R. Michael Smith
L-3 Aviation Recorders, based in Sarasota, Fla., named R. Michael Smith president, succeeding Bruce Coffey, who was appointed president of L-3 Display Systems in Alpharetta, Ga.
Smith has been with L-3 Aviation Recorders for 12 years, most recently as senior vice president of business development. Prior to joining L-3, Smith held various senior management positions with Goodrich Aerospace, Hazco Services and Grimes Aerospace Company. He began his career at Boeing.
Terry Flaishans
ACSS, a L-3 Communications and Thales joint venture company based in Phoenix, named Terry Flaishans vice president and general manager.
Flaishans brings nearly 30 years of aerospace experience to ACSS. He joined the company from L-3 Avionics Systems, where he was vice president of engineering for the division, as well as for the L-3 AP businesses. Prior to L-3, Flaishans was vice president of engineering at Meggitt S-TEC in Texas, and before that was an engineering lead at Honeywell, where he worked more than 20 years in avionics design and development.
John Crichton
John Crichton, president and CEO of air navigation services provider Nav Canada, was selected to become a member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame. He will be officially inducted in May at the annual ceremony in Hamilton, Ontario.
Crichton, who has been president and CEO of Nav Canada since 1997, previously was executive vice president of First Air, a carrier servicing Canada’s northern communities, as well as president and CEO of the Air Transport Association of Canada, and chairman of Nav Canada from 1995-1997.
Gulfstream Appointments
Gulfstream, of Savannah, Ga., named Doreen Gonzalez as senior manager, G650 Procurement.
Gonzalez, who joined Gulfstream in 1992, previously was senior purchasing manager for Gulfstream’s aircraft completion facility. Before that, she managed the completion material contracts for the Gulfstream Enhanced Vision System.
She also worked as a subcontract administrator for the company’s Production Purchasing department and Savannah Service Center and as senior project manager for a number of Gulfstream V outsourced interior completions.
The airframer also added Jorge L. Perez to its staff of field service representatives (FSR). Since 2006, Perez has been a contract FSR for Gulfstream, supporting customers in Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Azerbaijan. He also provided assistance to U.S. government-operated Gulfstream aircraft in Hawaii and Washington, D.C.
Perez’s 20-year aviation career includes positions as a Gulfstream technician, a line maintenance supervisor for Jet Aviation and chief of maintenance for a Gulfstream operator.
Günter Butschek
Günter Butschek has been appointed executive vice president, operations, at Airbus. Butschek comes from Daimler AG.
Butschek previously was president and CEO of Beijing Benz Automotive, a joint venture between Daimler and Bejing Automotive Industrial Holding. Before this, he worked for Mercedes-Benz, DaimlerChrysler South Africa and Netherlands Car B.V.
David E. Perrin
Aviation Instrument Services, of Miami, named David E. Perrin sales representative. Perrin will be based in Charlotte, N.C., and will specialize in helicopter component and instrumentation sales. Perrin previously worked with Philadelphia-based Sterling Helicopter and Winnipeg-based StandardAero.
Jean Medina
The Air Transport Association of America (ATA) named Jean Medina vice president, communications.
Medina, who has more than 20 years of experience in media relations, crisis management, and financial, customer and employee communications, joined the association from United Airlines, where she most recently led external communications.
Before her tenure at United Airlines, Medina was employed in public relations for Tellabs and Ameritech.
Michael C. Hinderberger
Piper Aircraft, based in Vero Beach, Fla., named Michael C. Hinderberger vice president of engineering.
Hinderberger most recently was employed by Belcan Corp., where he was an airframe integration and certification consultant for Rolls-Royce Deutschland. Previously, he worked as a vice president for Hawker Beechcraft in product development and chief engineer for Gulfstream on the G650. He also was a flight-test team leader for the Bombardier Global Express.
Michael Studley
Aspen Avionics, of Albuquerque, N.M., promoted Michael Studley to director, customer service-field service engineering.
Studley joined Aspen Avionics in 2008 as manager for field service engineering and has supported the Northeast and Europe regions. Previously, he was an avionics department manager at various aviation companies.
Daniel Bertram
VT Group, of Gaithersburg, Md., named Daniel Bertram president of its unmanned systems line of business.
Bertram has leadership experience in aviation, unmanned vehicles and defense systems as a supplier to domestic prime contractors, including Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin as well as international contractors.
Most recently, he was president and CEO of Coda Octopus Americas, and previously was president and CEO of DataMetrics Corp., of Orlando, Fla.