Donald Ray Kuhns was born on February 21, 1934 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school in 1951, he attended the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics where he attained his AE certificate in 1952.
He enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1953. He was stationed on Ramey AFB in Puerto Rico with the 28th Air Rescue Squadron. He served as a flight mechanic for the SA-16 Grumman Albatross. He served four years of active duty with the Air Force attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant. He was honorably discharged in 1961.
Also in 1961 he graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering.
In 1962 Donald went to work for Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford, Connecticut. He spent the first 5 years there as a Test Flight Engineer. A few of the major programs he worked on include:
• the Type Certification of the S-61N Sea King
• the S-64 Skycrane Program from 1st flight until its delivery
• served at the engineer liaison during the Category II Altitude Testing (in Bishop, CA) of the CH-3C which later became known as the "Jolly Green Giant".
• was responsible for the initial flight endurance program on the Marine CH-53 A Sea Stallion
His last ten years at Sikorsky were spent with the Flight Safety Group. He provided technical assistance to both military and commercial accident investigation teams worldwide. He acted as a liaison between Sikorsky Engineering and United Technologies Legal Counsel. His last assignment there was implementing the contractually required Systems Safety Program for the US Army's UTTAS competition Sikorsky ultimately won the contract and began producing the UH-60A Black Hawk.
In 1977, he left Sikorsky and began working for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Washington DC. He was considered their helicopter specialist, but worked both fixed wing and helicopter accidents as a member of the "Go-Team". He worked in the accident investigation bureau of the NTSB from 1977 until his death on May 8th 1994.
His love of aviation, (second only to the love of his family), and his complete dedication to his work helped to ensure the safety of all those who fly.