Aerospace

This expert brings over thirty years of experience in aerospace engineering and has worked for several major original equipment manufacturers. He has also served as an independent aerospace consultant for the last twenty-two years. He is designated a Consultant Designated Engineering Representative (DER) by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with authority in 14 CFR Part 25 certification regulations. He specializes in mechanical systems including flight controls, doors, and hydraulic design and construction, equipment qualification, airplane testing, safety analyses, and service documents. He additionally has delegated authority for mechanical systems safety analyses for air conditioning, pressurization, oxygen, and fire protection. This expert also specializes in structures cabin safety for design and construction and service documents as well as power plant safety analyses for airplane turbine engines and auxiliary power units.

With 35 years in aviation safety, this expert is an experienced aircraft accident investigator, aerospace engineer, auditor, instructor and writer with over a decade of executive-level management experience. He is also a commercial-rated pilot with multiengine instrument ratings in airplanes, seaplanes and gliders.

Aeronautical Engineer

Summary

Aeronautical Engineer has over twenty-five years of experience in Aerospace Operations and Research leading diverse teams to accomplish technically challenging goals. He is experienced in aeronautics, naval strike warfare, aircraft carrier operations, and unmanned aircraft developmental testing and employment. A talented communicator possessing exceptional technical skills with significant achievements in applied aerodynamics, aircraft guidance and control, and simulation. He has a PhD in aerospace engineering; security clearance: top secret/special compartmented information.  Specific skills include:  Aeronautics/ Unmanned Air Vehicle Operations/ Financial Management Systems Engineering/ Flight Test and Evaluation/ Naval Strike Warfare Aircraft Carrier Operations/ Simulation and Modeling/Risk Management.

Senior Aeronautical Engineer and Developmental Test Pilot

Aviation Summary
A senior aeronautical engineer who served 20 years in the Navy as a proven aviator with four operational cruises & 500 traps.  He has over 27 years of developmental test pilot experience, and an accident free career with over 5300 hours. His certificates include ATP, Commercial Pilot: MEL, SEL, and Commercial Glider. His most recent experience is as chief test pilot for commercial space vehicles.

Flight Time (Military ~ 4,000 / Commercial ~1,400)
Total Time ................5400  Total Instruments .......1350     F/A-18 .......... 1492
Pilot-in-Command ....3610  Actual Instruments .......675    A-7 ............... 1579
Multiengine Jet .........2625  Night ............................790    A-6 ................. 186
Single Engine Jet ......1880  Single Engine Prop ......360    A-4 / T-2 ........ 522

Commercial Vehicles
Roton / WhiteKnightOne / SpaceShipOne / WhiteKnightTwo / SpaceShipTwo / Proteus / Long-Ez / Firebird / Boomerang / Beech Duchess / Grumman Tiger / Extra 300 / Beech Star Ship / Adam Aircraft

Senior Aerospace and Mechanical Engineer specializing in the Thermal Sciences, applied to the areas of flight dynamics and propulsion. His expertise covers the disciplines of aerodynamics, gas dynamics, hydrodynamics, thermodynamics, combustion, heat transfer and fire dynamics.  He is a former military pilot who is experienced in all aspects of flight vehicle performance including flight mechanics, gas turbine engines, flight reconstruction, simulation as well as flight and ground testing.  He is also a specialist in aircraft, marine, ground vehicle and stationary power applications of gas turbines.

Has taught undergraduates for fourteen years as an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the United States Naval Academy, as well as at other Universities.

His forensic engineering experience includes a number of gas turbine issues, specifically:

• Westinghouse/Northeast Utilities – involving Turbine blade failure of a Westinghouse W501 industrial gas turbine in a co-generation plant.
• United 232/Sioux City – involving an uncontained General Electric CF6 engine fan disc failure in flight.
• CIT Group Engine Repair Claim – involving a General Electric CF56 engine damaged during improper over road transport for installation.

He has provided expert testimony as to his findings in courts of law and at hearings.

A professor of Fluid Mechanics and a  distinguished Aerospace/Biotechnology/Fluid Mechanics Consultant with more than twenty-five years experience.  Knowledgeable in the areas of aerospace engineering, biotechnology, fluid mechanics, ballistics astronautics, computational physics, numerical science, biomechanical engineering, hydrodynamics, and numerous other sciences and technologies.

Has provided expert testimony as to his findings in courts of law.

A very highly experienced helicopter pilot and operations director, as well as an accident investigator and safety specialist. 

A former U.S. Army commissioned officer and helicopter pilot, he served in Vietnam and in the Panama Canal Zone.  Shortly after his distinguished military service, he formed and managed a highly-successful helicopter company in Northern California.  He has managed and conducted a wide range of helicopter operations including FAR Part 135 air carrier operations, flight training, energy exploration, logging, power and pipeline patrol, fire fighting, search and rescue and external load operations.  In addition to operating up to 20 aircraft, the company he founded also performed maintenance and repair as an FAA certified Aircraft Repair Station.

Also has experience in investigating and testifying in helicopter litigation matters.

With more than twenty years of mechanical and aerospace engineering experience in space & defense programs as well as commercial & general aviation with a specialty in materials science.

