“The true stars that we have had speak at our monthly dinner meetings come from our partnership with the AIAA Niagara Frontier Section. When Astronaut Sandy Magnus came to speak at a joint meeting we had a crowd of almost 150 people. Ms. Magnus couldn’t have been more accommodating. She gave a tremendous speech and stayed afterwards for over an hour.”— Larry Cabado, 88th President, Aero Club of Buffalo
Niagara Frontier Section member Renso L. Caporali, retired Senior Vice President of Raytheon and former Chairman and CEO of Grumman Corporation, is selected for AIAA Honorary Fellow “For devotion to the pursuit of excellence in aeronautical engineering as embodied by his contributions to America’s aircraft and space systems development.”
Section chair Kevin Burns is activated for military service. He does not return, as he moves to the West Coast after active duty. Bell Aerospace Textron has been completely shut down in Western New York by this time. With no vice chair or other officer to assume leadership and dwindling participation, the section becomes inactive — and remains so through 2006. Kevin keeps in touch with members in the intervening years and encourages them to become active again.
In 2007, four members from Calspan and the University at Buffalo — Walter Gordon, John Crassidis, Andy Garrell, and Paul Schifferle — in coordination with AIAA National, self-appoint themselves to the four required officer positions and restart section activities.
The Aero Club of Buffalo presents their first academic and flying scholarship at the 22nd annual Niagara Frontier Aviation and Space Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony. This co-sponsored event, along with the Aero Club’s scholarship award, continues to this day.
AIAA Fellow Donald Ward, Col (ret.) USAF and Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M, presents “A Generation of Change: One View of Fighter Aircraft Evolution in the Last Five Decades.” Col Ward’s Air Force tours included wing commander of the 4950th Test Wing at Wright-Patterson and commandant of the Air Force Test Pilot School.