Our Transportation expert, he began his flying career as an Air Force fighter pilot and instructor pilot, which included a tour flying F-4's in the Viet Nam war.  He was then a test pilot, instructor test pilot, and test squadron operations officer – later becoming Commandant of the USAF Test Pilot School.  Between those assignments, he was selected by NASA as a Pilot Astronaut, working in many areas of Space Shuttle and Space Station operations and development.  His two flights in space were as pilot of the Space Shuttle Atlantis (launching a DoD payload) and the Space Shuttle Columbia (carrying the ASTRO-1 astronomy laboratory).

After commanding the USAF Test Pilot School, he retired from the Air Force to rejoin NASA as Program Director of the joint US-Russian Shuttle-Mir space flight program.  He was selected in 1995 as Director of the FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ.  Following the crash of ValuJet Flight 592, he became the FAA Associate Administrator for Regulation and Certification – leading the government agency responsible for oversight and regulation of civil aviation safety.  He then served as a high school mathematics and physics teacher for two years.

He is a distinguished graduate of the USAF Academy and has an MS in Engineering from Purdue University and an MA in Education from Virginia Tech.  His many honors include top graduate in both Pilot Training and Test Pilot School,  the Air Force Legion of Merit, 2 Defense Superior Service Medals, Defense Distinguished Service Medal, 3 Air Force Distinguished Flying Crosses, 14 Air Medals, and Distinguished Astronaut Engineering Alumnus of Purdue University.

In 2006 he was appointed Superintendent of Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Georgia.