Thomas S. Momiyama, U.S. SES

THOMAS S. MOMIYAMA
U.S. Senior Executive Service (SES-04), Retired
Associate Fellow, AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics)

Thomas S. Momiyama retired in 1995 from the U.S. Senior Executive Service as Director of Aircraft Research and Technology Programs at the Naval Air Systems Command Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

He came to the United States in 1953 as an exchange student at Michigan Tech where he earned a BSME. He began his U.S. civil service career in 1957 as Flight Test Engineer at the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, MD. His expertise was in carrier-suitability flight testing of new naval aircraft, including AD-6, AD-5Q, T2J-1, A3J-1, RA-5C, A-6A, E-2C, TT-1 and OV-10A among others, and electronics and visual carrier landing systems, human factors and crew systems development. He instituted the NATC's developmental testing of landing systems and pilot's cockpit displays, and is credited with the invention of the Drop Line Lights landing aid now operational aboard aircraft carriers worldwide. He is a Class 25 graduate of the US Naval Test Pilot School. He also holds an FAA Commercial Pilot license with Certified Flight Instructor rating.

In 1967, he was assigned to NAVAIRHQ's newly established Research and Technology Group. His responsibilities encompassed advanced systems and aircraft concepts development, which resulted in technology bases for the V-22 Amphibious Assault Transport, T-45TS Advanced Carrier Suitable Trainer and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. He was a member of the NATO Advisory Group for Advanced Research & Development and also the US project officer of a number of Data Exchange Agreements with Australia, Japan, Sweden and the UK.

He was selected in 1982 to the Senior Executive Service of the United States and appointed Director of the NAVAIR's Advanced Aircraft Development & Systems Objectives Office. In 1984, he was assigned the first director of the reorganized R&T Group's Aircraft Division.

Having continued his graduate education in psychology and political science at George Washington and American Universities, he graduated from the U.S. Naval War College and Harvard Kennedy School of Government (as Senior Executive Fellow). Since retirement, he has been a consultant to aviation communities worldwide and volunteers as curatorial researcher at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum.