FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Aviation Services, an industry leader in helicopter and aircraft completions, MRO and maintenance services for over 36 years, proudly announces that Carl "Woody" Woodard, the Founder of the company and its long-serving CEO, has been named Chairman Emeritus. Woody Woodard is a substantial shareholder in the new venture which owns Texas Aviation Services ("TAS"), and will remain active with the company in a consulting role beyond his formal retirement date of December 31, 2007.

The exemplary aviation career of Woody Woodard covers over half the history of powered flight, and culminated in 2007 with the FAA's Lifetime Achievement Award, at age 76. Woody started his distinguished aviation career as a USAF Airman and Avionics Technician in 1951, with early career duties including clandestine operations in Southeast Asia, and crew service on several advanced aircraft fleets. 36 years ago, Woody started up his first aviation maintenance and avionics company, which grew over 3 1/2 decades to become Texas Aviation Services, a leading helicopter completions and MRO company. TAS is now the largest on-field employer and land holder at Meacham Field in Fort Worth, Texas, consistently winning the coveted FAA Diamond Award for training and quality in recent years. Woody has run the day-to-day operations continuously throughout the long, colorful history of TAS, and he has trained and mentored several generations of helicopter technicians -- literally many hundreds of rotorcraft professionals over the years. TAS performs over 200,000 man-hours of MRO, re-wiring, avionics, retrofits, and completions on both civilian and military helicopters, in the huge, well equipped depot facilities that Woody started from scratch. Woody is a hero to his people and an exemplary company leader in the rotorcraft industry. In June 2007 the FAA itself recognized his 55+ years of excellence by awarding Woody Woodard the rare "Charles Taylor Master Mechanic" Lifetime Achievement Award, given in honor of an entire lifetime of superior contributions and high quality helicopter services.

Steve Townes, CEO of Ranger Aerospace and Chairman of TAS, said: "Woody Woodard is an example to us all. His core values of quality, safety, customer service, and FAA compliance remain our guiding principles today, just the same as the day he started this outstanding enterprise. We salute him as a mentor, leader, partner, and friend."

About Texas Aviation Services

Texas Aviation Services, with 140,000 square feet of facilities at Meacham Field in Fort Worth, TX, is an independent helicopter technical services company with 36 years of successful history. TAS specializes in both civilian and military helicopter completions, retrofits, MRO, avionics systems, integration, interiors, paint, component overhaul and engineering. Originally founded in 1971, TAS performs complex customizing projects on civilian Bell, Eurocopter, and other civilian helicopter types, and extensive retrofits on military Blackhawks. The Meacham Airport operations are one of the largest of their type in the mid-South, with the capacity for scores of helicopter projects per year. Additional information is available on the Web at http://www.texasaviationservices.com/. TAS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranger Aerospace & Aeronautics, Inc. (http://www.rangeraerospace.com/). Other Ranger subsidiaries include Integrated Flight Systems (http://www.integratedflightsys.com/) and Platinum Aviation Group (http://www.platinumaviation.com/).

PHOTO AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

CONTACT: Tim Woodard, President of Texas Aviation Services,
+1-817-625-0192, timwoodard@texasaviationservices.com

Web site: http://www.texasaviationservices.com/
http://www.rangeraerospace.com/