Rogers E. Smith

Speaker - Test Pilot - Teacher - Manager - Consultant

Leadership - Safety

 

Awards

• AIAA 2022 Chanute Award for Flight Test

Lecture Subjects:

• "Leadership.... Today's Missing Link"
  (Lessons in Leadership and Management - Kelly Johnson and the SR-71)
  
  
• "Culture of Safety and You!"
  (Error Reduction in Aviation and Medicine)
  
  
• "Training + Automation = A Winning Combination"
  (Current Problems with this Equation = Accidents)
  
  
• Test Pilot Experiences
  (Example: NASA X-31 "Breaking the Chain")

ROGERS E. SMITH

• Rogers Smith received a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Engineering Physics and a Master's degree in Aeronautical Engineering, both from the University of Toronto with Honors. He served as a fighter pilot with both the Royal Canadian Air Force and the United States Air National Guard (24 years), where he also held senior leadership positions.
  
  
  
• During his career as a test pilot, engineer and technical leader, Rogers held positions with the National Research Council of Canada (4 years), NASA Langley Research Center (1 year), Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory/ Calspan (12 years), and became a research test pilot at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. At Dryden (18 years) he participated in a wide variety of test programs, involving, for example, the X-29, AFTI F-16 and F-111, X-31, F-15 ACTIVE, F-18 and SR-71 aircraft.
  
  
• After a distinguished career at Dryden (19 years), where he also served as Chief Pilot and Acting Director of Flight Operations, he retired in 2000 and pursued a career in consulting. He was then engaged with EADS in Germany (4 years), first as an advisor on the Eurofighter flight control system development and then as a Vice President and Director of Flight Test at the EADS Military Aircraft Division.
  
  
• Following this period, he worked at the National Test Pilot School in Mojave, CA as a Test Pilot Flight Instructor (5 years).
  
  
• Since 2009, he has worked with various contractors as an Advisor for Flight Test and for Safety, as well as an active Test Pilot for development testing of the USAF Reaper UAV aircraft. During this time, he also served as Site Manager for a staff of 20 aircrew members.
  
  
• He currently also works as an Aerospace Consultant in the general areas of Flight Test and Safety, as well as an international lecturer on the separate but related topics of Leadership and Safety in both the aerospace and medical worlds.
  
  
• He is the author of over 30 technical papers and was co-creator of the Neal-Smith fighter control system design criterion. He is a Fellow and past President of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and a Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.