SAE Update - September 2022 - 9

No sitting still for this SAE
Aerospace standards committee
TECH FOCUS:
VEHiClE iNTEriOrS
stress, and certification, Walsh specializes in
seats across a broad range of platforms
including general, business, and commercial
aircraft as well as head-of-state completions.
The chartered engineer (U.K. equivalent to
U.S. P.E.) and Fellow of the Royal
Aeronautical Society found his engineering
passion when the crash test requirements for
aircraft seats were published in 1988. He is
now widely recognized within the aviation
seat industry as an expert in seat design,
static and dynamic seat testing, occupant
injury mitigation, flammability, seat
installation, and multi-agency certification.
A career highlight, he told Update, was
leading the industry through the creation
of AS6316 Performance Standards for
Oblique Facing Passenger Seats in
Transport Aircraft. " At the time, this was
something new to the industry. We had
invented something that no one knew how
to certify. So, working with all the
stakeholders, we built consensus around
requirements that have stood for over five
years now without modification. "
In addition to writing standards for SAE,
Walsh has written many internal standards
for Boeing and has served as primary
author and editor of several industryconsensus
comments to FAA advisory
circulars.
His leadership of the SAE SEAT
Committee also counts as a career
highlight, he said, " It's a wonderful
opportunity to bring the committee up to
date and set it on a firm foundation for the
next 25 years with active participation from
the next generation of committee leaders. "
Walsh with the first seat he ever certified.
UPDATE
An engineering journey
Many exciting years passed between his
developing an interest in space as a young
man living outside London within hearing
distance of Heathrow Airport and his
chairing the SAE committee.
" I became fascinated with flight and all
things aerospace as a result of the Apollo
missions, " he told Update. " I remember
being told at school when we were tasked
with writing a fictional essay, 'Kevin, you
are not to write about space, again!' I
quickly figured out you had to be Russian
or American to become an astronaut, so I
ended up switching my ambitions to
engineering instead. "
Walsh earned a B.SC. honors degree in
aeronautical Engineering from The City
September 2022
9
Kevin Walsh
SAE Update - September 2022

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