Eight vertical flight leaders acknowledged for his or her unbelievable contributions

The Vertical Flight Society (VFS) right now introduced the 2022 particular person recipients of its prestigious awards program. Since its institution in 1944, VFS Awards have paid tribute to the excellent leaders of vertical flight and served as a catalyst for exciting technological advances. This yr’s winners might be acknowledged on the Grand Awards Breakfast on Thursday, Could 12, 2022, in the course of the Society’s 78th Annual Discussion board & Expertise Show in Fort Value, Texas: . 

“Yearly since 1944, the Vertical Flight Society has acknowledged the main contributors to advancing vertical flight,” stated VFS Govt Director Mike Hirschberg. “This yr’s awe-inspiring winners have all made unbelievable contributions over many a long time of labor that can have an effect for a lot of a long time to come back.”

The title of Honorary Fellow is granted to extremely distinguished Society members who’ve made distinctive management, modern and/or different meritorious contributions which have considerably superior VFS and the vertical flight group throughout their profession. The 2022 Honorary Fellow is Philip J. Alldridge, Flight Take a look at Fellow at Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Firm. As a member of VFS for over 40 years, Alldridge has offered extraordinary contributions in rotorcraft flight take a look at growth, design and certification. He was instrumental in growing fly-by-wire management system certification coverage for the CH-148 Cyclone and modernizing present coverage for rotorcraft with conventional mechanical flight controls. He has additionally been an trade chief in growing certification strategies and standards for flight into recognized icing circumstances for each civil and army rotorcraft. Alldridge has began VFS chapters in Canada and Florida, served throughout a number of VFS committees, chaired a number of Discussion board periods and elevated VFS membership.

The title of Technical Fellow is granted to Society members whose career-based accomplishments in the direction of the targets and targets of the vertical flight technical group represent an impressive technical achievement. The 2022 VFS Technical Fellows are:

• Prof. Kenneth S. Brentner, Professor of Aerospace Engineering, the Pennsylvania State College. Brentner is among the foremost specialists in rotorcraft exterior noise, and his work has significantly benefitted a large spectrum of trade and authorities researchers in search of to grasp essential points in noise for rotorcraft. His technical contributions over 40 years at NASA and Penn State have been of nice service to the vertical flight aeroacoustics group.
• Dr. Ashish Bagai, Founder and Principal at buGi Aero, LLC. Bagai has made seminal contributions to vertical flight over a three-decade profession spanning academia, trade and the federal government, with profound impacts on Future Vertical Carry (FVL) and electrical vertical takeoff and touchdown (eVTOL) developments. 
• Daniel Wachspress, Senior Affiliate at Continuum Dynamics. Wachspress has carried out superior technical analysis, supporting advances within the understanding of rotary-wing aerodynamics and within the essential spinoff functions of full-aircraft aeromechanics and acoustics, and has spearheaded the embodiment of those superior capabilities in extensively used and accessible software program instruments.
• Larry A. Younger, Aerospace Engineer at NASA. Younger has been the main NASA researcher and advocate for planetary rotorcraft, ensuing within the profitable Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and plans for the Mars Science Helicopter. Younger has additionally carried out ground-breaking analysis on a spread of superior rotorcraft ideas, basic rotor aerodynamics, small and full-scale rotor testing, and growth of reduced-order fashions with a concentrate on rotor wake aerodynamics interactions.

The John J. Schneider Historic Achievement Award is given in recognition of distinguished achievement by a person in encouraging appreciation of, and enhancing entry to, the historical past and legacy of vertical flight plane. This yr’s recipient Paul D. Faltyn, Curator Emeritus of the Niagara Aerospace Museum. Faltyn has devoted a lot of his life to preserving the historical past and technological achievements of the Buffalo and Niagara Falls aviation historical past, with a particular concentrate on the early Bell historical past within the space.

The annual François-Xavier Bagnoud Award is given to a person Society member underneath the age of 35 for career-to-date excellent contributions to vertical flight know-how. This yr’s award recipient is Patrick Darmstadt, Mechanical Design Engineer on the Boeing Firm. Darmstadt has made important contributions on vertical carry know-how, particularly in the direction of propulsion programs and drivetrains, and secure electrical propulsion.

The Society’s Paul E. Haueter Award is given for an impressive technical contribution to the sector of vertical take-off and touchdown (VTOL) plane growth aside from a helicopter or an operational vertical flight plane. The 2022 Haueter Award is awarded to Dr. Martine Rothblatt, founder, and chair of the board of United Therapeutics. Rothblatt has instigated a number of earth-shattering improvements which have remodeled society for the higher within the fields of communication, medication and electrical aviation.

The Vertical Flight Society was based because the American Helicopter Society in 1943 by the pioneers of the helicopter trade, who believed that technological cooperation and collaboration was important to advance vertical flight. VFS is the worldwide non-profit society for engineers, scientists and others engaged on vertical flight know-how. For greater than 75 years, the Society has led know-how, security, advocacy, and different necessary initiatives, and has been the first discussion board for interchange of knowledge on vertical flight know-how. Descriptions of the awards and previous recipients can be found at .