AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2022 - 34

BRIEFING
MI L ESTONES /
passion, insight, and innovation. A private pilot since he was a teenager
growing up in rural Pennsylvania, Tom has pursued ratings,
flight experiences, and flying opportunities from a flight in the
Concorde to taking the helm of a Southwest airliner. He has a commercial
pilot certificate with multiengine, instrument, and seaplane
ratings, and holds type ratings in the Eclipse 500 and Cessna CJ
business jets and has a second-in-command type rating in the North
American B-25 Mitchell. He co-owns a Beechcraft Bonanza A36.
Tom has shared the changes, upheavals, and innovations in
Tom Haines
to retire
Editor in chief is stepping down
BY JULIE SUMMERS WALKER
THE FAMI L I AR FACE of general aviation to pilots everywhere,
the GA advocate and leader of the AOPA media and outreach
channels since the early 1990s, Editor in Chief Thomas B. Haines
retires April 11, 2022. From his mustachioed young face (and an
ill-thought-out revival during the pandemic) to his clean-shaven,
steely-eyed gaze (which many of his colleagues refer to as " Blue
Steel " ) Tom's visage has been the face of GA since he joined the
association as an associate editor in 1988. He has been at the
helm of the world's largest aviation magazine for nearly 30 years.
He has led the communications efforts of the association-beginning
as a magazine editor under then-Editor Richard Collins-with
Icon names new
interim CEO
BY DAVE HIRSCHMAN
ICON A IRCR AF T NAMED Jerry Meyer as its
interim chief executive officer and said the former
U.S. naval aviator will focus on building a
" strategic roadmap " for the California company.
Icon produces the amphibious, stallresistant
A5, a light sport aircraft that was
announced with great fanfare more than a
34
AOPA PILOT / April 2022
GA with AOPA members through his monthly magazine column
" Waypoints " and has served as anchor of the popular AOPA Live
This Week web-television program since he helped launch the
show in May 2012. He has managed a staff of 35 writers, editors,
graphic artists, photographers, videographers, event planners,
communications experts, and support personnel with humor, loyalty,
and, on occasion, an iron will. His support for-and advocacy
of-the AOPA mission has never wavered.
His writing has earned him awards from the Associated Press
and American Society of Business Publication Editors. In 2010, the
Bahamian government named Tom its Travel Writer of the Year. He
is often sought out for his publishing and aviation expertise, speaking
at regional and national publishing conferences, and has appeared
on news shows at NBC, CNN, and MSNBC. He has been quoted
in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Bloomberg Businessweek,
and many other national publications. While Tom will be pursuing
some of his many interests outside GA-he and his family
are avid world travelers (most recently having the unfortunate
yet distinct experience of being deported from a South American
country)-GA's favorite spokesperson will continue to consult for
the association and will contribute his column to AOPA Pilot on a
bimonthly basis (see " Waypoints: And That's the Way It Is, " p. 20).
" When Tom told me it was time for his next chapter, I asked
him to reconsider but I couldn't change his mind, " said AOPA
President and CEO Mark Baker. " Tom has been a real right-hand
person to me. He has helped guide AOPA and is leaving us in very
good hands. Thank you, Tom! " julie.walker@aopa.org
decade ago but has been beset by production delays,
price hikes, and the company's turmoil. A group of Icon
shareholders is currently suing the majority owner
claiming inappropriate technology transfers to China.
Meyer previously managed Icon production and
marketing. " Icon Aircraft has a rich, albeit short,
history of driving innovation while challenging the
norms in the aviation industry, " Meyer said. " What's
been missing is a strategic roadmap that offers a practical, executable path
forward. That is my focus. " Meyer earned an engineering degree from Duke
University and a Master of Business Administration at Northwestern University.
He was a U.S. naval aviator and flew E-2 Hawkeye turboprops and instructed
in T-45 Goshawk jets. He joined Icon in 2016 and said combining his passions
for aviation and a startup business was the " culmination of a dream. " Icon's
California factory originally was designed for high-rate production of hundreds,
AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2022

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