On March 27th at 5:00pm in the Bell cafeteria, join the Montreal-Ottawa chapter of the Vertical Flight Society to take part in a presentation about the Bell V-280 by leaders of the program: Ryan Ehinger, Program Manager and Paul Wilson, Chief Engineer.

The V-280 is Bell’s entry into the first stage of the US Army’s “Future Vertical Lift” program that seeks to revolutionize helicopter transport with increased speed and capability over conventional helicopter designs that we are used to. Bell’s fast, sleek and efficient tiltrotor, a smaller and lighter evolution of the V-22, must prove itself against Sikorsky-Boeing’s agile SB>1 Defiant coaxial helicopter that is propelled with a pusher prop. Regardless of which aircraft is selected for the first stage of this competition, there are sure to be implications long to come for both military and civil aviation. Join us to gain first-hand insight from the leaders of the highly successful V-280 program.

When: March 27th 5:00-5:30 networking, 5:30-6:30 presentation, 6:30-7:30 networking

* REGISTRATION DEADLINE MARCH 25th

Where: Bell cafeteria. Park in the employee parking lot and enter through the guardhouse (the North-Western-most parking lot, not the guest parking lot)

Paul Wilson is the Chief Engineer for the Bell V-280 Program. He leads the engineering team responsible for execution of all development efforts on the V-280 Joint Multi-Role Tech Demonstration and Future Vertical Lift Programs. Prior to his current role, Paul led the V-280 Vehicle Systems IPT since 2014 in the development and testing of flight control, avionics, propulsion, and mechanical systems culminating in successful first flight in 2017. In his time at Bell, Paul has served in other leadership roles including as Project Manager for the 407GX Autopilot development and certification program and as the IPT Lead for Bell’s Vehicle Management Systems and Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) Technology IR&D.

Prior to joining Bell, he served in the US Air Force as an Acquisitions and Aerospace Engineering officer. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology

Ryan Ehinger is the Program Manager for the Bell V-280 Valor, winner of the 2018 Aviation Week Defense Technology Laureate Award and Popular Science’s “Best of What’s New”. He joined Bell in 2004. Prior to taking his current position, Ryan had been a member of the V-280 Valor team through their Proposal, PDR, CDR, and First Flight Milestones in both IPT Manager and Chief Engineer roles. Before joining the V-280 team in 2013 he served as the Program and Technology Manager for the Army/Bell Future Advanced Rotorcraft Drive System (FARDS) program. He also served as industry lead for the National Rotorcraft Technology Center – Vertical Lift Consortium drive systems technology area.

As a member of the Vertical Flight Society, Ryan was Chairman of the 2012 and 2013 Propulsion Technical Committee and has authored/co-authored 15 technical papers. He was awarded the society’s François-Xavier Bagnoud award in 2008 for contributions to the rotorcraft industry by a member under the age of 35.

Ryan earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University and a master’s degree in Engineering Management from Southern Methodist University.

Ryan holds nine patents and has several patents pending.