. Okerblom was field service technical representative for the Grumman Mallard and Gulfstream I, II and III.
Paul Tibbets, pilot of the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan, died November 1 at his Columbus, Ohio home. He was 92. On Aug. 6, 1945, Col. Tibbets at the controls of the Enola Gay, along with his crew of 13, dropped the five-ton “Little Boy” bomb on Hiroshima. Japan surrendered a few days after a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
Tibbets defended his historic role for more than six decades. “We knew it was going to kill people right and left, but my one driving interest was to do the best job I could so that we could end the killing as soon as possible,” he said in a 2005 interview marking the 60th anniversary of the bombing.
He joined the Army Air Corps in 1938 and participated in some of the early daylight B-17 bombing missions over Germany. He left the Air Force as a brigadier general in 1966. In 1970 he joined Columbus-based international air-taxi service Executive Jet Aviation (the precursor to NetJets), where he eventually rose to the position of president and chairman before retiring in 1985. He was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1996. Tibbets is survived by his wife, Andrea, and three sons.
