NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Dana D. Purifoy Dana D. Purifoy became a pilot in the Flight Crew Branch of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., in August 1994. He has accumulated 4400 hours of flying time in over 75 different aircraft.

His recent projects have included flying the F-15 ACTIVE aircraft, the F-15B Aerodynamic Flight Test Facility, and the B-52 carrying the X-43 scramjet experiment and the X-38 prototype for a Crew Return Vehicle for the International Space Station. In addition, he has worked with the Apex High Altitude Flight Experiment to investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of flight at high altitudes and subsonic speeds and the X-36 program to demonstrate the feasibility of future tailless fighters to achieve levels of agility superior to today's fighters. He has also flown the F-16XL number two in the Supersonic Laminar Flow Control Program, the F-16XL number one digital flight control program, the F-18 Systems Research Aircraft, and the CV-990 during its Space Shuttle Tire Tests.

Purifoy is a former Air Force test pilot who served as a project pilot in the joint NASA/Air Force X-29 Forward Swept Wing research program conducted at Dryden from 1984 to 1992. His last assignment in the Air Force was flying U-2 aircraft as a test pilot at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, Calif.

In addition to flying the X-29, Purifoy also served as project pilot and joint test force director with the AFTI F-16 (Advanced Fighter Technology Integration/F-16) program, also located at Dryden.

Purifoy is a 1987 distinguished graduate of the French Test Pilot School, Istres, France, which he attended as an Air Force exchange pilot.

Before his assignments as project pilot on the X-29 and AFTI/F-16 aircraft, Purifoy was chief of the Systems Evaluation Branch at the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards, where he also served as an instructor on the T-38, F-16, and A-37. Prior to becoming a test pilot, he flew F-111 and F-16 aircraft in Great Britain and Germany

Purifoy began his flying career with Air Force pilot training in 1978 after graduating with honors from the University of Michigan with a master of science degree in aerospace engineering. He received a bachelor of science degree in aerospace engineering (Summa Cum Laude) a year earlier. In addition, he is a distinguished graduate of the Defense Language Institute at Monterey, Calif., from which he holds a French language certificate.