B/CA Fast Five: Tom Appleton President and CEO, Piaggio
America, West Palm Beach, Fla.
Denied a military flying career because of below-standard
eyesight, Tom Appleton went civilian early. After several years of flying
survey flights into the wilds of his native Canada, he found himself, at age
23, chief pilot and ops boss of a PBY conducting natural resource flights in
Africa. He later joined de Havilland Aircraft as a demo pilot, flying at air
shows and conducting customer training the world over. Naturally persuasive, he
was tapped as a salesman and rose steadily, eventually becoming executive vp in
charge of Bombardier's then-new RJ program. In 1996 he was made head of the company's
water bomber program. He moved to Piaggio America in 2003 and now shuttles
among homes in West Palm Beach, Genoa and Toronto.
1) How goes the P180 Avanti program?
Appleton: We recently delivered our 100th aircraft and are
producing about 24 a year at the factory in Genoa. We're pretty much sold out
through 2007 and are quoting 2008 deliveries. The Avanti II was just certified.
We're doing fine.
2) That's a remarkable turnaround for a once dead program.
What caused it to fail originally?
Appleton: I wasn't there at the time, so I can only offer
opinions based on hearsay. There were a number of problems. First, there was
the bankruptcy of Gates Learjet and its parent, Integrated Resources. Lear was
making the fuselage, so the tooling and line had to be repatriated to Italy,
and that drained the company of cash. Also there was the demise of the
Starship. Many people associated the two aircraft in their minds, so the Avanti
suffered by that association.
3) What is the tougher sell, the water bomber or the Avanti?
Appleton: The water bomber, no question. And that's partly
because the U.S. system [of fighting forest fires] doesn't accommodate a water
scooping airplane easily. Selling the Avanti is easy once you get people to
experience its speed, quiet and comfort. After riding in one, very few
qualified prospects fail to purchase one.
4) You outfit green aircraft in the U.S. Will you eventually
start a production line here as well?
Appleton: That's not likely. At the end of the day you
wouldn't have an Italian product. It would be like building a Ferrari in the
U.S. And that's equally unlikely.
5) You have a penchant for Ferraris— specifically the 1966
330GTC in your garage. Does the fact that Piaggio is partially owned by the
Ferrari family benefit you personally?
Appleton: Piaggio Aero is one of Michael Schumacher's
sponsors, and Piaggio America is sponsor of the Ferrari Challenge Race Series
in North America. The final race takes place in Italy this year at a track
outside Florence. That's where I'm going right after this conversation. A
harried weekend, yes, but I'll manage.
