Paul Schwarzbaum has taken the role of CEO for Tronair. He succeeds Harley Kaplan, who has retired. Schwarzbaum has more than 30 years of leadership most recently as president and CEO of GT Technologies.
David Scobey was elected chairman of the TBM Owners and Pilots Association (TBMOPA). Retired president and CEO of AT&T Southeast, Scobey has been a TBM 850 owner since 2010 and joined the TBMOPA board of directors last year.
Denzil White, previously CEO of Asian charter provider HongKong Jet, was named managing director of aircraft management and charter with Hong Kong-based business jet operator and maintenance provider Metrojet.
The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) selected Harris Corporation chairman, president, and CEO William Brown as chairman of AIA’s Board of Governors for 2019. Collins Aerospace CEO Kelly Ortberg becomes vice chairman.
Eric Dalbiès was appointed senior executive v-p of Safran Helicopter Engines and CEO for Safran Power Units. Dalbiès previously spent nearly five years as Safran executive v-p, strategy, mergers, and acquisitions.
Mente Group expanded the duties of Brian Hammer to vice president of transactions, covering all aspects of business aircraft acquisitions, sales, and leasing activity. A 28-year aviation veteran, Hammer joined the company in 2009 and previously was vice president overseeing technical aspects of aircraft transactions.
Kevin Wilkerson joined Epic Fuels as vice president of transaction processing, focusing on the growth and development of the company’s fuel payment cards. Previously he served as an executive with Colt and World Fuel Services.
Andy Cebula joined Airlines for America as vice president, NextGen and new entrants. Cebula has four decades of industry, government, and association experience that began in 1978 as a ramp agent for Eastern Airlines; included stints with AOPA, NATA, the FAA, and Sensis; and most recently was interim executive director of the RTCA.
Chris Broyhill has taken the role of vice president of strategic development for Clay Lacy. Broyhill brings a 35-year business aviation and U.S. Air Force background to his new role, including experience as a chief pilot, director of operations, and director of aviation for Part 135 and 91 operations.
Trevor Janz has joined Chicago-based Part 135 charter provider N-Jet as vice president of sales and marketing. Previously he served as director of marketing with Wisconsin Aviation.
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) named Ryan Waguespack vice president, focused on membership and serving the needs of the charter, MRO, and aircraft management sectors. Waguespack, most recently vice president of business development of Summit Aviation, has chaired NATA’s Workforce Development Committee and Illegal Charter Task Force.
Gulfstream Aerospace appointed Timothy Wood regional sales manager for Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Wood previously has steered business development for Gama Aviation and also has worked in business development for the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Duncan Aviation realigned its customer service team. Russ Haugen, who had been an assistant manager of customer service at Duncan’s Lincoln, Nebraska facility, is transitioning to the Utah location as customer service manager. In Lincoln, Will Morris is taking the role of assistant manager for customer service and Jennifer Scotter, who is project manager billing assistant, joins the customer service team.
First Wing Charter and Management hired Jason Spoor as vice president and general manager. Spoor has 18 years of aviation operations experience for companies including Stryker Corp., Boeing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and most recently Google.
Greg Laabs was appointed general manager of Gemini Air Group’s Part 145 division. Laabs has had a 39-year business aviation career, including with Duncan Aviation, West Star Aviation, Stevens Aviation, Banyan, Mayo Aviation, and Tempus Jets. Further, Gemini named Eugene (Gene) Sorkine maintenance manager. Sorkine brings more than 35 years of aviation maintenance experience, including with Air Research Aviation, Corporate Jets, and Landmark Aviation. And, Rob Louviaux was named project manager on the Twin Commander Product line. Louviaux has more than 30 years experience on Twin Commanders.
Randy Onysko has taken the role of west regional sales director for StandardAero. A 27-year aviation veteran, Onysko most recently has held regional sales roles for both StandardAero and Hawker Beechcraft Services.
West Star Aviation named Steve Goede general manager of its Chattanooga (CHA) facility. Goede previously helped develop West Star’s Landing Gear Overhaul and Accessory program at CHA, as well as at its St Louis (ALN) and Grand Junction (GJT) locations. Tom Hilboldt, who previously managed the CHA location, is taking on the new role of director of maintenance.
Dallas Airmotive hired Charles (Chuck) Hagen as rotorcraft regional engine manager for the Southwest U.S. and Alaska region. Hagen has more than 25 years of engine maintenance experience, including over 20 years at AeroMaritime.
Awards and Honors
The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) on November 27 honored three individuals in the business and general aviation community with its 2018 Wesley L. McDonald Distinguished Statesman of Aviation Award: Gulfstream Aerospace president Mark Burns, Business & Commercial Aviation editor-in-chief William Garvey, and King Schools founders John and Martha King.
Burns, who also is vice president of General Dynamics, has served with the Savannah, Georgia manufacturer since 1983, beginning as a computer-aided design operator. Since that time he’s held numerous roles in engineering, product support, and customer support, becoming president in July 2015.
Garvey’s career has spanned numerous aviation publications, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) magazine, Professional Pilot magazine, and Flying magazine, in addition to Reader’s Digest. He further managed communications for FlightSafety International.
John and Martha King established King Schools in 1974 to expand the reach of aviation education, through the use of multi-media and technology. Champions of risk management, the Kings speak to thousands of pilots each year on aviation safety.
Final Flights
Nathaniel (Nate) Zelazo, co-founder and chairman emeritus of Astronautics Corp., died November 22 in Milwaukee. He was 100.
Zelazo and his sister Norma Paige established the Milwaukee-headquartered company in May 1959, beginning with rocket science, according to Astronautics. Zelazo had eyed a U.S. Air Force-sponsored program to optimize and conserve fuel in a manned space vehicle that was traveling to the moon. This spurred a project involving equations calculating the rate a space vehicle would consume fuel. Astronautics took on other space-related projects, but its primary focus was developing electromechanical primary flight instruments for aircraft.
Zelazo and Paige, who passed away in 2017, steered Astronautics from a “one-room storefront to a global corporation,” the company said. He served as president from its inception through 1984, taking the role of CEO in 1984 and retiring and becoming chairman emeritus in 2000.
Born in Lomza, Poland in 1918, Zelazo immigrated to New York with his family in 1928. Earning an engineering degree from City College of New York, he received a master’s from the University of Wisconsin.
During World War II, he had designed radar systems for the U.S. Navy. After the war, he worked on engineering and electronics projects for the Navy and the Department of Defense. Zelazo took a role as a vice president for Ketay Instrument Corporation from 1952 to 1954 and then joined the Avionics Division of the John Oster Manufacturing Company, leading research and development there until he founded Astronautics.
Aviation journalist Jack Elliott Shapiro, 94, died November 20 in New Jersey. Under the pen name of Jack Elliott, he was a prolific writer, having contributed to numerous aviation publications, including AIN. But he was best known as the author of the weekly column "Wings Over New Jersey," published for more than 38 years in New Jersey’s Newark Star-Ledger. The column is thought to be the longest-running aviation column in any mainstream publication, ever.
Raised in Bloomfield, New Jersey, he had his first airplane ride in 1933 at age nine in a New Standard biplane. He served with the U.S. Army in multiple combat theaters during World War II, participating in the liberation of Rome in June 1944.
He earned his pilot certificate in 1954, later adding commercial, instrument, glider, and seaplane ratings. By then he had begun his journalism career, first with the Long Island Press, and later with the Star-Ledger. He began writing the aviation column in 1963, continuing to contribute weekly after he left the paper for a career in aviation public relations. A book compiling his most memorable columns, titled Adventures in Flying, was published in 2008.
Paul Stinebring, a renowned international aviation expert and longtime Emerson Electric flight department manager who held key roles on the boards of NBAA and the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC), died on November 22. He was 78.
A graduate of Parks College in St. Louis, Stinebring was a pilot for more than 40 years and had amassed 26,000 hours of flight time. Over the years he had obtained type ratings in nine business jets, along with an FAA airframe and powerplant license. He began his business aviation career in 1967 with the Bank of St. Louis, joining Emerson Electric in 1974. He remained with Emerson until he retired in 2011 as director of international operations.
Active in the business aviation community, Stinebring joined the NBAA board of directors in 1995, serving until 2005. He further was a member of NBAA’s Airspace Air Traffic Committee and Industry Affairs Committee, but he remained focused on international operations as a member of NBAA’s International Operators Committee for years. He represented NBAA on the IBAC Governing Board for 12 years, had been vice chairman of the association, and served as chairman of the IBAC IS-BAO Standards Board. Most recently he was the IBAC representative on the International Civil Aviation North Atlantic Systems Panel.
