Donald Riley Segner 1925-2019

Lockheed XH51-A Compound Rotary wing/fixed wing aircraft

Lockheed AH-56A Cheyenne
Donald R.Segner has over 55 years of aviation and transportation related experience in diversified positions involving operational,flight testing,aircraft design and development and senior managerial responsibilities.
He entered military service in 1943,and he was commissioned in the U.S. Marine Corps as a Naval Aviator in 1946. He served in combat in Korea with VMF-311 flying F9F-2 Panther. In 1956 he became a military test pilotat the NATC at Patuxent River. He was the first Naval Aviator to fly and convert a VTOL aircraft, the tilt wing VZ-2. He performed the first military flights on the HSS-2 and numerous other 1st flights.
After entering private industry in 1962,he served as Chief Test Pilot,Manager of Advance Design and Program Manager for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, where he flew a total of 7 first flights. Amongst these were the XH51-A, AH56-A and the CL757.
In April 1981,he was appointed by President Reagan to the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA)as an Associate Administrator. With the advent of the Air Traffic Controller's strike in September 1981,he was given the additional responsibilities to develop,direct and control the process of allocating airspace system use by all airlines and airspace system users. Following the destruction of Korean Airline Flight 007 in 1983,he was further assigned to the White House to head the investigation of the KAL 007 shoot down and to act as Chief Delegate for the U.S.A. to the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO)on this matter. Later he was assigned as the United States, Chief of Delegation, by the Secretary of State, to negotiate an agreement, among the U.S.A.,USSR and Japanese governments, to improve and implement future air travel safety along the North Pacific air routes.
Mr Segner has accumulated over 7,000 flight hours in over 150 types and models of aircraft He is a past president of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. He has received numerous awards recognizing his contributions to the aviation community,including the AIAA's Octave Chanute Award,the SETP's Kincheloe Award,FAA Administrator's Award,the FAA Superior Achievement Gold Medal, and the Distinguished Flying Cross for valor in combat.Mr Segner is a Fellow in the Society of Experimental TestPilots.