George Cusimano

George Cusimano is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Vector LLC aviation consulting services. He is a flight test engineer and educator with more than 40 years of experience in research, development, and test of important leading edge technologies. He has flight-tested complex systems, such as the F-117, B-2, X-33 (single stage to orbit prototype), DarkStar UAV and X-35 (Joint Strike Fighter prototype). In addition to multiple postings as a flight test engineer, George was: the Director of Test and Evaluation for the F-117 System Program Office; the Chief of Flight Test Engineering for the B-2 Combined Test Force; the Deputy Director of the Joint STARS Combined Test Force; and the Director of Flight Test at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. George has also taught at the National Test Pilot School and has served as a Technical Advisor to the United States Air Force. He retired from the United States Air Force as a colonel after 24 years of service. George holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an M.S. in industrial engineering from Arizona State University. He is a graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School and a Fellow of the Society of Flight Test Engineers.

2025 Seattle Aerospace Short Course: Flight Test Principles and Practices

Greg Lewis

Greg Lewis is an aeronautical engineer and test pilot with 46 years of experience in flight testing of both military and civil aircraft. He retired from the United States Air Force after 20 years, serving initially as a fighter pilot in F-4's, including a combat tour in Southeast Asia (SEA). After returning from SEA, Greg spent the rest of his military career in flight test of fighter aircraft, including the F-4, the F-16 and a research version of the F-15, implementing thrust vectoring and inflight reversing. After leaving the Air Force, Greg joined the National Test Pilot School (NTPS), teaching academics as well as serving as a flight instructor in aircraft ranging from gliders to supersonic aircraft. In addition to instructing, Greg served in leadership positions, including Chief Flight Test Instructor, Chief of Academics and Head of Training. Greg also is an FAA Designated Engineering Representative (DER), flight testing new and modified civilian aircraft for certification. Over his career, he accumulated over 10,000 hrs in 126 different aircraft. Greg holds a B.S. and M.S in aero/astro engineering from MIT. He is a graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School and a Fellow and Past-President of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

2025 Seattle Aerospace Short Course: Flight Test Principles and Practices

Dennis C. Philpot

Mr. Philpot began his career in the aerospace industry at the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International in 1983, immediately after completed his bachelor?s degree in Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State University, Corvallis. During his nearly 14 years at Rocketdyne, Mr. Philpot was involved in several diverse programs, including the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME), the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) and the International Space Station; also, during his employment at Rocketdyne Mr. Philpot completed his master?s degree in Applied Mechanics at California State University, Northridge.During the late 1990?s Mr. Philpot became involved with performing advanced fighter aircraft structural analysis on both the F/A 18 E/F program for Northrop Grumman and the Joint Strike Fighter for Lockheed-Martin Skunk Works. He also served as a principal structural analyst on two launch systems? the Kistler reusable launch system and the Delta IV EELV developed by the Boeing Company.Currently, Mr. Philpot is the Airframe IPT Technical Lead for the AARGM ER EMD program; in that role he leads or oversees all of the technical/analytical aspects of hardware design development and works with the design team to help ensure that all aspects of the product meet requirements. Mr. Philpot has held many roles in missile development, including Section Head for mechanical analysis, Test Director for the AARGM Environmental Qualification Testing, Mechanical Analysis Lead AARGM missile integration on the Tornado aircraft for the Italian Airforce, IPT Lead for AARGM ER FEDA Program Aerodynamics, Modeling & Simulation, Mechanical Design and Internal Loads and Static Strength Analysis, MSST Mechanical Analysis Lead, Structural Dynamics Lead and Technical Advisor to the Jordan Multirole Combat Aircraft JLG & JMCA Programs, Technical Lead on the Hyper-Velocity Projectile (HVP) Program, based out of Plymouth, MN, Structural Analysis SME for all advanced (SAP) programs that require that skill set at Northrop Grumman, Advanced Weapons Division.An internationally-recognized expert in aerospace structural analysis, Mr. Philpot has been teaching post-graduate courses on Stress Analysis and Structural Dynamics in the greater Los Angeles area, Seattle, WA, Orlando, FL, and on-site at The Boeing Company, Northrop-Grumman, NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, NASA-Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, NASA-Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, FL, Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, UT, the Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo, NM, Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, FL, Aviation and Missile Research, Development, Engineering Center at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, AL and at ST Aerospace in Singapore. At the 50th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference, Mr. Philpot was honored to present a special two-day seminar on Structural Dynamics in Mechanical Design at the Palm Springs Convention Center/Wyndham Palm Springs. The public courses are very international in nature, attracting students from Austria, South Korea, New Zealand, Brazil, Turkey, The Netherlands, China, South Africa, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Luxembourg, Mexico and, of course, the United States of America. Mr. Philpot holds two US Patents and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of California.

