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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

Rick is an instrument rated pilot and his career spanned more than 35 years of aviation history. After receiving his BSEE and MSCE from the University of Connecticut, Rick was employed at Hamilton Standard, and later Hamilton Sundstrand. Here he was involved in the design development and manufacturing of control, propulsion and life support systems for numerous commercial, military and space programs. Rick received an MSM and an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was the Assistant General manager and one of the founders of HS Nauka, the first US/Russian commercial aerospace company. Located in Moscow, they produce air conditioning systems for Western and Russian aircrafts including the Boeing 747, 777, Embraer 170/190, Airbus 380 and the Tupolev TU334 & 204. The company was highlighted the model American and Russian business partnership at the fourth Gore-Chernomyrdin Summit in 1994.
Rick was the principal design engineer for the on-wing data collection and analysis systems used in incident investigations and preventative maintenance for the Lockheed L1011, McDonnell Douglas DC 10 and Boeing 747. He worked with the original airframe manufacturers, the airline engineering staffs and directly with the flight crews of such airlines as KLM, Lufthansa, South African Airways, JAL, UTA, Malaysia Airlines, Swissair, SAS, and Royal Jordanian Airlines. He also worked with the National Transportation Safety Board in retrieval and analysis of flight data information from these systems. He pioneered on-wing engine diagnostic systems for use with the P&W JT9D and General Electric CF6 series engines.
Rick was a member of the design team for the Portable Life Support System (backpack) for the Apollo project, including Apollo 11, man's first walk on the moon. He was a member of the software design team for Interim upper stage (IUS) guidance systems used with the Saturn launch vehicles. He was the software / systems design engineer for the Flight Management system used on the LI011, and co-developed the first 4d (3 dimensions +time) system. He was the program manager for the Airbus A300 and A320 cabin pressurization control systems produced by Nord Micro of Frankfurt Germany, and part of the design and development team for the environmental control system for the B2 bomber. He was one of the lead software systems engineers for the quad redundant flight control system for Sikorsky's X-Wing experimental helicopter. Rick also server as a member of the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) Special committee on considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment certifications.
His involvement with UTC also included management positions in Quality and Information Systems, working with HS' international aerospace companies including Microtecnica, Claverham, HS Marston, and Ratier Figeac. Rick is married to Kathy Narowski, and they have two children, Elizabeth and Christopher.