Clayton E Houston (1996 Fellow)

Clayton “Clay” E. Houston was elected a Fellow of the Society of Flight Test Engineers for 1996 by the present Fellows of the SFTE.

Clay is a Life Member of SFTE and has been extremely supportive of SFTE throughout his career. He was a charter member of both the Antelope Valley and the Southeastern Chapters and has held various Southeastern Chapter offices and committee chairmanships over the years. Clay presented a paper at the 15th SFTE symposium and his son received the first SFTE Scholarship. He was on the Technical Council for several years participating on several committees and received the SFTE Directors Award in 1988.

Clay’s professional career has been outstanding. His current position at Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems, Engineering Flight Test, is Senior Technical Advisor. Clay graduated from St Louis University with a BS in Aeronautical Engineering in 1956. The bulk of his 39 years has been in all technical aspects of engineering flight test developing an extremely broad technical understanding of the discipline.

Engineering flight test experience has covered test program planning, test procedures, data analysis procedures, test results, real time analysis, and Flying Flight Analyst. He has significant experience in airplane cruise and airfield performance (15 test programs), engine performance (9), structural loads (4), airplane stability and control (7), and is the FAA Designated Engineering Representative for the C-130J program.

He has also had additional experience in civil certification (4), off runway operations(2), aerial delivery (2), In-flight refueling(1 tanker, 1 receiver), seaplane operation(2), flight support (4 telemetry, 4 test), wind tunnel testing (16 operations, 3 project), computer programming (165), airborne data analysis system development (2), Independent Research and Development projects (4), and special projects (3).