2025 Seattle Aerospace Short Course: Dynamics for Aerospace Structures

C. Bruce Stephens

C. Bruce Stephens is an HIRF/Lightning/EWIS ODA UM/AR at the Boeing Company and a consultant DER at his company, Stephens Aviation, with a wealth of experience in High Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF) and Lightning protection of Aircraft. Stephens retired from Hawker Beechcraft after 28 years of service. He has HIRF/Lightning experience on both Part 23 and Part 25 including composite aircraft. Stephens is working with the Boeing Team to develop EWIS requirements and means of compliance on several aircraft projects. Stephens is a Six-Sigma/Lean Master Black Belt consultant, developing implementation and training materials, and teaches at a number of universities, including Webster University and Southwestern College. He has an executive M.B.A. and M.S. in Management from Friends University and a B.S. in Industrial Technology from Wichita State University.

2025 Seattle Aerospace Short Course: Electrical Wiring Interconnection System (EWIS) and FAA Requirements

Thomas N. Taylor

Thomas (Tom) Taylor is an FAA Consultant DER, ODA E-UM/Advisor and Technical Fellow at The Boeing Company, with 30 years of commercial and military aircraft electrical design and certification experience. Tom was the technical focal and DER/AR during the development of the 787-8 and was responsible for the certification of the 787-9, which was the first commercial airplane fully certified to the EWIS regulations. Most recently, he has been extensively involved in the analysis, testing and re-certification of the 737MAX. Tom also provides engineering consultation, training, and aircraft certification services through his company, Taylor Aerospace Consultants. He has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Washington State University.

2025 Seattle Aerospace Short Course: Instructions for Continued Airworthiness Using Enhanced Zonal Analysis Procedure

Pierre Trudel

Pierre Trudel is a System Safety Engineer and ODA Unit Member currently working for Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS). He brings 29 years of system safety, systems engineering, and reliability experience in several segments of our aerospace industry. He has worked system safety, reliability, and systems engineering on airplanes, rotorcrafts, and space vehicles. He has experience with commercial and military system safety, Development Assurance practices. He developed companywide processes to facilitate product development and compliance to commercial airworthiness standards and military requirements. He has worked system safety for both equipment suppliers and as an integrator for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Pierre has worked system safety using several industry accepted processes including SAE ARP4761, SAE ARP4754, and MIL-STD-882 to satisfy safety requirements for Part 23 (small aircrafts), Part, 25 (Transport Category Aircraft) and MIL-HDBK-516 (Airworthiness Certification Criteria). His certification experience as an FAA representative spans the spectrum of TC, ATC, and STC projects on commercial projects such as the Hawker 4000, Hawker 800XP, Premier 1, Cessna CJ4, Citation Latitude, Citation Sovereign, Citation X, KC-46A (767 Tanker), and several other aircraft models and types. Pierre holds a Bachelor of Science in Space Sciences with minors in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from Florida Institute of Technology.

2025 Seattle Aerospace Short Course: Advanced Topics in System Safety for Commercial Certification