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Contact:
Dave Eastman |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
97-136
LONG BEACH, Calif., June 13, 1997 -- Bill Casey retired May 30 following a distinguished career with McDonnell Douglas (NYSE: MD) as an engineering and experimental test pilot and ultimately as director of Flight Operations for Military Transport Aircraft here.
Casey was the chief pilot for the YC-15, which first flew in the 1970s as part of the Air Force's Advanced Medium Short-takeoff-and-landing Transport program. Although production of the YC-15 was not approved, many of the technologies demonstrated by it were incorporated into the Air Force C-17 Globemaster III, including the blown-flaps lift technology for short-field capability. Casey commanded the first flight of the C-17 on Sept. 15, 1991, and established an outstanding safety record for the new multi-role airlifter.
Chuck Walls has been named interim director of Flight Operations. Walls is a graduate of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School and has been the C-17 chief pilot since 1994.