Donald L. Mallick
NASA Pilot
Donald L. Mallick was a research pilot with NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center from 1963 until 1981. He later became Deputy Chief for the Dryden Aircraft Operations Division, serving in a management position with some limited research and support flying.
Mallick became Chief Pilot in 1967. He was project pilot on the YF-12 and XB-70A research programs of the late 1960s and 1970s. He later flew on the NASA Lockheed JetStar Prop-Fan, and Laminar Flow Wing programs.
During the mid-1960s Mallick was the chief project pilot on NASA’s Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV). The LLRV helped develop the piloting procedures that were used during the final portions of the lunar landings.
Mallick made a flight in NASA’s lightweight M2-F1 Lifting Body on January 30, 1964.
Mallick first joined NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1957, at the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory (later redesignated Langley Research Center), Hampton, VA, as a research pilot. During that period Mallick participated in numerous Very Short Take Off and Landing (VSTOL) type research programs, including the Vertical Take Off and Landing (VERTOL) VZ-2 aircraft. He transferred to the Flight Research Center in 1963, remaining there until April 3, 1987.
Donald Mallick graduated with honors from the University of Florida. Mallick served as a pilot in the US Navy after two years of undergraduate work at Penn State.