BUFFALO, N.Y., October 31, 2006 – Western New York was well-represented at the Society of Experimental Test Pilots’ 50th Anniversary Symposium & Banquet, held on September 30 in Anaheim, Calif. Louis H. Knotts, president of local technology company Calspan Corporation, was named a Fellow by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP). Also honored as a Fellow was Stanley J. Kakol, a decorated Navy Captain who spent much of his career flying the famed X-22A – an aircraft that Calspan spent years testing for Bell Aerospace in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
The Society of Experimental Test Pilots is an internationally recognized organization that promotes air safety and contributes to aeronautical advancement. Since 1957, the organization has annually honored the most notable contributors in aviation history.
“Lou Knotts and Stanley Kakol are true trailblazers in the annals of Western New York aviation,” said Paul Faltyn, immediate past chairman, Niagara Frontier Aviation and Space Hall of Fame. “Both are members of our Hall of Fame, which speaks to their many endeavors and accomplishments. However, being inducted as Fellows in an internationally recognized organization like the Society of Experimental Test Pilots proves that their legacy of achievement extends well beyond the Western New York region.”
A decorated engineering test pilot, Knotts has been with Calspan for more than 25 years, and was named president/co-owner in February 2005. In 1996, Knotts took over as head of the company’s Flight Research Department. In 2001, he assumed responsibility for all the Buffalo-based aeronautical research and development operations within the company. Knotts is a retired Air National Guard lieutenant colonel and Air Force command pilot, and holds an FAA Airline Transport Pilot rating.
Kakol joined Bell Aerospace in Niagara Falls, N.Y., in 1964 as chief experimental test pilot. He flew the maiden flight of the X-22A, as well as the first 100 flights of the aircraft, completing all structural and dynamic tests. Kakol is perhaps best known for successfully completing a high-risk emergency landing of the X-22A in which the aircraft experienced complete hydraulic failure in the flight control system. Like Knotts, Kakol is a member of the Niagara Frontier Aviation and Space Hall of Fame.
Knotts and his wife live in Wheatfield, NY. Kakol and his wife reside in Mason, Ohio. Conceived in 1940, Calspan Corporation was originally founded in 1943 as part of the Research Laboratory of the Curtiss-Wright Airplane Division at Buffalo, N.Y. Internationally recognized for proven excellence in technology and science, the company has built its reputation on a rich heritage of innovation. Calspan’s corporate structure includes four operating units: flight research, transonic wind tunnel, transportation research, and systems integration and design.
The company’s main complex is located at 4455 Genesee St. in Cheektowaga, N.Y. In October 2005, the company completed a $13.3 million flight research center at the Niagara Falls Airport in Niagara Falls, N.Y. Calspan also maintains a flight research operation at Edwards Air Force Base in Calif., a flight training facility in Roswell, N.M. and a research laboratory in Ashford, N.Y. It also performs on-site accident investigations throughout the eastern half of the U.S. Calspan has 245 employees.