Timothy Fitzgerald:
CLASS OF 1981
Canevin Catholic High SchoolClass of 1981
Pittsburgh, PA
West Virginia University - EngineeringClass of 1985
Morgantown, WV
Saint Margaret SchoolClass of 1977
Pittsburgh, PA
Timothy's Story
Life
After graduating from high school/college, I moved to Southern Maryland where I lived for almost 12 years (although about a year of that time was spent in the Tidewater area of Virginia on a long-term rotational work assignment). I enjoyed the work I was doing very much, but didn't care for Southern Maryland (although I did like the Tidewater area of Virginia), which was one of the factors that led to my decision to move elsewhere. I bought my first real sports car: a 1989 Firebird Formula, which unexpectedly turned out to have a rare powertrain combination (only about 50 built each year); although I do drive it, it mostly still sits inside my garage in the hopes it will emerge as a "sleeper" collector's car one day. During this period of time, I earned my pilot's license (as well as my high-performance airplane endorsement), which I put to good use by participating in the annual Sun 'n' Fun fly-in in Lakeland, FL in 1995. I also did some traveling: Canada, Europe (France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium), Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii.
Next, I moved to Lawrence, KS for about 7 years. I joined an over-30 baseball team, which was quite fun until the team became defunct following the manager's marriage. But everybody knew when the "Monarchs" had arrived at the ball field: we all showed up in the manager's late-60's Chrysler limousine (it was pretty beat-up, had holes in the floorboards a-la Fred Flintstone, but was a city block long and an eye-catcher nonetheless). Then, of all the things to decide to achieve while in Kansas, I earned my certification as a SCUBA diver ... which actually came in quite handy when I took two work-related trips back to Australia; I dove twice on the Great Barrier Reef and once in Fiji. During this period of time, I also purchased a small airplane (a 1967 Piper PA-28-180 "Cherokee"), and took two self-piloted trips around the USA: one "loop" around the eastern half in 2000, and one "loop" around the western half in 2002. I also augmented my piloting skills by earning my complex airplane endorsement; learning how to fly (or more accurately: taxi, take off, and land) a "taildragger;" and logging some time in a couple old "warbird" trainers (a PT-19 and an SNJ-4 "Texan"), an Extra 300, and a home-built "Pulsar." But I guess I wasn't meant to be a lifetime resident of Kansas...
... so it was on to San Antonio, TX. Much of my time was taken up with work (at one point I was in Mojave, CA for two straight months, and Roswell, NM wound up seeming like my second home), so I barely had time to play in a once-a-week softball league. However, I did manage to earn an instrument rating to my pilot's license, and one of the upsides of all the overtime was that I could treat myself to a 2004 Corvette convertible.
I still maintain my residence in San Antonio, although I am currently spending most of my time in the Waco area. Since establishing my permanent residence in Texas, I've also spent extended periods of time in Lexington, KY and Huntsville, AL. I did some more international traveling, paying a visit to Ireland in 2008. I continued to expand the motor pool, the most notable addition of which is a 1998 Corvette coupe in a rare color (Aztec Gold Metallic). Beginning in 2012, I got back into playing guitar, and have a budding collection of guitars, then taught myself some keyboard as well. My airplane and I even ma...Expand for more
de it into the August 2023 issue of "Pipers Magazine" as the cover feature!
Workplace
After graduating from college, I began my career by working on aircraft simulation for the Navy at their flight test center in Patuxent River, MD. During my tenure there, I logged about 1,000 theoretical flight hours in an F/A-18 "Hornet," but sadly, not one actual second in one. The work was very interesting, and one of the upsides of it were the opportunities to travel: I co-authored a technical paper that took me to Europe (Brussels), and also made work-related trips to Canada and Australia. I also did a rotational assignment to NASA Langely in Hampton, VA, where I was involved in a joint Navy-NASA research study on high angle-of-attack fighter agility. This assignment also gave me the opportunity to do some work in a wind tunnel. Another very interesting "science project" was the F-18E/F RPV, which was essentially a free-flying, radio-controlled wind tunnel model with a data-collection package on board.
Next, I took a job with a small engineering & flight test company in Lawrence, KS. I began there by putting my simulation modeling experience to work on a variety of aircraft types, but eventually gravitated toward the flight test end of things. While still doing simulation modeling, I was again afforded travel opportunities: twice back to Australia while working on a RAAF AP-3C project, staying in Adelaide for about 2-1/2 months at one point. Most of the flight testing work was hum-drum (RVSM), but I did do one data collection effort on a Hawker 800XP business jet. However, when the company began experiencing financial troubles, I decided it was best to move on...
... to San Antonio, TX, where I worked for an aircraft manufacturer there. In 2005, the company successfully became the first start-up manufacturer since Learjet to introduce a new business jet (the SJ30-2) to the market, and I was one of the people who helped make it happen. I worked as a flight test engineer/copilot on one of the prototype aircraft, testing its stability & control/performance characteristics in preparation for FAA certification. Some of the aviation-related "perks" of that work was that I got occasional "stick time" in the SJ30-2, some aerobatic training in a Pitts S-2B, and flew in a couple "warbirds" that the company contracted as chase aircraft: a T-28C "Trojan" and an F-100F "Super Sabre." However, a familiar story began to unfold as the company started experiencing financial problems, and that coupled with other considerations forced me to move on once again.
After accepting a contract employee position with a defense contractor company in Waco, TX, where I was initially involved in the flight test efforts for the NASA SOFIA project, I tried my hand at rotary wing aircraft. This led to a 4-year assignment near Lexington, KY, where the flight test program was being conducted. In January 2013, I transitioned from a contract employee to a direct employee for the same defense contractor, and returned to Texas in September 2013. Unfortunately, I was caught up in a series of layoffs in September 2014, and found myself back in Lexington, KY and Huntsville, AL working two follow-on test programs on the same aircraft as before. Now back in Central Texas (for who knows how long) working on yet another aircraft: an armed scout. Go figure...! See the world: become a flight test engineer... ;-)
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