Biography

Dr. Veillette?s previous flying positions include Non-Routine Flight Operations captain for a major fractional air carrier. He holds an Airline Transport Pilot certificate with type ratings in the SD-3, HS-125, and CE-500. He also holds Certified Flight Instructor and Flight Engineer certificates, and was a former FAA Designated Pilot Examiner. In 35 years of flying experience, he has accumulated over 20,000 hours of flight experience in more than 240 types of aircraft, from balloons, rotorcraft, sea planes, gliders, war birds, supersonic jets and large commercial transports. His extensive flying experience from 1983 to present includes military, emergency medical services transport, corporate/executive business jet, aerial fire fighting, Part 135 non-scheduled charter and Part 121 scheduled air transport operations. He has been an active safety investigator since 1983 investigating accidents of US and foreign military aircraft, US government public use aircraft, and business aircraft. He lectures extensively on these topics at prestigious research universities and symposiums.

Dr. Veillette is a 1983 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy where he earned a BS degree with distinction in Aeronautical Engineering. He subsequently earned a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering researching aircraft flight test techniques and a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Utah researching human error in automated cockpits for which he was awarded the Transportation Research Board?s award for aviation human error research, and the William T. Piper award in 1994 from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Dr. Veillette received the Royal Aeronautical Society?s Best Safety Submission of the Aerospace Journalists of the Year in 2007, the National Business Aviation Association?s ?Gold Wing? Award in 2008., and the aerospace industry?s Bill Gunston Technical Writer of the Year Award in London in 2014, and the Lifetime Achievement Award