Since 2010, he has been employed at a major General Aviation manufacturer as the Chief Engineer with responsibility for Liaison Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Materials & Processes (M&P) Engineering, Methods Engineering & Production Planning, Quality Engineering & Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE), and Technical Training.  In this capacity, he has participated in and led design and testing efforts for numerous systems present on pressurized aircraft, including doors and door mechanisms. He has been delegated by the FAA as an ODA Engineering Unit Member for all M&P areas, design & construction, service documents, interior flammability, and fire protection of all structural areas (wings, fuselage, & empennage), landing gear, flight controls, door systems, interior arrangements, and major repair/alterations. Serves as the technical authority on failure analyses of damaged hardware and supports air safety investigations for structure-related failures (including fatigue, corrosion, and environmental effects) as well as flammability issues.

Prior, he served 18 years on the Space Shuttle Program and served as the subsystem manager (SSM) of the Orbiter Leading Edge Structural Subsystem – including all reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) heatshield components, their attachment, and internal insulation. As SSM, he approved the certification of flight readiness for 26 missions (STS-108 through STS-132). Actively involved in the STS-107 Space Shuttle Columbia accident investigation (including leading the wing leading edge reconstruction and over a hundred hours of expert testimonies) and the two-year return to flight effort.  Prior to the SSM appointment, he supported the Space Shuttle Program as a Senior M&P Engineer where he acquired the proficiency with procurement, production, processing, testing, analysis, design, certification, assembly, inspection, and repair of all material types (metallics, ceramics, polymers, & composites). He supported the Shuttle Program for a total of 86 missions (STS-49 to STS-132). Earned the Advanced Level Systems Engineering certification from the largest aerospace manufacturer and has supported design and maintenance issues for structures and mechanical systems of a wide range of aircraft, spacecraft, and ground support equipment.

He is a licensed Florida professional engineer with Mechanical and Florida Building Code endorsements as well as NCEES Model Law Engineer Record and International Registry of Professional Engineers credentials. Additionally, he holds Professional Engineering Manager (PEM) and Engineering Management Certified Professional (EMCP) certifications. He developed curricula for five courses (metallic materials & processes, non-metallic materials & processes, aerospace structural fabrication, tests & measurements, and technical task analysis) and was an adjunct professor for these courses until the Space Shuttle Columbia mishap in 2003. In 2013, he was selected by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) as an ABET Program Evaluator for Mechanical Engineering and Systems Engineering and has performed program evaluations at Purdue University, the United States Air Force Academy, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, a M.S. in Aerospace Engineering (Structures & Materials), and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Aviation Science with his dissertation centered on aging aircraft, continued operational safety, and related problems facing the aviation industry. Also performs domestic and international consulting on materials and process solutions/opportunities in a wide variety of markets and is exclusive to the RTI Group for forensic engineering consultations.

Joseph R. Reynolds, PE, MEWI, MAE
Principal Forensic Electrical Engineer

Summary

Joseph R. Reynolds, PE, MEWI, MAE is internationally recognized as a forensic electrical engineer and an authority regarding the investigation and evaluation of utility system incidents and equipment failures including electrical contact accidents, fires and explosions. He has served as the team leader and technical director, as well as principal testifier, in large complex investigations and research. Services to the industry have included: conducting forensic root cause analyses of major power generation, transmission, distribution, and telecommunications incidents, system failures, accidents, fires, and equipment condition and performance audit issues; providing recommendations for improved equipment reliability; assessing the expected life and condition of aging equipment for repair/replace options; and addressing prudence issues related to rate base and regulatory hearings.

Mr. Reynolds is the founder and president of RTI Group, LLC based in the US, as well as the founder and chairman of the London based UK firm Reynolds Technological Inquiries Limited, and RTI Ltd, with offices in South America and the Middle East. The RTI companies are an international consultancy of experienced expert witnesses with a new research centre to determine the cause of electrical, material, and mechanical failures. An advance multimedia studio provides the visuals to effectively present our findings. A highly diversified firm, RTI specialized in accident and failure analysis of various size matters involving aviation, marine, rail, telecommunications, power utilities, and high risk industries.

RTI also provides proactive consulting services from Safety Management and Security Risk Assessment to implementation of controls.

Mr. Reynolds has represented public and government utilities, state regulatory commissions, and insurers in numerous electric power matters, including the following examples:

• Appointed by a utility regulator to serve as lead investigator and team manager for the state’s analysis of a high profile and lengthy outage resulting in recommendations to improve system reliability, which were adopted through the legislative rule-making process.

• Provided testimony at a rate base hearing before a state public service commission involving the utility’s handling of unpredictable and highly unusual nuclear reactor component failure, and evaluation of the resulting repair costs.

• Authored several publications on behalf of the Electric Power Research Institute, EPRI, including a guideline to assist utilities in improving the reliability of power plant electrical equipment as an alternative to the cost of constructing new plants.

• Evaluated the options to restore the performance of a damaged hydroelectric generator station when compared with the availability of replacement power.

Mr. Reynolds has given expert testimony in arbitration hearings and courts of law, and has appeared before state and federal boards, commissions, counsels, press conferences, and international professional forums.

This expert is an Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineer, and an active consultant in the Aerospace field for RTI.  Currently acts as an Aircraft Configuration Integrator at a private company. In this job, he is involved in leading multi-disciplinary problem solving.  Certain duties include cross-operation functions, working with the Product Development Team, leading meetings, conducting presentations, and developing risk management plans.  Previously he worked in Stress Integration on the Learjet 85 business aircraft, which required him to focus on composite and metallic structural stress analysis.

Holds a private pilot’s license, he is an active cyclist, and he is fluent in French, English, and Spanish.  He graduated with honours from Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal in 2007. Additionally, he has earned a perfect 5.0 GPA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA in 2012; it is here that he received his Masters Degree: Masters of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering.