Mike Wusk

Senior R&D Engineer

Beginning his career at Langley in 1986 as an ODU graduate research student working on boundary layer flow transition detection, Mike quickly became involved in many of the various research activities being conducted by the Flight Research Branch (FRB) and developed a specialization in performance flight testing. By 1992 his flight test experience prepared him for the role of Flight Test Director for the B737 aircraft conducting extensive research on cockpit technologies, aircraft sensors, and advanced airspace operations.  The B737 was eventually replaced with a B757 aircraft, continuing much of LaRC’s aeronautical research until 2007 with Mike as Flight Test Director.

In 2005 Mike led an effort to reconfigure NASA’s B200 King Air aircraft to support the agency’s atmospheric research needs. From 2006 until his retirement in 2023, he was heavily involved in the conduct of over 50 aircraft field deployments and research campaigns focused at providing a better understanding of man’s understanding of the planet’s atmosphere and climate.

Mike joined AAG after retiring from a 36-year career in NASA’s aircraft flight research operations at the Langley Research Center (LaRC). During that time Mike accrued over 4000 hours serving on board the varied NASA fleet of research aircraft.  Starting his career as a flight research engineer, he later served as the B737/B757 flight test director, and eventually an aircraft pilot for the B200 King Air aircraft.

For over four years, he served as the Research Services Directorate (RSD) Operations Manager with responsibility for the prioritization, coordination, scheduling, and conduct of the directorate’s flight assets, and as Head of the Aircraft Operations and Engineering Branch (AOEB) supervising the organization’s mix of engineers and pilots.

Mike’s broad experience in research flight testing and operations at NASA Langley Research Center has built his expertise in the technical planning, coordinating, conducting, and data analysis of flight experiments. Specifically, Mike understands the importance of the coordination, communications, logistics, and team aspects of these highly complex operations.