Honeywell, Bell Veteran Tasked With Improving Ownership Experience

Eclipse Aviation announced Tuesday it has brought an aviation veteran onboard as its new vice president for customer experience and support systems.

John Ricciardelli brings 23 years of customer support and program management experience at Honeywell and Bell Helicopter-Textron to the Albuquerque, NM-based planemaker. The company says he will be responsible for enhancing the existing Eclipse 500 ownership experience -- including aircraft delivery, pilot and maintenance training, Eclipse Service Center operation, and the delivery of Eclipse's JetComplete customer ownership program.

"We are very pleased that John is joining our team to lead the advancement of the Eclipse 500 ownership experience," said Peg Billson, COO of Eclipse Aviation. "John has a proven track record of delivering results while satisfying customers, and is well positioned to help us realize our vision of setting a new experience standard for aircraft ownership."

Replacing Ken McNamara, Ricciardelli joins Eclipse Aviation following a long career at both Bell Helicopter and Honeywell. Under his leadership at Bell Helicopter as executive director of commercial development programs, Ricciardelli’s cross-functional team won the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter Program. They delivered a flying development aircraft in less than nine months, paving the way for a successful certification program and future deployment using the Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) Bell 407 platform.

At Honeywell, Ricciardelli was responsible for establishing a support network for multiple turbofan engines used in business aircraft. This included a successful entry into service launch of the TF7000 in 2003. Ricciardelli ascended the management ranks quickly while spending time in engineering, operations, product line management and customer support.

John received his Six Sigma Black Belt certification, enabling him to successfully deploy numerous process improvements and develop an innovative worldwide support team that delivered a proactive approach to preventing defects in products and services.

Ricciardelli held a variety of leadership roles at Honeywell, including: director of business aviation customer support, manager customer support programs, and product support engineer. Ricciardelli earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 1983, and an Executive MBA in general management from Texas Christian University in 2006.

FMI: www.eclipseaviation.com