Mark C. Dickerson
NASA Pilot and Armstrong Program Manager
Mark C. Dickerson was a pilot and project manager at NASA’s Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA.
A research pilot with over 4,800 hours in more than 60 different types of aircraft, he managed aviation safety-related projects supporting NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, including those in advanced self-adaptive flight controls and engine and structural sensors systems. He also flew research missions in the TG-14 motorized sailplane.
Dickerson came to NASA Dryden in 2004 after a career in the U.S. Air Force and private industry. Aircraft testing disciplines in which he has specialized include F-5F weapons envelope expansion, F-16-LANTIRN automatic terrain following, F-16 systems, high-angle-of-attack, engine integration and performance; F-18 stores integration and carriage and systems integration tests.
During his Air Force service Dickerson served as a test and instructor pilot on T-38 and F-15 aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base as well as in New York, Colorado, and Canada, and was deputy commandant of the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards, from which he had graduated in 1985. He was a staff officer from 1991-93 in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. After promotion to colonel, Dickerson worked on development and acquisition of sensitive space-related systems at Peterson Air Force Base, CO.
Upon retirement from the Air Force, Dickerson served with Veridian Corporation as Variable-Stability Learjet and VISTA F-16 instructor pilot for the Air Force and U.S. Navy Test Pilot Schools for several years.
Dickerson earned a Bachelor of Science in Applied and Engineering Physics from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; a master’s in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA; a master’s in business administration from Regis University, Denver; and is an adjunct faculty member at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Awards Dickerson has received include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service medal, and the Air Medal. He is an Associate Fellow and former board member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and served on the Flight Test Technical Committee of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is the author or co-author of several technical papers.