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SpaceShipOne test pilots:  Douglas B. Shane  ·  Peter Siebold  ·  Brian Binnie  ·  Michael W. Melvill

Pilot Biography

BRIAN BINNIE

Brian Binnie is a Program Business Manager and Test Pilot at Scaled Composites. He has 21 years flight test experience including 20 years of Naval Service in the Strike-Fighter community. He has logged over 4600 hours of flight time in 59 different aircraft and is a licensed Airline Transport Pilot.

Brian’s educational background includes a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and an M.S. in Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics from Brown University and an M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Princeton University. He is a graduate of the U.S. Navy’s Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, MD and the Naval Aviation Safety School at Monterey CA.

He is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and a published member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Flight Test Experience:

  • Scaled’s Model 318 White Knight
  • Scaled’s Model 316 SpaceShipOne
  • Roton Flight Test
  • F/A-18 Electronic Warfare Suite Testing and Integration
  • F/A-18 TSSAM Weapon Launch Envelope Expansion
  • A-6E TSSAM Weapon Launch Envelope Expansion
  • F/A-18 SLAM-ER Weapon Launch Envelope Expansion
  • A-6E SLAM-ER Weapon Launch Envelope Expansion
  • F/A-18 LEX Fence Performance Map
  • F/A-18 ATARS Transonic Handling Evaluation
  • A-7E Structural Flight Test Qualification Program
  • F/A-18 KC-10 Wing Tip Refueling Pod Evaluation
  • A-7E KC-10 Wing Tip Refueling Pod Evaluation
  • F/A-18 F404 2nd Source (Pratt & Whitney vs GE) Engine Envelope Expansion
  • F/A-18 Hi-Energy Nose Strut -T/Off and Landing Eval
  • F/A-18 First LGB Weapon Delivery Using Self-Lasing FLIR

Other Related Experience:

  • Completed for the ROTON: Hazard Analysis / Aircrew Checklists / Normal & Emergency Procedures
  • Conducted Flight Test / Developed Operational Flight Procedures (Tactics) / Provided Fleet Training (1 to 5 day course) for F/A-18 and AV-8B EW Suites.
  • Expanded curriculum to include Foreign Military Customers and provided in-country training to Finland, Malaysia and Italy
  • Wrote all the operational checklist and provided the Fleet Tactics Manual for the TSSAM Weapon System
  • Planned and executed the first (and only) radar chase of the Tomahawk cruise missile to demonstrate more effective surface fleet training
  • Prepared and briefed the Australian Air Force on new Operational Flight Software for their F/A-18 aircraft