NBAA Chair Newton, Other Business Aviation Leaders Among 2018 Hall of Fame Inductees

June 7, 2018

NBAA board Chair Lloyd “Fig” Newton, NBAA American Spirit Award winner Bruce Whitman and Corporate Angel Network (CAN) will be inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame on Oct. 3 in a ceremony to be held at the museum.

Newton is the chair of NBAA’s board of directors, who retired in 2000 from the U.S. Air Force as a four-star general. Serving in the military for more than three decades, he flew combat missions in Vietnam, performed with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team, served as the Air Force’s congressional liaison to the U.S. House of Representatives and led the Air Education and Training Command. After leaving the military, Newton worked at Pratt & Whitney as executive vice president of international military programs and business development until 2006.

Newton serves on the boards of L3 Technologies, the National Defense University and Torchmark Corp and the National Defense University.

FlightSafety International Chair, President and CEO Bruce Whitman will be inducted in recognition of his commitment to helping others throughout the global aviation community. During his time with the organization, he has helped grow it into a leading business aviation training provider.

Prior to joining FlightSafety, Whitman worked at NBAA as a senior executive. Since leaving the association, Whitman has been active in a host of industry initiatives, including serving on NBAA’s Associate Member Advisory Council. He also is a past winner of the association’s prestigious American Spirit Award.

Corporate Angel Network is a charitable organization whose sole mission is to fly cancer patients to treatment centers free of charge by using empty seats on business aircraft. Since its founding in 1981, CAN has made more than 54,000 flights on behalf of cancer patients, bone marrow donors and recipients, and stem cell donors and recipients who are ambulatory and not in need of medical support while traveling. NBAA holds an auction and fund-raising event at its annual convention in support of CAN and its mission.

The International Air & Space Hall of Fame, housed at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, has honored more than 200 of the most significant pilots, crew members, innovators and aviation organizations since 1963, including NBAA, which was inducted in 2013.

Learn more about the International Air & Space Hall of Fame.