Members Spotlight – Marty Maisel

This month’s Members Spotlight is on Marty Maisel.

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Calling Marty an aeronautical engineer is like calling Babe Ruth a baseball player. Marty’s engineering capabilities are at a level that many of us can only dream of. Marty’s love of aviation started at an early age when he built model airplanes. Marty loved the construction process, and dreamed of becoming an aeronautical engineer. Marty’s eighth grade year book made reference to Marty wanting to make his life career in aeronautical engineering. Remember, Marty was about 14 at this time.

Fresh out of college, Marty went to work for Hamilton Standard in 1960. This was at the time that Marty’s friends dreamed of designing space ships and rockets and going to the Moon. Marty dreamed of designing airplanes and airplane equipment. At Hamilton Standard, Marty specialized in the design of propellers for VTOL (vertical take off and landing) aircraft. From here, Marty joined Boeing Helicopters, again specializing in the aerodynamics of propellers and rotors for VTOL aircraft and helicopters. Marty next accepted a position at the NASA Ames Research Center, which required him to relocate from the East Coast to the West Coast in 1970.

At Ames, Marty became a member of a small team that developed the XV-15 Tilt Rotor VTOL proof-of-concept research aircraft. That prototype test aircraft is now on permanent display in the Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum near Washington D.C. Marty is extremely proud (rightly so) of his achievements in the development of this aircraft. This aircraft led to the development of the famous Osprey VTOL aircraft that is flown by our military today. After 32 years with Ames, Marty retired and moved to Lincoln, Ca.
But, Marty was not done designing and building aircraft. In 1977 Marty had purchased plans for a Cavalier aircraft. A Cavalier is a 2 seat, low wing aircraft with a wood fuselage core structure instead of the typical metal tubing. Marty felt more comfortable working with wood. Life kept getting in the way of construction of the Cavalier, but after retiring, Marty got serious about building the Cavalier. Remember, this is a plans built airplane, not a kit. EVERYTHING has to be constructed. Many of the parts on this aircraft were designed and built by Marty such as the fiberglass wing tip fuel tanks, the fiberglass engine cowl, along with many other custom parts. Marty thinks the aircraft might be ready for first flight this summer.

Marty lights up when talking about his career and achievements. Marty feels incredibly fortunate to have done what he dreamed about as a child. And to quote Marty “I’m still having fun with aviation”.