Kurt Reesman, Ph.D.

I am an aviation human factors and pilot training expert with more than 45 years of flying and 35 years of flight and academic instruction across military, general aviation, and airline training environments. Today I am a type-rated Boeing 737 flight crew training instructor and a Flight Operations Human Factors subject matter expert at a major U.S. airline.

Military Foundation

I began my career as a United States Air Force pilot, flying the T-37 and the F-15E as an instructor and evaluator. I served as Chief of Standardization for two training squadrons and as Director of Wing Plans and Evaluations. I also instructed and evaluated Royal Saudi Air Force crews in the F-15S, where I wrote five training syllabi and manuals. Those years taught me to be disciplined about evidence and to never assume anything about why a crew did what it did.

Academic Career

For 15 years I taught in higher education as a flight instructor, lecturer, and professor. I held faculty and leadership roles at Liberty University, Middle Tennessee State University, and Auburn University. At Liberty, I was an Associate/Assistant Professor and Assistant Chief Flight Instructor. At MTSU, I was a Lecturer and student mentor. At Auburn, I was a Lecturer and Assistant Chief Flight Instructor. All of these institutions had a FAA Part 141 flight program, but also provided Part 61 flight training. I built and taught courses in Human Factors in Aviation, Crew Resource Management, Commercial Aviation Safety, Aeronautical Decision Making, Aviation Weather, Turbine Engines and Jet Transports, and Applied Aerodynamics.

At Auburn I was Co-Principal Investigator on an FAA grant studying effective training and checking methods for the emerging pilot workforce. I also served as an FAA Administrative Pilot Examiner and an Airman Certification Representative.

Airline & Industry Leadership

Today I train flight crews at a major U.S. airline, including new-hire first officers and captain upgrades, in the simulator under the FARs, Advanced Qualification Program guidance, and company Flight Operations Manuals. In the Flight Operations Human Factors group I conduct literature reviews, advise safety-related groups on operational initiatives, and lead our extended reality (XR) technology research in aviation training.

Before the airline, I was the program manager and lead developer for the FAA-mandated Airline Transport Pilot Certification Training Program, where I wrote twelve of its eighteen ground school courses. I also developed the A-320 type rating curriculum and the Part 142 quality assurance program that went with it.

I have also served as an industry member on the FAA Human Factors Task Force Aviation Rulemaking Committee and on the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee working group that helped write the Private, Instrument, and Commercial Pilot Airman Certification Standards.

Education

• Ph.D., Adult Education, Auburn University (2022)

  Dissertation: Training the Emerging Pilot Workforce: Does Generation and Gender Influence Curriculum Design?

• Master of Aeronautical Science (Aviation Operations), Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (1994)
• B.A., Psychology & Religious Studies (double major), Western Kentucky University (1982)

Teaching & Safety Education

Alongside the flying, I have taught. For over 15 years I led collegiate courses in aviation human factors, crew resource management, aviation safety, and airplane aerodynamics. As a national safety presenter and Flight Instructor Refresher Course instructor for the AOPA Air Safety Institute, I delivered 120 safety seminars to nearly 18,880 attendees and 61 refresher courses that produced 2,548 instructor renewals.

That background matters in litigation. In a deposition or a courtroom, the job is to take a hard idea, make it clear, and then hold up when someone pushes back on it. That is what I have done my whole career as an instructor and evaluator. I am a storyteller who makes the difficult easy.

Recognition & Standing

I am a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS), I hold a Ph.D. from Auburn University, and I carry an Airline Transport Pilot certificate with a Boeing 737 type rating. My airman record is clean, with no FAA certificate actions or violations.

Consulting Practice

As founder and principal of Kurt Reesman Consulting, LLC, I provide expert analysis and testimony on aviation human factors, pilot training and decision-making, and standard of care. I take work from both plaintiff and defense counsel, and I also advise on flight program development, flight instruction, and aviation safety.

Credentials get you in the door. They do not do the work. What I offer attorneys is simple: careful human factors analysis, opinions that stay inside my expertise, a straight answer when a question falls outside it, and conclusions that are mine no matter who is paying the bill.