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newest endeavors is providing training for future commer- cial astronauts. As such, Scott will be applying his experi- ence with SpaceShipTwo and aerospace and physiology to give the human race access to space.
Gary Pokedner,
FAA Program Manager,
Weather in the Cockpit
Gary Pokodner graduated from Lehigh University as an electrical engineer. He has worked in design, reliability, development, test, and acquisition of avionics. Gary came
to the FAA in January 2011 after working for ARINC for 25 years on military avionics acquisition programs. Since com- ing to the FAA, Gary has been the FAA’s NextGen Weather Technology in the Cockpit (WTIC) Program Manager. In this role, Gary has been managing a portfolio of research projects with the overall objective of identifying and resolv- ing gaps in meteorological (MET) information in Part 91, 135, and 121 cockpits and pilot weather training to enhance operational efficiency and safety.
Danny Sims,
FAA Physical Scientist Danny Sims is a Physical Scientist with the Federal Aviation Administration overseeing the Inflight Icing, and the Model Development and Enhance- ment weather research projects as part of the FAA’s Aviation Weather
Research Program. Before his current position, he was responsible for the sustainment of the FAA Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS) at the Air Traffic Control System Command Center. TFMS is the automation system used by FAA traffic flow managers to balance demand and capacity of the National Airspace System. Mr. Sims also led TFMS Weather Integration efforts, and supported test and evaluation of aviation weather products at the FAA Wil- liam J. Hughes Technical Center. Before joining the FAA, Mr. Sims served as a weather officer in the US Air Force. He holds a BA in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia and a BS and MS in Meteorology from the Pennsyl- vania State University.
Travis Holland
President, Shepherd Aero
As a multi-typed ATP-rated pilot and president of Shepherd Aero. Travis Holland has been teaching owners and pilots how to transition into turbine aircraft since 2006. He has accumulated more than 4,000 hours
in the PA46 and oversaw the MMOPA companion training course for many years. Travis trains owners to fly jet aircraft with the only FAA-approved Part 141 jet training program.
He is a designated pilot examiner (DPE) for 5 light jets (Citation Mustang, CitationJet, HondaJet, Phenom 100, and Phenom 300) and is type-rated in nine jets from Mustang to the Gulfstream IV and Falcon 50. In addition, his company moves turbine aircraft across oceans for the broker commu- nity and supports international flights by owners and flight departments with white-glove flight planning and interna- tional trip support services.
A 15-year member of MMOPA, Travis describes himself as an aviation nut who is passionate about aviation safety. He also holds more than 20 world speed records for point-to- point flight operations.
Dr. Scott Dennstaedt
Dr. Scott Dennstaedt holds a com- mercial pilot certificate with an instrument rating and has been an FAA-certificated flight instruc- tor (CFI) for more than 20 years. Out of college, he was employed by the National Weather Service
as a research meteorologist while living in Maryland. He then received his Master’s degree in Computer Science and stepped out of the weather business for about 15 years to pursue a career in software engineering at various aero- space companies such as McDonnell Douglas and Northrop Grumman where he wrote and tested software for air traffic control systems, air defense systems and he even helped
to build a Level D flight simulator for a Beech 1900D. In
the late 1990s, Scott left Northrop Grumman as a fellow software engineer to become a full-time flight instructor where he was able to marry up his meteorology training and experience with his new love for aviation.
Consequently, in 2003 he founded Aviation Weather Workshops that is designed to teach pilots at all experience levels how to minimize their exposure to adverse weather.
In addition to private one-on-one aviation weather training, Scott built over 30 hours of online content he distributes on website (http://avwxworkshops.com). Over the past 20 years, Scott has written over 150 articles that have been published in various aviation magazines.
He is the founder and creator of a new weather planning app EZWxBrief progressive web application elegantly designed to blend supplemental weather guidance with the pilot’s per- sonal weather minimums and expert weather training. All of this is uniquely integrated with the EZDeparture Advisor to instantly let you know the most favorable time to depart that will minimize your exposure to adverse weather along your proposed route.
MMOPA MAGAZINE JULY / AUGUST 2021 17