Aircraft Braking Performance

Airport Runway Engineer

 This expert is internationally-known on the subject of runway friction measurement and analysis.  Included in his 43 year NASA career, he served as NASA’s Program Manager of Joint NASA/Transport Canada/FAA Winter Runway Friction Measurement Program aimed at harmonizing ground vehicle friction measurements under adverse weather conditions and identifying most acceptable and reliable relationships to aircraft stopping performance under similar runway conditions.

He has directed hundreds of aircraft braking performance test runs on different contaminated runways and conducted thousands of tire/pavement braking, steering, and free rolling test runs at NASA Langley’s Aircraft Landing Dynamics Facility.

While at NASA, he supported aircraft accident investigations for National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), U. S. Navy and Air Force, NASA, Portuguese Investigation Authority, Swiss Federal Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, and the Canadian Aviation Safety Board.  He has consulted on over 40 aircraft accidents and several highway vehicle skidding accidents where loss of tire friction was a suspected contributing cause.

An Embraer Brake System Expert, as well as a Principal Systems Engineer experienced in many aspects of the Aerospace Industry.  He has strong technical background on systems integration, requirements management and customer relationship. Good with planning and coordination,  and is able to lead multi-disciplinary teams.  He is very pro-active, able to work under pressure, and highly skilled in problem solving and troubleshooting, i.e., aircraft systems development; certification and post-sale support; ARP4754 specialist; vendor, supplier and client relationship management; government/authority  relationship management (EASA, FAA, ANAC); incident and accident investigation; and new airplane entry into service.

Aircraft Landing Gear/Brake System Design, Maintenance and Servicing

An expert in design, certification, maintenance, and servicing of aircraft landing gear, braking control systems, wheels, tires, brakes, proximity systems, and related systems.  His extensive experience also includes involvement in numerous accident investigations associated with landing gear, brake systems, and aircraft stopping distance issues. He participated on many NTSB accident technical investigation teams

As manager of the Landing Gear, Brake, and Hydraulic Systems division for a major airframe manufacturer, he has led teams of engineering experts responsible for the design, development, certification, safe operation, and in-service performance of software-based control and information systems, landing gears, brake systems, hydraulic systems and components, proximity systems, weight and balance systems, and nose gear steering systems.  He is experienced with general aviation, military and commercial aircraft, their components and systems, and has served on industry teams.  He is an FAA Designated Engineering Representative (DER) with authority relating to wheels and brakes, brake control systems, proximity systems, landing gear design, and other related systems.