Lycoming Gets New Manager…
The man who stickhandled Lycoming through some of its most difficult periods is, “taking on an assignment for Textron Systems,” company spokeswoman Karla Sexton told AVweb this weekend. Mike Wolf, who as president of the engine maker took a highly personal role in dealing with some of the biggest product recalls in GA history, has been moved to an unspecified position with Lycoming’s parent company, Textron Systems. Lycoming spokeswoman Karla Sexton confirmed Wolf’s departure to AVweb on Friday. A formal announcement is expected this week. Wolf has been with Lycoming in various capacities since 1983 and was named president in 2001, just as the company faced arguably its most serious crisis. Crankshafts in hundreds of its high-horsepower TIO-540 series engines were faulty, necessitating a huge recall and the grounding of hundreds of aircraft. In all, Lycoming had to tear down almost 1,000 engines to replace the potentially faulty cranks, a job it finished in April of 2003.
