Mark P. Stucky

Mark P. “Forger” Stucky was an aerospace research test pilot at NASA’s Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, until the middle of September 1999, when he left Dryden for other employment. Stucky transferred to Dryden in February 1996 from NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, TX. He was assigned as a pilot on various flight test models of the F-18 and F-16 aircraft as well as the King Air. He also was the project pilot in the Eclipse project, which involved towing a QF-106 behind a C-141 to test a method of launching spacecraft. When he joined Dryden, Stucky had logged over 4,000 flight hours in over forty different models of aircraft varying from the U-2 spyplane to the Goodyear Blimp.

Stucky’s aviation career began in 1974 when he started hang gliding off the Kansas flint hills at age 15. He attended Kansas State University where he received a Blue Key scholarship for an extra-curricular design project involving hang gliding. Stucky graduated from KSU in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Science.

After earning his degree, Stucky joined the United States Marine Corps where he flew the F-4 Phantom and later the F/A-18 Hornet. During his tenure in the Marines, Stucky was selected for and graduated from the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TopGun), the Marine Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course, and the USAF Test Pilot School.

Stucky served as a test pilot at Naval Air Station Pt. Mugu and Naval Weapons Center China Lake, CA, flying both operational and developmental test flights in the F-4 and all models of the F/A-18. He was actively involved in software development in the Hornet as well as testing of the Night Attack variants. Stucky was temporarily assigned to Marine forces for several weeks during Operation Desert Shield/Storm and flew several combat missions during the initial air campaign.

Following his return from the Persian Gulf, Stucky completed his postgraduate study with the University of Tennessee and was awarded a Masters of Science degree in Aviation Systems.

Always interested in aerospace, Stucky left the Marine Corps in 1993 to accept a job as a NASA research pilot job with NASA JSC. At JSC, Stucky served as an aerospace research pilot with primary duties as an instructor pilot for NASA Space Shuttle astronauts in the T-38 and the highly modified Gulfstream-II Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA).