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About GBA|Corporate Statements|Management Profile|Consultants |
| Consultants Groen Brothers Aviation retains a number of consultants in key technological and financial areas including: Walter Sonneborn – GBA Chief Engineer Heliplane Project (internal consultant). Formerly Head of Research and Development at Bell Helicopter, retired following a distinguished career of 40 years at Bell. Mr. Sonneborn currently holds the record for having developed the fastest rotor wing aircraft in history. Mr. Sonneborn is the recipient of the 2005 American Helicopter Society (AHS) Alexander A. Nikolsky Honorary Lectureship award. Mr. Sonneborn in the GBA Chief Engineer on the Heliplane project.
Dr. Barnes McCormick is a Boeing Professor Emeritus in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. McCormick developed Groen Brothers Aviation's computer model for analyzing autorotative flight data to maximize the efficiency of gyroplane rotor blades. Dr. McCormick is well known in the field of vertical flight, and has worked as Chief of Aerodynamics at the Vertol Corporation, a division of Boeing. Throughout his career, he has accomplished many notable achievements including being named the nation's "Outstanding Educator in Aerospace Engineering" by the American Institute of Aeronautics. In addition, he authored a seminal text on aerodynamics, aeronautics, and flight mechanics, and has written two other books on flight and aircraft accident reconstruction. Dr. McCormick is also a former Director of the American Helicopter Society.
Dan Somers has been the President of Airfoils, Inc. since 1980, located in Pennsylvania. Mr. Somers is an internationally recognized expert in airfoil design, analysis, and testing. He designed, along with Richard Eppler, the Eppler Airfoil Design and Analysis Code, a program considered to be unequaled in the world. In addition to designing the airfoil of the Hawk series rotor blades, Mr. Somers has designed airfoils for wind turbines, sail planes, cruise missiles, business jets, and others. Prior to operating his present company, Mr. Somers worked as a research engineer at NASA Langley Research Center. Mr. Somers also has many publications to his credit.
Dr. Mark Maughmer has been a Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Pennsylvania State University since 1984. Dr. Maughmer optimized the rotor blade platform for the Hawk gyroplane series and performed the parametric study using the Dr. McCormick's program. Dr. Maughmer has consulted with many large aerospace companies and government agencies. He is a widely published author on the topics of airfoil design and analysis, wing platform optimization, natural laminar flow aerodynamics, and subsonic, low turbulence wind-tunnel design and operation. The above three aerospace engineers are recognized experts on rotorcraft blades and airfoil design. Working together they designed the family of natural laminar-flow airfoils for the rotor of the Hawk 4 gyroplane. The design specifications for the airfoils were determined from rotor-performance calculations performed by Dr. Maughmer, using a computer code developed especially for gyroplane rotors by Dr. McCormick. All of this was done under the supervision of Dan Somers, an internationally recognized airfoil design specialist. Lowell Larson, Market Research ConsultantFor many years, a central interest of Lowell Larson has been the development and production of gyroplanes in the medium-to-large size range. Along with other investors, he formed Aero-Gyro Associates of Seattle and, as President, he directed market research and preliminary design. Mr. Larson previously served the Boeing Co. as Manager of the "second generation" Boeing Supersonic Transport evaluation program. In other assignments Mr. Larson managed Boeing operations at NASA, Langley Field, The Air Force Tactical Air Command, and was the Boeing legislative liaison with NASA, the FAA, Congressional Committees and the Departments of Defense, State and Commerce. Mr. Larson also managed the research department at Boeing with an annual budget in excess of $100 million. |
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