HAI announces Salute to Excellence winners
The Helicopter Association International (HAI) has announced the winners of its Salute to Excellence awards, which are given for outstanding achievement performed by individuals or companies in the civil helicopter industry.
The recipients are as follows:
- Aviation maintenance technician award:Doug Boody, Customer Service Representative, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., West Palm Beach, FL
- Aviation repair specialist award: Karl Esbenshade, mechanic, Rocky Mountain Helicopters, Provo, UT
- Igor I. Sikorsky award for humanitarian service: LCDR Brian Moore, LT Troy Beshears, AMTI Michael Bouchard, ASTI John Green, Crew CGNR 6539, USCF Air Station, New Orleans
- The Joe Mashman safety award:Jim Szymanski, manager, HELIPROPS Program, Bell Helicopter Textron, Fort Worth, TX
- Outstanding certified flight instructor award: Timothy C. Tucker, chief instructor, Robinson Helicopter Company, Los Alamitos, CA
- Agusta community service award: Dr. John McDonald, posthumously, founder, REACH, Sonoma County, CA
- Eurocopter Golden Hour award: James Russell (Russ) Spray, chairman and CEO, Rocky Mountain Helicopters, Provo, UT
- Excellence in communications award: Al Conklin and Bill de Decker, principals, Conklin & de Decker Associates, Arlington, TX
- Helicopter maintenance award: Joseph Kuhn, director of maintenance, Maryland State Police aviation division, Baltimore, MD MD Helicopters law enforcement award: Jerry Dyer, assistant chief of police, Fresno Police department, Fresno, CA
- Lawrence D. Bell Memorial award: Dr. Carrol M. Voss, retired CRO, AgRotors, Gettysburg
- Robert E. Trimble Memorial Award: Toni Lotscher, deputy chief pilot, Swiss Air Ambulance "Rega", Windersill, Switzerland
- Pilot of the year award: Jim Gardner, pilot, KFOR-TV, Oklahoma City, OK.
Edited by Andrea King
Associate Editor, Aerospace Online