2002
Speakers

December, 2002

Don Wylie is President of Aviation Safety Training. He also serves as Chief Pilot, managing the company's Advanced Maneuvering Program (AMP). Serving for 20 years with the United States Air Force, he completed 251 combat missions in Vietnam in the F-4 Phantom and was awarded the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross and 16 Air Medals. Don has accrued more than 14, 000 hours of flight time, 8,500 of which are as a "Gold Seal" flight instructor. Actively involved in improving the ability of pilots to recover from in-flight loss of control, he has trained more than 1900 corporate, airline, government and general aviation pilots in "upset" recovery techniques and aviation physiology. Additionally, Don provides "alternate recurrent training" classroom and simulator sessions at leading simulator providers.

Don regularly provides editorial viewpoint and presentations to aviation groups, flight departments and leading aviation magazines including Flying, Aviation International News, AOPA PILOT, Aviation Week & Space Technology and Business & Commercial Aviation. He also serves as an expert witness at related legal proceedings.

November, 2002

Thomas E. Alexander is an aviation author and historian. He is President of the Alexander Company/Consultants in Fredericksburg, Texas. Alexander was a Captain with the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command from 1953 to 1956 and a Major with the Illinois Air Guard from 1957 to 1961.

Alexander has written extensively on the role of Texas airfields during World War II, and the history of these fields before and after the war. His books include The Stars Were Big and Bright: The United States Army Air forces and Texas during World War II, Vol. I Austin: Eakin Press, 2000. His second book was The Stars Were Big and Bright: The United States Army Air Forces and Texas during World War II, Vol. I Austin: Eakin Press, 2001. The Wings of Change, to be published by the McWhitney Foundation Press in spring 2003 and The One and Only RattleSnake Bombardier being written for Texas Tech University, Press - to be published 2004.

October, 2002

Special Agent Michael A. Sutton has been employed by the FBI for more than 33 years and has been a Special Agent for 22 years. He has been assigned to FBI Offices in Washington D.C.; San Diego California; Los Angeles California; Galveston Texas and Houston Texas.

He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in criminal Justice Administration from San Diego State University and is a U.S. Navy Veteran. His work specialties in the FBI have included General Criminal Matters, Narcotics Investigations, and Drug Intelligence. Since 1997, Special Agent Sutton has been the Houston Division Coordinator of the FBI Evidence Response Team, where he supervises a team of 24 crime scene investigators. He and his team have participated in several high profile crime scene investigations, including the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassies in East Africa, the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr., in Jasper, Texas, and the attacks on the New York World Trade Center. Special Agent Sutton is a certified FBI Police Instructor and has taught Police Schools in the United States and in several countries around the world. Special Agent Sutton is a current member of the Texas Division of the International Association for Identification.

September, 2002

Our speakers for September was Dr. Max K. Kiesling and Amanda J. O'Krongley of Ricondo & Associates, Inc., the airport planning and consulting firm that has been retained by the Houston Airport System to complete the Master Plan for William P. Hobby Airport. Dr. Kiesling is the Project Director and Ms. O'Krongley is Managing Consultant on the project. Their briefing will cover:

August, 2002

Our speaker for August, 2002, was John Grunsfeld (Ph.D.), NASA Astronaut. John has a long career with NASA as a crew member aboard the space shuttle as well as being very active on the ground in defining and producing the crew displays for command and control of the International Space Station (ISS) and the Mission Control Center (MCC).

A veteran of four space flights, STS-67 (1995), STS-81 (1997), STS-103 (1999) and STS-109 (2002), Dr. Grunsfeld has logged over 45 days in space, including 5 space walks totaling 37 hours and 32 minutes. His missions include a trip to space station MIR as well as performing spacewalks on two Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions.

(See John's complete biographical data from NASA at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/grunsfel.html

July, 2002

World Flight 2000 is a project of the Global Advancement Foundation that was created entirely by students, run by students and dedicated to promoting education in our community and around the world.

On September 1st, 2000, pilots Chris Wall and Dan Dominguez climbed aboard their AeroCommander 560E, a twin engine aircraft, and began their flight around the world.

At age 21 Chris Wall was a Junior at Rice University studying Electrical Engineering. While attending school full time, Chris also worked as an Airplane Mechanic (A/P) at West Houston Airport (IWS). Chris has been flying for over four years and has logged time in many different airplanes from single engine trainers to the four engine B-17 Bomber.

