Washington, DC—The Board of Directors of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) at its Fall Board meeting elected Simon Caldecott, President and CEO of Piper Aircraft, as its Chairman for 2017. In addition, Phil Straub, Managing Director of Aviation and Vice President of Garmin International, was elected as Vice Chairman. Straub is a former Chairman of GAMA’s Technical Policy Committee.
The Board also voted Nicolas Chabbert, Senior Vice President of the Daher Airplane Business Unit, as Chairman of GAMA’s Safety and Accident Investigation Committee.
The following Board members will continue to chair their respective committees in 2017:
Airworthiness & Maintenance Policy Committee: Mark Burns, President, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation
Communications Committee: David Paddock, Senior Vice President & General Manager of U.S. Aircraft Services, Jet Aviation
Environment Committee: David Coleal, President, Bombardier Business Aircraft
Flight Operations Policy Committee: John Uczekaj, President and CEO, Aspen Avionics
Global Markets Committee: Simon Pryce, Group Chief Executive, BBA Aviation
Policy and Legal Issues Committee: Rhett Ross, President, Continental Motors, Inc.
Security Issues Committee: Jim Ziegler, President and CEO, Greenwich AeroGroup
Technical Policy Committee: Chuck Wiplinger, President, Wipaire, Inc.
Aaron Hilkemann of Duncan Aviation, who served as GAMA’s Chairman in 2016, will remain on the Executive Committee as Immediate Past Chairman.
GAMA’s Board of Directors also approved a new member company at the meeting. Founded in 2009, the China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co., Ltd. (AVIC General) is headquartered in Zhuhai, Guangdong province. AVIC General’s general aviation products include the Y12, Y5, and LE500 aircraft, which are manufactured in China. New products in development include the single-engine turboprop AG300 and the four-engine large-size amphibian AG600. AVIC General also offers charter, pilot training, air show, and maintenance, repair, and overhaul services. In a short time period, AVIC General has already achieved a significant global footprint.
Additionally, GAMA’s Board approved EViation Ltd. as its newest associate member. Based in Israel, EViation Ltd. is developing and manufacturing an efficient electric aircraft that seeks to make electric aviation the fast, competitive, and sustainable answer to the on-demand mobility of people and goods. With distributed propulsion, high-energy density batteries, mission-driven energy management, and a new airframe designed to maximize these technological advances, EViation aims to redefine the matrix of regional transportation and have more people take to the sky.