Mr. Saleem
Sleem is Chief Commercial Officer at XTI Aircraft Company in the US, developing a long-range, high-speed VTOL aircraft, the TriFan 600.
His broad experience in the aviation industry over 40 years includes service as an Indian Air Force pilot, and in the airlines and corporate aviation in the US, the Middle East and South Asia. He has led flight operations functions at three airlines and is a former United Airlines captain and a pilot with 15,000 flight hours on 28 different aircraft including the MiG 21, Learjet, Airbus 320 and Boeing 777.
He served as Vice President Flight Operations and Vice President Special Projects for IndiGo here in India between 2009 and 2016.
Gp Capt AK Sachdev (Retd)
Gp Capt AK Sachdev (Retd) has four Masters degrees and was a Senior Research Fellow at Manohar Parikkar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. He flew multi-engine jets and helicopters in the IAF. He has published one book, one monograph and numerous articles in aviatin/ military magazines and journals.
He has commanded an operational IAF station, worked as COO of an airline, CEO of an air charter company and co-founded a trip support software company.
Mr.Sanjay Gattani
Sanjay is an accomplished leader generating value-driven solutions in all aspects of engineering life-cycle. His aerospace career spans more than 27 years progressing through senior management roles and finally becoming the Chief Engineer at Triumph Aerostructures. He has led large engineering teams on airplane programs such as Boeing 737-900ER, Airbus A350-900, Boeing 787-8/-9, Gulfstream G280/G650, and Bombardier Global 7500.
He is presently the Head of India Operations at Jaunt and also engaged in aircraft certification. Sanjay obtained his Bachelor’s from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 1985 and received his Master’s in 1987 and Ph.D. in Engineering in 1993.
Ms.Aishwerya Gahlot
Aishwerya is a PhD candidate at Georgia Institute of Technology. In 2020, she graduated first in her class with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, India. Before pursuing her graduate studies, she gained valuable industry experience by working in the Aerospace industry for over a year. Currently, Aishwerya is a graduate research assistant at Georgia Tech’s Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence under the guidance of Dr. L. N Sankar. Her research focuses on studying the impact of rain and icing on Air Mobility Systems. She is also a recipient of the Jing Yen Cost Awareness Scholarship Award by the Vertical Flight Foundation.
Kamonlaphat Sitthitharanon
Kamonlaphat is a first-year Mechanical and Process System Engineering student at Suranaree University of Technology, where he previously earned a Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering at the same university. As a research assistant, He is currently contributing to the Development of Standardization Framework for UAV Airworthiness in Thailand project. Though he has not yet received any awards, he is ready to dedication to his field of study and commitment to advancing UAV airworthiness in Thailand demonstrate his potential for future accomplishments.
Dr.Auraluck Pichitkul
After working as a lecturer for 2 years, Auraluck received the Royal Thai Government Scholarship to pursue her Ph.D. in the U.S. During the course of her study, she worked under a supervision of Prof. Lakshmi N. Sankar at Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. After earning her Ph.D., she returned to her home country in Thailand and continued to work as a lecturer at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology. Her research interests include rotary-wing aerodynamics, aeroacoustics, electric-powered aircraft and UAVs.
Mr.Jeffrey Lewis
Jeffrey Lewis is a senior design engineer for Jaunt Air Mobility. Before joining Jaunt, Jeff was Engineering Manager at Carter Aviation Technologies with over 18 years of experience with slowed rotor compound technologies and aircraft. He took over and led the completion and flight test support of Carter‘s second PAV prototype and managed Carter’s team and subcontractors on the DARPA TERN program. Jeff led and participated in multiple conceptual design efforts and has experience in detail design, modeling, and simulation. He has a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland.
Ms. Snigdha L M
Currently pursuing Integrated Bachelor‘s and Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Her field of interests are Structural Dynamics and Aeroelasticity and Data Driven Modelling. She has done students level research in topics like, Stochastic Stability Analysis and Electric Tilt-Rotor Aircraft Dynamics.