Chris has always been a leader in education. As Coronado High-School Class President in 1997, along with being National Honor Society President, and a National Merit Scholar, Chris envisioned and created programs which spread involvement in the community and shared his enthusiasm about learning. Upon graduating, Chris co-founded the Global Advancement Foundation, Inc. with Dan to give students a better opportunity to give back to their communities.

During the flight, their aircraft was connected to the Internet via satellite. The purpose of the flight was to inspire students of all ages from all parts of the earth by showing them that the hopeful dream of a few can affect the lives of so many. The two pilots followed a route tracing the ancient history of Europe, the barren deserts of the Middle East, the snowy peaks surrounding Nepal, the hidden jungles of Indonesia, and the vast waters of the Pacific. Students from every part of the world followed the adventurous flight in their classrooms or their own homes via the web. Educational lesson plans were available via the web that allowed teachers to guide their students into the journey across the world and into different cultures that spanned over five countries during the three month flight. With each stop, children discovered everything from the ancient pyramids of Cairo, the famous Eiffel tower of Paris, to the white beaches and straw huts of Western Samoa.

June, 2002

Our speaker in June was Jeffrey Mills, President of Io Communications. Io produces documentaries and documentary-style corporate communication and interactive programs for fortune 500 companies such as Compaq Computer Corporation, Chevron, Duke Energy, Cooper Industries, Raytheon, and Universal Weather and Aviation. Jeffrey has worked in the film industry for nearly 24 years and he has been researching the history of Pan Am since 1995.

Jeffrey and co-producer David Hoffman joined their considerable talents and production teams in an alliance to produce a feature documentary film and educational outreach programs of the Pan Am Documentary Project. This Project is a media initiative organized to produce a two hour feature documentary and companion educational DVD-ROM and Web site examining the dramatic story of Pan American World Airways. The goal is to preserve the history of the men and women of Pan Am who lived an incredible saga of adventure, innovation, and intrigue that deeply influenced the currents of 20th Century American history... and continues to do so today.

May, 2002

We were delighted to have Colonel Steven Jones come and speak about the Texas Air National Guard 147th Fighter Wing based out of Ellington Air Force Base. (Read more about the 147th Fighter Wing and 111th Fighter Squadron here.)

The mission of the 147th Fighter Wing is to conduct worldwide combat operations with the F-16C aircraft. The unit performs home station Air Sovereignty Alert and F-16 General Purpose role. It also trains to mobilize and deploy in accordance with the USAF war and mobilization plans, and tasked theaters plans.

It's more than just business when an F-16 from Ellington accompanies Air Force One to protect the President from possible terrorist attacks. Somewhere over the Florida Panhandle, a pilot from the 147th Fighter Wing will begin his mission flying next to Air Force One and accompany it until it has reached its destination.

In addition to escorting Air Force One, the 147th Fighter Wing has been busy patrolling the air from western Florida to South Texas since the September 11th terrorist attacks on U.S. landmarks. The 147th Fighter Wing reservists were one of the first units to be notified that some of its personnel were to be re-activated to duty the Tuesday after September 11th.

The wing has had the responsibility of "scrambling," or intercepting, any unidentified aircraft flying between the general areas of the Florida Panhandle and the southern tip of Texas.

The 147th has two F-16s that must be ready around the clock to take off in five minutes for scrambling. The number of F-16s in the squadron averages between 18 and 24, and the planes are equipped with missiles and laser-guided bombs. Typically, these scrambling missions are conducted up to once a week and then the fighters will conduct regular combat patrols. The purpose of many of the flights is to identify planes that do not have proper flight plans. This can also involve intercepting drug planes.

Texas army and air guardsmen are ready to serve whenever and wherever they're needed. The 147th Fighter Wing has 1,000 members, one-third of whom are full-time reservists. Reservists from the wing were activated during the Gulf War, but they did not fly missions overseas. Instead, they patrolled the skies near the Gulf of Mexico. Members of the 147th Wing flew overseas missions during the Vietnam War, Korean War, World War II and World War I. In October, pilots from the 147th Wing also patrolled the no-fly zone in southern Iraq.

