David Wing

Bio


David Wing is a 35 year principal researcher at NASA, specializing in air traffic management research and development (R&D). He develops and analyzes advanced concepts for future airspace operations with operator autonomy. He has led human-in-the-loop simulations, flight tests, and operational trials, and he has developed and transitioned NASA technology to industry for commercialization. His TASAR (Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests) technology received the 2019 R&D 100 award. He currently leads exploratory research on the potential for a digitally enabled operating mode to complement Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) in shared airspace. David is an instrument rated private pilot and cellist.

Selected Publications


  1. Wing, D., Lacher, A., Ryan, W., Cotton, W., Stilwell, R., Maris, J., and Vajda, P. (2022). “Digital Flight: A New Cooperative Operating Mode to Complement VFR and IFR,” NASA/TM-20220013225, Hampton, Virginia, September 2022.
  2. Sharma, V. and Wing, D. (2022). “Dynamic Path Planning Automation Concept for Advanced Air Mobility,” NASA/TM-20220009974, Hampton, Virginia, September 2022.
  3. Karr, D.A., Wing, D.J., Barney, T.L., Sharma, V., Etherington, T.J., and Sturdy, J.L. (2021). “Initial Design Guidelines for Onboard Automation of Flight Path Management,” AIAA-2021-2326. Proceedings of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Virtual Event, August 2021.
  4. Wing, David J. and Levitt, Ian M., “New Flight Rules to Enable the Era of Aerial Mobility in the National Airspace System,” NASA/TM-20205008308, Hampton, Virginia, November 2020.
  5. Wing, D. “The TASAR Project: Launching Aviation on an Optimized Route Toward Aircraft Autonomy.” NASA/TP-2019-220432, Hampton, Virginia, December 2019.
  6. Wing, D., Burke, K., Ballard, K., Henderson, J., and Woodward, J. “Initial TASAR Operations Onboard Alaska Airlines.” AIAA-2019-3613. Proceedings of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Dallas, Texas, June 2019.
  7. Wing, D.J. (2015). “Achieving TASAR Operational Readiness,” AIAA-2015-3400, 15th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Dallas, Texas, June 2015.
  8. Wing, D., Prevot, T., Lewis, T., Martin, L., Johnson, S., Cabrall, C., Commo, S., Homola, J., Sheth-Chandra, M., Mercer, J., and Morey, S. (2013). “Pilot and Controller Evaluations of Separation Function Allocation in Air Traffic Management,” Proceedings of the 10th USA/Europe Air Traffic Management Research and Development Seminar (ATM 2013), Chicago, Illinois, June 2013.
  9. Wing, D.J. and Cotton, W.B. (2011). “For Spacious Skies: Self-Separation with “Autonomous Flight Rules” in US Domestic Airspace,“ AIAA-2011-6865, 11th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference, Virginia Beach, Virginia, September 2011.
  10. Wing, D.J., Murdoch, J.L., Chamberlain, J.P., Consiglio, M.C., Hoadley, S.T., Hubbs, C.E., and Palmer, M.T. (2010). “Function Allocation with Airborne Self-Separation Evaluated in a Piloted Simulation,” Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of the Aeronautical Sciences, Nice, France, September 2010.

Patents


Awards/Honors


2021Langley H.J.E. Reid Award, Outstanding Peer-reviewed Publication (sole author)

2019 – R&D 100 Award – TASAR Traffic Aware Planner

2019 – LaRC Transformer of the Year (Partnership) – TASAR Team

2019 – NASA Honor Award – Group Achievement Award, NASA / Alaska Airlines / Industry TASAR Team

2018 – AIAA Associate Fellow

2016 – ARMD Associate Administrator Award for Strategic Partnerships

2016  – Space Act Award – NASA Software of the Year (TAP software)

2016 – NASA Honor Award – Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal

2016 – NASA Honor Award – Group Achievement Award, TASAR Flight Test Team

2014 – NASA Honor Award – Group Achievement Award, TASAR Group

2014 – NASA Honor Award – Group Achievement Award, Separation Assurance Team

2011 – NASA Honor Award – Group Achievement Award, NextGen Separation Assurance Simulation Team