The American Helicopter Society at UTA is proud to present:

Erasmo Piñero, Jr.

Engineer IV

Propulsion Analysis, Integration and Flight Test

Mr. Piñero has over 30 years of aircraft operations, systems integration, and flight test experience. He has been associated with Bell Helicopter since 2012 and he is currently the Propulsion Test Lead on the Bell V-280. Mr. Piñero is a 1984 graduate of the University of Florida (Aerospace Engineering) and completed his postgraduate studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Following his graduation from the University of Florida, he joined the United States Navy, where he was trained as a Naval Flight Officer, specializing in aircraft navigation and airborne radar operations aboard the Grumman E-2C airborne early warning aircraft. For five years and two aircraft carrier deployments in the Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic, South Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, he accumulated eight hundred hours of flying time in the operation of twelve different types of naval aircraft. Mr. Piñero is also a Space Defense Specialist and was trained as such while serving in the U.S. Naval Space Command.

At the completion of his military service in 1991, he joined Sikorsky Aircraft where he worked on the S-76, Blackhawk, Comanche, and S-92 helicopters. Early in the X-35 Joint Strike Fighter demonstration program, he was selected by Pratt and Whitney (P & W) to serve as a Test Engineer on the X-35’s engine ground test development which eventually won the 2001 Collier Trophy for P & W. To continue his involvement on the JSF program, Mr. Piñero joined Lockheed Martin in July 2002, where he coordinated critical F-35 engine and aircraft systems integration testing. He was a propulsion discipline representative on all early test flights of the F-35A, B and C versions, including propulsion discipline lead on the Navy’s F-35C fight test effort.

His professional affiliations include the American Helicopter Society, active membership on the AIAA V/STOL Technical Committee, and he is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA.

Food, Drinks and Vertical Flight!