Month: May 2025

VFS HRC Luncheon June 12

Mr. Braden Barkemeyer, Aerospace Engineer at Bihrle Applied Research Inc. will be presenting “Kamov Ka-32 Flight Test and Flight Model Development for a Level D Full Flight Simulation” on Thursday, June 12 at County Grill in Yorktown.

RSVP

Further details below:

Topic: Ka32 – Flight Test and Flight Model Development for a Level D FFS

Background: In late 2022, a team at Bihrle led a flight test effort to develop a simulator data package for the Ka32 coaxial rotor helicopter. The team developed and validated flight model software for integration into a Full Flight Simulator. The end-user of the FFS received Level D qualification from their country’s CAA in late 2023 and now uses the simulator for firefighting crew training.

Speaker: Braden Barkemeyer, Aerospace Engineer, Bihrle Applied Research

Date: Thursday, 12 June 2025

Time:
11:45 Check-in & Networking
12:00 Seated & order lunch
12:45-1:15 Presentation
1:30 End

Location: County Grill, 1215 George Washington Memorial Hwy, Yorktown, VA

Cost: Free to current VFS HRC members (or those joining VFS onsite)

Deadline for reservations: 1100 Wed, 11 June 2025

POCs: HRC Tech Prog Chair vp@vfshrc.onmicrosoft.com

Guests Are Welcome, pay as you go!!

Board Members

Board Members:

President – Ming Lau,
pres@vfshrc.onmicrosoft.com

Vice President – Mat Thomas, vp@vfshrc.onmicrosoft.com

Treasurer – Susan Gorton, treasurer@vfshrc.onmicrosoft.com

Secretary – Dr. Robert Haynes, secretary@vfshrc.onmicrosoft.com

Education Chair – Dr. James Stephenson, education@vfshrc.onmicrosoft.com

Industry Representative – Trevor Archinal, industry@vfshrc.onmicrosoft.com

Membership Chair – Dan Wolfe, membership@vfshrc.onmicrosoft.com

Member-at-Large – Tommy Bernal

Member-at-Large – John Berry

Member-at-Large – David Meyer

Member-at-Large – Brad Snowden

Member-at-Large – Aaron Trinh

2025 Scholarship Announcement

The Hampton Roads Chapter of the Vertical Flight Society each year typically awards three scholarships to High School Seniors in the Chapter area. These awards honor the memories and deeds of Robert Powell, Edward ‘Ed’ Austin, and Christopher Gavora. This year, the HRC chapter has chosen to award five highly qualified students who are pursuing 4-year STEM degrees. The awardees for this year’s VFS-HRC scholarships are:

Emily Paul, the daughter of Julia and Mark Paul, from Blacksburg, Virginia.

Isabelle Chao, the daughter of Jeff and Julie Chao, from Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Ian Lindo, the son of Michelle Lindo, from Chesapeake, Virginia.

Cailyn Gregory, the daughter of Kristen and Matthew Gregory, from Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Ryan Dereix, the son of John and Angela Dereix, from Williamsburg, Virginia.

Each of these students have shown amazing diligence to their academic pursuits, exceptional performance in sports or civic outreach, and received excellent letters of recommendations. We are proud to award these scholarships to such deserving individuals.

The Robert Powell Scholarship

The Robert Powell Scholarship was established to honor the long-time treasurer of the Hampton Roads Chapter whose stewardship of the chapter’s financial assets originally enabled the chapter’s STEM outreach program, including its scholarship fund.

The Edward ‘Ed’ Austin Scholarship

This Edward ‘Ed’ Austin Scholarship was established to honor Ed’s many years as a chapter board member in various positions from treasurer to education director. In his retirement, Ed continued to support the chapter through staffing multiple events, encouraged the public outreach of our chapter by maintaining our website, and was a huge and continued proponent of our STEM outreach program including the scholarship program.

The Christopher Gavora Scholarship

The Christopher Gavora Scholarship was established to honor the son of COL William Gavora, former Commander of the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate. Chris was killed in a tragic high school baseball practice accident shortly after his family relocated from Hampton Roads to Texas.