Several Bestowed At Banquet Held November 10 In Daytona Beach, FL

The University Aviation Association has revealed the winners of its annual awards for 2014. The awards were presented at the UAA Fall Education Conference Awards Banquet on October 10, at the UAA Awards Banquet in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Dr. Richmond Nettey was presented with the William A. Wheatley Award. The award is presented annually to a professional educator who, for more than 10 years, has made outstanding contributions to aerospace education.

Dr. Nettey is Associate Dean, College of Applied Engineering, Kent State University. He has also served as the University’s Senior Academic Program Director of Aeronautics in the College of Technology. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Nettey served as the Director of Airway Science at Texas Southern University in Houston from 1988 to 2001.

In 2005, Dr. Nettey led Kent State’s Aeronautics Program to become Ohio’s first aviation program to be accredited by the Aviation Accreditation Board International (AABI). Two years later, he developed and received FAA authorization for the Air Traffic – Collegiate Training Initiative Program (AT – CTI) at the University.

Dr. Paul Craig, Professor, Middle Tennessee State University won the Frank E. Sorenson Award for “outstanding achievement of excellence in aviation research/scholarship.”

Dr. Craig has published 6 books, numerous scholarly articles and more than a dozen magazine articles. His books include Pilot in Command, Multiengine Flying, Stalls and Spins, Light Airplane Navigation Essentials, and Be a Better Pilot. His most recent book, The Killing Zone: How and Why Pilots Die is directed toward the general pilot with the intent of reducing the number of general aviation incidents. Dr. Craig’s magazine articles have been published in Plane & Pilot, Air Progress, and Private Pilot.

The 2014 John K. Lauber Safety Award was presented to Dr. Manoj Patankar of Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology. The Lauber Safety Award recognized Patankar for outstanding achievements in aviation safety.

Manoj S. Patankar is the Executive Director of the Center for Aviation Safety Research and Professor of Aviation at Saint Louis University. Soon after coming to Parks College, Patankar published two books in quick succession: Risk Management and Error Reduction in Aviation Maintenance and Applied Human Factors in Aviation Maintenance. Both these books are widely used in safety programs around the world and have been translated into Mandarin.

Mr. Julius J. Alexander, Jr. has been named the winner of the 2014 President's Award.

Mr. Alexander was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. As a young man he attended Tuskegee University and began taking flying lessons between his first and second year of college while working full time to earn money to continue school. He made his first solo flight in a Piper J-3 Cub on January 22, 1956.
   
After graduation he began teaching in the Atlanta public schools and was selected one of three teachers to teach a new innovative aviation course. With this assignment Mr. Alexander became a pioneer in high school aviation education in Atlanta. On Saturdays, he provided flying lessons for his students who sold candy bars to raise money to pay for the rental of a Cessna 150.
 
Mr. Alexander was the first civilian African American flight instructor to train students at Atlanta’s Fulton County Airport (Brown Field). Additionally, he led a team that designed Aviation Career Education (ACE), which is widely in use today throughout the U.S.

The recipient of numerous awards, Mr. Alexander was elected to the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame in October 2010 and the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals Hall of Fame in 2013. In January 2014, he was presented with the Fortitude Educational and Cultural Development Center Pinnacle Award.  

Mr. Alexander has logged over 11,000 hours and has taught 177 pilots. Sixteen of his former students are now flying with major airlines, including his son.

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