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

Travis Dahna

Travis L. Dahna is the founder and principal engineer for TD Aerospace LLC, a service-disabled veteran owned small business. He started his career 30 years ago as an avionics technician and troubleshooter in the United States Navy, where he served with distinction and was honorably discharged. As a Gulf War veteran, Mr. Dahna joined the civilian aviation sector where he has worked on, designed, and certified a wide variety of new products and articles for the last 25 years. He has held positions as a senior electrical engineer for a large aircraft manufacturer and served as the certification coordinator for all the factory owned service/modification centers in the United States, providing required interface with the geographic FAA offices. Following his time at the aircraft manufacturer, he assisted in the development and management of multiple Supplemental Type Certification (STC) Organization Designation Authorizations (ODA), holding positions as Principal Certification Engineer, Director of Engineering, and ODA administrator.He has been actively involved in several hundred certification projects, ranging from TC, STC, PMA, TSO, major alterations, and major repairs. In addition to duties as a consultant DER (14 CFR Part 23 and 25), he holds positions as a unit member on several TC and STC Organization Designation Authorizations (ODA). Mr. Dahna's combination of practical experience, analytical knowledge, and in-depth certification experience brings a unique and viable approach to aircraft certification in an uncomplicated yet thorough manner.

2025 Seattle Aerospace Short Course: Introduction to FAA Airworthiness Approval Requirements

Max Kismarton

Max U. Kismarton is an aircraft designer and a Technical Fellow at The Boeing Company, with extensive hands-on experience in engineering (design, loads, stress, weights, testing, advanced metals and composites), manufacturing (tooling, processes, machinery, shop management) and management (cost engineering and estimating, lean manufacturing, project/program management). He is currently working in the materials and processes group, heading up multiple research and development projects on micromechanical behavior and hybrid laminates, and high performance wing box structures for present and future commercial aircrafts. He has designed and built composite airframe primary structure for small and large composite aircrafts such as Amber, Gnat, High Speed Civil Transport, F-16XL-2, Shadow, ERAST, Hummingbird, UCAV X-45 and the 787 Dreamliner. Kismarton holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Kansas.

2025 Seattle Aerospace Short Course: Structural Composites

Gernot Konrad

Dr. Gernot Konrad is an aerospace engineer with extensive avionics and pilot vehicle interface experience, demonstrated through over 20 years of designing and certifying highly integrated flight decks with complex systems for small and large aircraft. This includes over 10 years of technical leadership, applying diverse skills for Agile technology development, and coordinating collaborative multi-level and multi-disciplinary teams. He holds an advanced degree (Dipl.-Ing) and a doctorate (Dr.-Ing) in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Stuttgart. He is qualified as an engineer (Ing.) in aeronautics by the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WIFO). Throughout his career, he was involved in recruiting and training flight deck Human Factors (HF) practitioners. Today, Dr. Konrad is the Chief Engineer for HF at Honeywell Aerospace Technologies, where he provides HF leadership and vision across multiple program platforms spanning current and future systems for the air transport, regional, business, general aviation, helicopter, and urban air mobility markets. Dr. Konrad is also the chairman of the EASA HF Collaborative Analysis Flight Deck Design and Certification Group, a member of the GAMA Flight Deck HF Working Group, was a member of the RTCA HF Training Steering Committee, and provides an annual seminar on Human Factors Engineering in Flight Deck Design at the University of Stuttgart. Prior positions include Fellow for HF at Honeywell Aerospace Technologies, HF Engineering Group Head at Gulfstream Aerospace, Avionics and HF Engineer at Pilatus Aircraft, Research Associate at the Institute of Aircraft Systems at the University of Stuttgart, and freelance theoretical knowledge instructor at Lufthansa Flight Training and Swiss Aviation Training.

2025 Seattle Aerospace Short Course: Human Factors Engineering for Civil Flight Deck Design and Certification

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

Harold Rosenstein

Mr. Rosenstein was the Chief Engineer, Phantom Works-The Boeing Companys'Advanced Development organization-with responsibility for new concepts, research programs and preliminary design. He retired in 2013 with 50 years of experience in developmental and production programs ranging from rotorcraft to large fixed-wing transport aircraft, both manned and unmanned. He has held various assignments with increasing levels of responsibility supporting Boeing's advanced fixed wing transports and V/STOL developments, including the development of the V-22 tiltrotor and the RAH-66 helicopter. He has taught university-level seminars on V/STOL engineering at Penn State, Nanjing University and the American Helicopter Society. He also belongs to numerous technical societies including the American Helicopter Society (AHS), and is a Senior Member-Emeritus of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Mr. Rosenstein received the prestigious Paul E. Haueter Award from the American Helicopter Society for "Significant contributions to VTOL aircraft development" and holds numerous patents. In addition he is a Technical Fellow of the American Helicopter Society for "Notable and outstanding contributions to the vertical flight community".

2025 Seattle Aerospace Short Course: Fundamentals of V/STOL Rotorcraft

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

Case van Dam

C.P. "Case" van Dam is Professor Emeritus of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the College of Engineering at the University of California at Davis. Before joining UC Davis as an Assistant Professor in 1985, he was employed as a National Research Council (NRC) post-doctoral researcher at the NASA Langley Research Center and as a research engineer at Vigyan Research Associates in Hampton, Virginia. He served as Chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace engineering from 2010 to 2016 and Associate Dean of the College from 2016 to 2019. Van Dam's research focuses on aerodynamic drag prediction and reduction, high-lift aerodynamics, and active control of aerodynamic loads. He has extensive experience in computational aerodynamics, wind-tunnel experimentation and flight testing; teaches industry short courses on aircraft aerodynamic performance and wind energy; has consulted for aircraft, wind energy, and sailing yacht manufacturers; and has served on review committees for various government agencies and research organizations.

2025 Seattle Aerospace Short Course: Aerodynamic Design Improvements: High-Lift and Cruise

Paul Vijgen

Paul Vijgen was an Associate Technical Fellow in aerodynamics engineering at Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle (retired in 2022). At Boeing he supported aerodynamic development and testing of commercial aircraft including the 787 family. As a SME in flow physics and flow control including adaptive geometries he focused on maturation and integration of several aerodynamic fuel-burn reduction technologies. Starting at NASA Langley in 1985, he has been involved with aerodynamic technology application studies including design and flight testing of laminar flow control and other drag-reduction methods for wings, fuselages and nacelles. Other aerodynamic topics he studied in flight tests include transport-wing high-lift flows and supersonic turbulent flows. He has published about 15 patents and over 50 technical papers and journal articles. Vijgen received a M.S. from the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, and a Doctor-of Engineering degree from the University of Kansas (both degrees are in Aerospace Engineering). He is currently a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and an Associate Fellow of the AIAA. He is an active member of the ICAS (International Council of Aeronautical Societies) Planning Committee, and a reviewer of AIAA journal manuscripts.

2025 Seattle Aerospace Short Course: Aerodynamic Design Improvements: High-Lift and Cruise