A Look Inside the Career of Nick Lappos

Soaring high above the Smoke Creek Desert in northwestern Nevada, a small object can be seen slowly
making its way through the hot, 100-degree sunshine. Looking out over the stretches of beautiful,
uninhabited lands from two thousand feet above the desert, Nick Lappos, a Sikorsky Senior Technical
Fellow and industry leader in the field of Aeronautics, is at peace.
This plane is like a kite; youre directly in tune with the air, said Lappos from his office at Sikorsky
Aircrafts Stratford, Connecticut facility. That simplicity yields a great deal of compatibility between you
and the air. Youre part of the environment. It may be as close as you get to being a bird.
Thats a feeling that Lappos, a former test pilot, has been missing recently. The past decade has taken
him away from flying and toward more of a management and engineering-based role. But, recently,
Lappos has regained the itch to fly, which led him to purchase an Avid Flier, a kit-built, experimental
aircraft that he recently took on a cross-country flight from California to Connecticut.
Call it a hoorah, said Lappos. I realize that Im getting older and the door will be closing physically and
for every other reason, its a good idea to get it done.
With over 47 years of flight experience under his belt, Lappos has experienced almost every job in the
business. It began, not surprisingly, with inspiration that took root in his childhood.

Chasing a Dream
As the roar of rotor blades filled the air above Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut, a small, sevenyear-old boy leaned against a fence with amazement in his eyes. Staring endlessly into the distance at
the helicopters flying above Sikorsky Aircrafts South Avenue Plant, the boy dreamed of one day soaring
through the air as a pilot himself.
It was in that moment that Lappos knew that he wanted to pursue a career in aviation.
The son of a former World War II pilot, Lappos has always been fascinated with aviation and aerospace.
At the age of 19, he chose to leave college to learn to fly with the U.S. Army. There, Lappos proceeded to
fly more than 1,000 hours in five years as both a combat pilot and instructor before returning to school to
receive a Bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1973.
After graduating, Lappos joined the Sikorsky team as engineer in 1973. I received job offers from a
number of places in the industry, but it was Sikorsky that drew me most, said Lappos. One of the driving
factors behind his choosing Sikorsky was the potential for him to apply early after being hired for a spot in
the pilots office.
For Lappos, everything was about flying. Everything from his career to his hobbies of astronomy and
building model rockets takes root in the aerospace industry. For him, this made Sikorsky an easy choice.

The Rise of an Icon

About a year after joining Sikorsky, Lappos transferred from his engineering position to the pilots office,
allowing his career to flourish.
Since joining Sikorsky, Lappos has been involved with many groundbreaking projects including test
piloting the Black Hawk helicopter, many of its variants, the Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche, its
predecessor the Fan Tail Demonstrator, the Advancing Blade Concept (ABC) Technology Demonstrator
(the predecessor of the X2 Technology Demonstrator), and the S-76 . He also served as the program
director for the Robert J. Collier Trophy winning S-92 helicopter.

Lappos recalls one flight in particular that stands out from his years at Sikorsky. It was the first time he
flew his wife. We had traveled to Australia together, and the Australian Seahawk Squadron had invited
me to come fly their Seahawk, said Lappos. They had [my wife] Mary sit in the back. It was the first time
we flew together. Lappos continued, saying that they flew through Sydney Harbor, taking in the amazing
views. Lappos co-pilot that day is now a Commodore in the Australian Navy.
Despite all his experiences, Lappos says that one thing stands out in his career above all else: the
people. The reality of the career is always people, said Lappos. Working with the professionals I work
with in flight test; the other pilots, the engineers, the mechanics, the inspectors who prepare the
machines, and the folks on the line who make them, that is a wonderful experience.
To others, Lappos is the one who stands out. Lappos is great, said Ryan Burke, an intern in Advanced
Concepts. He is very intelligent, and I feel he is someone everyone in the industry should be exposed to.
Throughout his career as an aerospace engineer and test pilot, Lappos also has had the privilege of flying
many prominent national and international figures, including Neil Armstrong and other NASA astronauts,
high ranking U.S. and foreign military officials, and chief executives.
I was fortunate enough to be the pilot selected to check out King Hussein of Jordan in the S-76 and
again in the Black Hawk, and we hit it off, said Lappos. He realized that I loved flying the way he loved
flying. He used it as therapy. He would be busy wrestling with world problems, and he would take two
weeks off and ask me to come over, stay at the palace, and spend time flying with him.
Lappos recalled one memorable flight with King Hussein. We landed on a tall mountain in Jordan called
The Rum, said Lappos. We shut down in complete peace. King Hussein and I sat on a rock with our feet
dangling over a precipice that was at least 1,500 feet above the desert floor, tossing little rocks off, while
watching the sunset and the stars come out. It was fantastic.
Lappos has accomplished much in his long career, including 18 U.S. patents, being elected to the
Academy of Distinguished Alumni of Georgia Tech, receiving the Sir Barnes Wallis Medal for significant
contributions to innovation, winning the Frederick Feinberg Award as the most outstanding pilot, and
holding three Federation Aeronautique Internationale world speed records. However, if you ask him, he is
most proud of his work on the 2010 Collier Award-winning S-92 aircraft. Working with the S-92 team to
close the design, get it certified, and into production was a terrific experience, said Lappos. Being the
program manager for the S-92, I was teamed with a bunch of first-class engineers and operations
professionals to get the airplane up. It was a fantastic achievement.
During his first stint at Sikorsky, which lasted from 1973-2005, Lappos held positions as Director of Flight
Test Engineering and both Assistant Chief and Chief Test Pilot, while logging more than 7,500 hours of
flight time in 70 different types of helicopters as a test pilot. When youre the Chief Test Pilot you get to go
to trade shows and just fly everyone elses machines, said Lappos.

Returning Home
After parting ways with Sikorsky in 2005, Lappos spent three years as the VP of Government Programs at
Gulfstream Aerospace and three years at Bell Helicopter two years as the Senior VP of XworX and a
year as the Chief Technology Officer before returning to Sikorsky in 2011. The things that Sikorsky
does are just different, said Lappos. I can take you from [my desk] and walk over and within 200 steps
and find the worlds best expert in any one of 50 different things. Lappos continued by pointing to the
great teamwork and trust cultivated at Sikorsky, which, he believes, leads to the great innovative work
done here. We have young people, older people, and everyone in between, working together as a team,
listening to each other and respecting each other. Its very rare, said Lappos.

In his current role as Senior Tech Fellow, Lappos leads a group of industry leaders, each with their
specific expertise, who are responsible for solving some of the most challenging technical issues related
to the rotorcraft industry, while also mentoring future industry talent.
Having accomplished so much in his career, people often ask Lappos if he has advice for others who
have similar passions. His response usually revolves around his strong support of the benefits of
education. The most important, pivotal thing for me was not learning to fly; it was getting an engineering
degree, said Lappos. Learning to feed that innate love is a very important thing in whatever you want to
do.
With so much career experience, Lappos still has one wish left, to share in the experience of flying the
next generation of Sikorsky helicopters. I flew the ABC, which was the grandfather of the X2 , said
Lappos. One of the things that I would love to do is fly the Raider and Defiant. I would really love
that. That would kind of cap a career. It would be a lot of fun to have todays crop of test pilots let me
share their joy.
[Editors note: A Q&A story on Nick Lappos recent cross-country airplane flight will be posted in the near
future on MySikorsky.]
By Thomas Korolyshun