April, 2002

Our speaker for April was John Olcott, President of the National Business Aviation Association. This luncheon was an NBAA REACHBAC event and was sponsored by Multi Service Corp. (Operation REACHBAC (Regional Effort to Advise, Communicate with and Help the Business Aviation Community) is an NBAA program focused on heightening two-way communications between NBAA and its Members throughout the country. Part of that effort involves face-to-face meetings at which NBAA Members, Directors and Staff can interact, discuss issues and socialize with local Business Aviation professionals.)

John W. Olcott was named NBAA president in 1992. Formerly vice president/group publisher with McGraw-Hill, Inc., Olcott served as editor and eventually publisher from 1978 through 1992 at Business and Commercial Aviation (B/CA) magazine. During that time, he also worked as editor and publisher for A/C Flyer and the McGraw-Hill Show Daily, the latter of which features highlights from NBAA's three-day Annual Meeting & Convention.

March, 2002

Our speaker for March was Robin Lamar, President of the Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance (AWAM).

In addition to being President & Co-founder of AWAM, she is an Aircraft Mechanic for United Airlines and an Aircraft Maintenance Instructor for West LA City College. Robin is also the recipient of the 2001 Women in Aviation - Aviation Technician of the Year Award. Read her biographical summary at the AWAM web site.

February, 2002

Our February speaker, Ed Pearce, is the current Security Coordinator for the Continental Airlines pilot group of the Air Line Pilots Association. He has been a pilot for Continental since 1990, and is currently a First Officer on an MD-80. Mr. Pearce's presentation covered the current security situation at airports; pilot perceptions of effective and ineffective aspects of the programs, and the impact and implementation of the new Aviation Security Law recently passed by Congress.

First Officer Edward Pearce has been a pilot for Continental Airlines since 1990 , when he retired from the U.S. Air Force . In 1993, the Independent Association of Continental Pilots (IACP) became the certified bargaining agent for Continental Airlines. First Officer Pearce was elected as a representative to that organization from the Guam B727 base in 1996. After returning to the mainland in 1997, First Officer Pearce was elected to represent the First Officers in the Houston domicile of the airline. In 2001, the IACP merged with the much larger Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA ). Ed is currently serving his union as the Security Coordinator for the ALPA Continental pilot group , and flying the MD-80 aircraft out of Houston Intercontinental . His presentation will cover implementation of the new Aviation Security bill recently passed by Congress, and pilot perceptions of the current security situation at airports -- what works, and what has problems?

First Officer Pearce came to Continental after retiring as an officer in the U.S. Air Force Air Force. While on active duty, he served in the military police and as a Special Agent for the Air Force Air Police Office of Special Investigations. Following pilot training, he flew the FB-111A aircraft until he retired in 1990. In 1973, he received his Bachelor's degree in Law Enforcement from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. In 1983, First Officer Pearce received a Master's Degree in Public Administration and Criminal Justice from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California.

January, 2002

Our guest speaker for January 7 was be NASA astronaut John Young. Here is a partial summary his long and impressive biography. (See Mr. Young's complete biographical data sheet at the NASA website.)

In September 1962, Young was selected as an astronaut. He is the first person to fly in space six times from earth, and seven times counting his lunar liftoff. The first flight was with Gus Grissom in Gemini 3, the first manned Gemini mission, on March 23, 1965. On Gemini 10 in 1966, Young, as Commander, and Mike Collins, as Pilot, completed a dual rendezvous with two separate Agena target vehicles. On his third flightin May of 1969, Young was Command Module Pilot of Apollo 10. Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan were also on this mission which orbited the Moon, completed a lunar rendezvous, and tracked proposed lunar landing sites. His fourth space flight, Apollo 16, April 16-27, 1972, was a lunar exploration mission, with Young as Spacecraft Commander, and Ken Mattingly and Charlie Duke. Young and Duke set up scientific equipment and explored the lunar highlands at Descartes. They collected almost 200 pounds of rocks and drove over 16 miles in the lunar rover on three separate geology traverses.

Young's fifth flight was as Spacecraft Commander of STS-1, the first flight of the Space Shuttle, April 12-14, 1981, with Bob Crippen as Pilot. His sixth flight was as Spacecraft Commander of STS-9, the first Spacelab mission in November of 1983.

Young has put more than 15,000 hours into training so far, mostly in simulators and simulations. He has also logged more than 13,500 hours flying time in props, jets, helicopters, rocket jets, and spacecraft, including 835 hours in six space flights.