There appears to have been a fairly dramatic change in the leadership of New Piper Aircraft. Former President and CEO Chuck Suma has been relegated to a Vice Chairman position while former Suntron Corp. CEO James K Bass takes over those positions.

A company statement noted that the change was made as "the result of an extensive effort to find the talent and skill sets necessary to lead New Piper Aircraft into the future."

The move has caught much of Piper's staff by surprise and at a time when Union relations are not exactly at their most positive. While the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers had agreed to approve and ratify a new contract between their member/employees and New Piper last summer, they had been working without a contract since October 2003 (shortly after New Piper was acquired by American Capital Strategies). In the interim, there have been a number of disputes that have resulted in several complaints of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board against New Piper, although one union employee filed a petition with the NLRB to decertify the union.

This move comes at a time when business at Piper was taking a decidedly positive swing. Sales were up, dramatically, in recent months and a reinvigorated product line, inspired by the adoption of Avidyne cockpit display technology was generating new and aggressive interest in one of General Aviation's most well-known entities.

No one is yet talking on the record as to what has actually occurred and there are reports of some uncertainty by a number of senior staffers and some unrest among the 700+ member union... as well as one bomb threat made against the company, as of Tuesday. ANN has calls into New Piper and are awaiting statements that may bring some clarification to these recent changes.

FMI: www.newpiper.com