2014 Collier Trophy Dinner Honors
Northrop Grumman, the U.S. Navy, and
the X-47B Industry Team

From left to right: Captain Beau Duarte of the US Navy, NAA Chairman, Walter Boyne, and Carl Johnson of Northrop Grumman during Collier Trophy presentation

On May 29^th the aviation community gathered at Reagan Washington National Airport's historic Hangar 7 to celebrate the 103^rdpresentation of the "greatest award in aviation and aerospace." The Robert J. Collier Trophy for 2013 was awarded to Northrop Grumman, the U.S. Navy, and the X-47B Industry Team "for developing and demonstrating the first unmanned, autonomous air system operating from an aircraft carrier." 

Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy shared this honor with the
X-47B Industry Team: Dell, Eaton, GE Aviation, GKN Aerospace, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, MOOG, Parker Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, Rockwell Collins, UTC Aerospace Systems, and Wind River.

Dinner Speakers left - right:  Steve Callaghan (NAA), Janis Pamiljans (NG), Tom Vice (NG), RADM Mat Winter, CAPT Beau Duarte, and Jonathan Gaffney (NAA)

Recipients of the Robert J. Collier Trophy for 2013 in front of an X-47B UCAS full-scale model.

  

Major General Clifton F. von Kann Passes at 98

General von Kann served as NAA President from 1981 to 1989 and Chairman  of the Board in 1990.

         

After retiring from the Army in 1965, he served in the Air Transport Association of America (ATA). In 1981 he became the President of NAA. Viewing NAA as the leading neutral organization on issues that divided other aviation groups, he sought to make NAA the spokesman and policy advocate for the US air and space communities. He organized and convened three national symposiums, entitled Aerospace I, II, and II, at which nationally recognized experts from all disciplines of aviation assembled to address current aviation issues and formulate proposals for national aerospace policy.

As NAA President, von Kann headed the US Delegation at the FAI General Conferences where he built close relationships with his counterparts from both sides of the Iron Curtain. In 1998, he was elected as President of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale at the 81th FAI General Conference in Sydney, Australia, and completed a two-year term. 

With Gratitude to Our Chairman,
Walter Boyne 

The end of the month of June will see the 8-year NAA Chairmanship of Walter Boyne come to a close, and it is with great gratitude that I write this piece. 

With every passing Treasurer's Report of our Board Meetings comes a reminder of how difficult things were when he came on board in 2006. I receive too much credit for getting NAA re-set 7 years ago, but it was Walter who sacrificed his prestige and credibility to make sure that the oldest national aviation

Boyne (left) with Gaffney at the 2014 Collier Dinner

organization in the United States (and one of the oldest in the world) didn't disappear from the map. 

As we revel in the important and timeless work that we do when we host a magnificent Collier Dinner, select a remarkable American for a Wright Trophy, or certify some of the most amazing aviation and aerospace records in the history of the planet (...and we do), we tend to forget that we almost dissolved just a few years ago. Knowing when to step in and when to step out, Walter directed our progress with a gentle but very firm hand and we all benefited from the result. 

As one of the worlds' great educators and ambassadors of our industry, he obviously knows aviation and aerospace from the "..deepest of weeds." (Writing countless books and articles will give you that knowledge). But he also understood the importance of NAA's mission and the irreplaceable responsibilities that we have assumed for more than a century. He would often remind our industry (and me) that "...if we disappeared tomorrow you would meet the next day to figure out how to re-create us..." And he was right. 

So thank you, Walter, from the multitudes of people, organizations, and companies that have benefited from the work of NAA these past few years and the multitudes for decades to come.

Jonathan Gaffney

  NAA President and CEO

Dr. Morton Grosser speaks at Spring Luncheon.

The Albatross was powered using pedals to drive a large two-bladed propeller. On June 12, 1979, piloted by amateur cyclist Bryan Allen, it completed the 22.2-mile crossing in 2 hours and 49 minutes, achieving a top speed of 18 mph and an average altitude of 5 feet.

In those projects, Dr. Grosser explained, three teams designed, built, and flew six 100-foot-wingspan airplanes for two new flight regimes in five years. Dr. Grosser co-designed and built components for the aircraft, including the Gossamer Albatross, which won the Kremer Cross-Channel Prize for flying across the English Channel solely under human power. He was a pilot of the Gossamer Albatross II.

The Gossamer teams invented many of the carbon-fiber construction techniques used today, wrote widely-cited technical papers, published three successful books, and made three movies which won, respectively, an Oscar, an Emmy, and the Golden Eagle at the National Film Festival." Dr. Grosser currently is president of MG Consulting in Menlo Park, specializing in venture capital and management and technology consulting.  

In other news, Max Trescott, aviation author, lecturer and former FAA flight instructor of the year, has been elected president of the Aero Club of Northern California, succeeding commercial pilot Sandra Clifford. Glynn Falcon, a San Jose State University aviation professor and attorney, was elected vice president by the Aero Club Board of directors. He succeeds Trescott, who had been vice president. 

 

Mr. Peterson was presented with a giant facsimile of a check for $2,000.  He is a junior, working towards a Bachelor of Science degree in Professional Pilot at Kansas State-Salina. A licensed pilot, he holds an Instrument rating and is working on his Commercial Pilot's license. He's also an Eagle Scout and former senior class president at Smoky Valley High School.

 

"I can't express how much this scholarship means to me," he said.  "Ever since I stepped into my grandfather's airplane at the age of four I have wanted to fly. This scholarship will help me realize that dream and relieve the pressure of student debt, too.  It will also permit me to spend more time working towards my eventual degree and pilot ratings so that someday I can fly for Federal Express, instead of just working as a package handler for them.

 

The scholarship honors the memory of Ed Stimpson, the late President of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and ICAO Ambassador.  It is currently awarded annually to a student "who seeks to make a significant contribution to the aviation industry upon completion of his or her education."