Aerospace Industries Association
David North Recognized with UTC Lyman Award
Scott Seligman (left), director of public relations at United Technologies Corporation, with David M. North, the retired editor-in-chief of Aviation Week and Space Technology. North is winner of the 2006 Lauren D. Lyman Award, which is sponsored by United Technologies Corporation and administered by AIA. The award is made annually to an outstanding journalist or communications executive. The award was presented by AIA Dec. 13 at the association's 42nd annual Year-End Review and Forecast Luncheon in Arlington, Va.
David M. North, the former editor-in-chief of Aviation Week and Space Technology who has flown more than 140 types of jet aircraft, is the winner of the 2006 Lauren D. Lyman Award for excellence in aviation journalism.
North retired from the influential magazine two years ago after nearly a decade in the top position, capping a 28-year career at Aviation Week that began in 1976. That background led to some of his biggest scoops, including reports filed after he was the first westerner to fly the Soviet Su-27 and MiG-29 fighters. He was also the first journalist to pilot the B-2 stealth bomber and the Airbus A380.
North's pilot reports after flying the wide variety of aircraft became a staple in the magazine. Some of the other aircraft he flew were the F-15; F-16; F/A-18; B-1B; V-22; Boeing 757, 767 and 777; and Airbus A320 and A340. North's background includes nine years with Pan Am, 10 years as a Navy attack pilot aboard aircraft carriers including 107 missions in Vietnam, and three years as a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps assistant professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.
The award is named after Lauren "Deac" Lyman, a Pulitzer-prize winning aviation reporter with the New York Times who later had a distinguished career as a public relations executive with United Aircraft, a predecessor to the United Technologies Corp. First awarded in 1972, the prize goes to a journalist or public relations professional in aviation who exhibits Lyman's high standard of excellence.
UTC is the long-time sponsor of the award. "It is not an overstatement to say that if it flies, Dave North has probably not only flown it, but also written a pilot report about it, or at very least edited something that someone else has written about it," said Scott Seligman, UTC's public relations director. "Dave exemplifies the finest tradition of pilot/journalist in our industry, and truly exemplifies the standards and skills by which Deac Lyman lived and worked."
North received the award during AIA's 42nd Year-End Review and Forecast luncheon Wednesday.
Past Winners of the Lyman Award: Walter Boyne (2004), Pierre Sparaco (2002), Jim Holahan (2000), Carole Shifrin (1999),William Schoneberger (1998), Arthur Reed (1996), Jim Woolsey (1994), Philip Geddes (1993), Joseph Murphy (1992), Edward Kolcum (1991), John Taylor (1990), Philip Klass (1989), Robert Serling (1988), Howard Benedict (1987), Kenneth Weaver (1986), Dick Witkin (1985), C.V. Glines (1984), Leighton Collins (1982), Marvin Miles (1981), Eric Bramley (1980), Jerry Hannifin (1979), Devon Francis (1978), George Haddaway (1977), Vern Haugland (1976), Willis Player (1975), Bob Hotz (1974), and Wayne Parrish (1973).
