Wayne Michael Ringelberg

Wayne M. Ringelberg is the chief pilot at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. He flies the center’s Beechcraft B200 Super King Air, F/A-18, and T-34 mission support aircraft, as well as an Airbus H135 helicopter at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He is part of the X-66 demonstrator aircraft pilot team and because of his vertical lift experience, supports efforts under NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission.

Experience

Ringelberg joined NASA Armstrong’s flight operations in 2013 after 20 years with the U.S. Air Force and five years as a civil service test pilot for the Department of Defense. He was previously assigned to fly NASA’s X-57 Maxwell experimental aircraft; DC-8 flying science laboratory; Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA); and remotely piloted X-56 multi-utility technology test bed.

During his military career, Ringelberg was director of Operations, responsible for flight operations for test support missions at Edwards Air Force Base, California. While at the base, he was an instructor for the C-12 and T-38 at the base Test Pilot School as well as a test pilot for the KC-135 and KC-10 aircraft. He retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel and command pilot.

Education

Ringelberg earned a Master of Science in aeronautics in 1996 from the California Institute of Technology and was a Distinguished Graduate earning a Bachelor of Science in astronautical engineering in 1987 from the U.S. Air Force Academy. He is a senior member of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics as well as an Associate Fellow for the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.