Jack Pelton has been appointed as president and ceo of Cessna Aircraft Company. He will report to Textron coo Steven Loranger and replaces Charlie Johnson, who has retired after more than 20 years’ service with the company.

A commercial, instrument-rated pilot, he is Citation-rated and flies as a pilot in command.

Pelton, who holds BS and MS degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Hamilton University, joined Cessna in November 2000 as senior vice president of product engineering with full responsibility for the company’s engineering and product development activities.

Prior to joining Cessna, he served as senior vice president of engineering and programmes at Fairchild Dornier in Germany

and was responsible for the company’s 728JET aircraft family.

He also spent nearly 20 years at McDonnell Douglas.