Dr. J.V.R. Prasad
Professor and Associate Director of VLRCOE School of Aerospace Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332
Dr. J.V.R. Prasad is a Professor in the School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology working in the area of Flight Mechanics and Control. He received his B.Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India and his M.S and Ph.D. degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA. He is currently a Co- Principal Investigator and the Associate Director for the US Army, Navy and NASA sponsored Vertical Lift Rotorcraft Center of Excellence (VLRCOE) program at Georgia Tech. He has extensive research and design experience in rotorcraft system modeling, control and simulation, and autonomous air vehicle modeling and control. He has published parts of four books, over three hundred and fifty research publications including journal and conference papers, and over eighty research project reports. He has eight invention disclosures and five patents to his credit. He is a recipient of the Melville Medal award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 2009, the Aero Lion Technologies Outstanding Journal Paper award from the International Journal of Unmanned Systems in 2015 and the Unmanned Systems best journal paper (application category) award in 2019. He served as the Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of the American Helicopter Society (AHS), Chair of the Handling Qualities and UAV Tech Committees of the AHS, and as Member and Secretary of the Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Technical Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He currently serves as a Member of the VFS Technical Council, Southern Regional Director on the VFS Board of Directors, Member of the Board of Directors of the Vertical Lift Consortium, Member of the Editorial Board for the International Journal on Mathematical Modeling and Simulation and the Advisory Board for the International Journal of Unmanned Systems. He is a Fellow of the AIAA, a Technical Fellow of the VFS and a Member of the ASME.
Mr.JAMES A. VIOLA
James A. Viola joined Helicopter Association International (HAI) as President and CEO in January 2020. Prior to joining HAI, he served as a Senior Executive for the Federal Aviation Administration, in the positions of acting Deputy Associate Administrator, Aviation Safety and Director of General Aviation Safety Assurance. As Director, he was responsible for maintaining consistency and standardization in the application of safety oversight activities for the GA community. He was a government representative on both the International Helicopter Safety Team and the United States Helicopter Safety Team. He is now the Industry Co-Advisor (with ICAO as the co-authority) on the Vertical Aviation Safety Team, VAST.
Viola’s aviation career began with the US Army, with the majority of his military flying done in the 82nd Airborne Division and in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. His final military assignment was as Division Chief for Army Aviation, Current Operations in the Pentagon.
A strong advocate for GA, Viola flies as often as he can. He splits his time flying between a Robinson Helicopter and an AG-5B Tiger airplane, depending on whether or not a runway is involved. He holds airline transport pilot ratings for helicopters and airplanes and is a dual-rated certificated flight instructor, having flown more than 70 make and models of aircraft. His accumulated flight hours are 6,500 plus, which includes 1,100 hours with night-vision goggles.
Viola holds a Master‘s degree in Strategic Studies from the United States (U.S.) Army War College in Carlisle, PA; a Master’s degree in International Relations from Auburn University in Montgomery, AL; a Master’s degree in Military Operational Art and Science from Air University in Maxwell AFB, AL; and a Bachelor of Science from East Stroudsburg University in East Stroudsburg, PA.
Viola holds professional membership of the Pi Sigma Alpha, National Political Science Honor Society; Lifetime member of the Army Aviation Association of America; the Airplane Owners and Pilots Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars; Military Officer Association of America; Society of Aviation and Flight Educators; National Association of Flight Instructors; and the Theta Chi Fraternity.
Mr. Rahul
Chief Manager, Rotary Wing Research & Design Centre, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
He has completed M. Tech in Data Science and Engineering from BITS Pilani.and has more than 15 years of experience in Aerospace Industry. His area of expertise includes Rotary Wing Flight Testing, Telemetry Systems, Instrumentation, Calibration of Test & Measuring Instruments and Accident/ Incident Investigation Analysis of Cockpit Voice and Flight Data Recorder. He has also developed software for Flight Data Animation and Analysis. His interests are application of AI/ML techniques to Flight Test and FDR data analysis
Mr.Tittu George
Chief Manager, Rotary Wing Research & Design Centre, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
He holds an M.Tech degree in Data Science and Engineering from BITS Pilani and has two international papers to his name. He has been working in the aerospace industry for over 14 years and has held various roles during his career.
He started his career as a Flight Instrumentation Engineer for LCA, where he gained extensive knowledge in designing and developing instrumentation systems for aircraft. He then transitioned to the role of Control System Engineer, where he spent the next 7 years working on the design and development of control systems for helicopters.