Dr. Richard Steckel is retired from the Boeing Company in St. Louis in where he worked as a Quality Engineer on the F/A-18, C-17A and 787 programs. He also investigated and developed new methods for aircraft manufacturing and was co-author on nine U.S. patents. From 2009-2015, he conducted aviation safety research at the Center for Aviation Safety Research (CASR) at Saint Louis University (SLU) as senior research assistant and assistant research professor. While at CASR, Richard authored 9 papers on aviation safety topics. Richard is now a visiting assistant professor at SLU where he is a member of 2 Ph.D. committees.

Prior to Boeing, Richard held various positions in the general aviation industry as an air traffic controller trainee, aircraft mechanic, flight instructor and commercial pilot. He received a B.S. in Aero Operations from San Jose State University, an M.S. in Aviation Safety from the University of Central Missouri, and a Ph.D. in Aviation from Saint Louis University. Richard has been an American Society for Quality (ASQ) Certified Quality Engineer, ASQ Certified Quality Auditor and International Standard for Business Aircraft Operators (IS-BAO) auditor. Richard holds the following FAA certificates; Airline Transport Pilot Airplane Multi Engine Land, Commercial Airplane Single Engine Land, Remote Pilot, Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic, Advanced Ground Instructor and has logged approximately 4,800 hours of flight time, with over 2,000 of those hours as a flight instructor.

Richard currently volunteers at Wings of Hope in Chesterfield, Missouri, an organization that changes and saves lives through the power of aviation (www.wingsofhope.ngo) and the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (www.nifa.aero) as a safety judge at collegiate flight competitions throughout the United States.

Enrichment Talks

1. What Happens Behind the Scenes of an Airline Flight
Learn what takes place behind the scenes of a typical airline flight
Have you ever wondered what was going on during your airline flight? This presentation will explain how a flight is planned, what all those devices on the wing do, what you see looking out the window and what all those sounds you hear are.

2. How commercial aircraft are certified to ensure your safety
Flying on the airlines has been and still is one of the safest modes of transportation today. The recent publicity and aircraft certification concerns after 2 high profile crashes may have some concerned about aircraft safety. This presentation will discuss how aircraft are certified and the many tests aircraft must pass successfully prior to passenger use.

3. Amelia Earhart – An Accident Investigation
Using modern investigation techniques, this presentation will look at human factors, risk management, training, flight planning and navigation as the National Transportation Safety Board would do today.

4. The Flying Boats of Pan American Airlines
Learn how Pan American Airlines brought commercial aviation to the South Pacific. With the use of specialized amphibious aircraft, and a system of airports developed for this operation, Pan American led the way in providing travel to the South Pacific.

5. The Royal Flying Doctor Service – Providing Aeromedical Services for Over 90 Years
Learn about the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia and how it uses medicine, aviation and technology to provide medical assistance across the vast distances of Australia.

6. The History of QANTAS, or the Queensland and Northern Territory Air Services
Learn about the history of QANTAS and how it brought commercial aviation to Australia. Founded in 1920, KLM and Avianca are the only airlines older than QANTAS.

7. Bill Lear - More than just the father of the business jet!
Bill Lear is famously known for revolutionizing business aviation by building an airplane that was specifically meant for this market. This presentation will explore the other talents Mr. Lear possessed. Bill Lear built radios and autopilots before the Lear Jet, and afterward was on the verge of creating a composite business aircraft that was decades before the Boeing Dreamliner and Airbus A350.

8.Flying the Hump – The China Burma Theater during WWII
Learn how the United States Army Air Force supplied the Chinese military and the Flying Tigers to keep them in the fight with the Japanese. The airlift was brought about by the closure of all land routes. Many of the lessons from this operation were used successfully with the Berlin Airlift after WWII.

9. Autonomous Airline Flights - Could We See Uncrewed Airliners?
Learn how close we could be to autonomous airliners. What are the remaining barriers?

10. The History of Aviation Safety - From the Wright Brothers to the Present
Lean how aviation safety has progressed to give us one of the safest forms of travel today

11. United Flight 232: Miracle at Sioux City, Iowa
Learn how Captain Al Haynes uses organizational and team learning, personal mastery, systems thinking and Crew Resource Management (CRM) to mitigate a one in a million occurrence over the skies of Iowa in 1989.

12. Beginner's Guide to Weather
Learn the basics and characteristics of weather such as clouds, fronts air masses and how they impact our lives. The participant will be able to recognize various weather phenomena and events.

13. The History and Challenges of Flight Operations in the Antarctic
Learn about the history of Antarctic flight operations and how aviation has adapted to the unique and harsh conditions.

14.The American Volunteer Group (AVG) in China:The Flying Tigers
Discover how China was able to utilize American pilot and aircraft to fight the Japanese before the United States formally declared war.
(This lecture includes some personal observations and photos that my father took while he was in China with the 23rd Fighter Group, 74th Fighter Squadron that was sent to China to relieve the AVG once war had been declared against Japan).

15. The Air War in the Falklands
Learn ho the British and Argentinians conducted an air war with the challenges of long supply lines and long range flights and how it affected the outcome of the conflict.

Workshops

1. Introduction to Private Pilot Ground School (Ready September 2023)
This workshop is for guests who are curious about the knowledge and skills required to become an FAA certificated Private Pilot. There will be separate sessions of about 60 minutes in duration. The number and content of sessions may be adjusted for the length of the cruise3. Guests may attend any and/or all sessions, as each session is independent of the other. Individual sessions will cover weather, aeronautical chart reading, Air Traffic Control, the National Airspace System (NAS), Navigation, aircraft systems, and introduction to aerodynamics. There will be no exams and none of these introductory courses will prepare the guest to take the FAA Private Pilot Written Exam.
A room with chairs and a flat screen/projector will be required as the sessions are PowerPoint based lectures.
The textbook for the workshop will be the Federal Aviation Administration’ “Pilot Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge”, publication FAA-H-8083B which may be downloaded for free in PDF format from the www.faa.gov website.
The Instructor, Richard Steckel, is an FAA certificated Advanced Ground Instructor, a former FAA certificated Flight Instructor qualified to teach in single and multi engine aircraft as well as teach the FAA Instrument Rating. Richard has 4800+ hours of flight time, 2000+ hours of which is as a flight instructor.

My spouse is Phyllis Steckel, who is also listed with cruiseshipenrichment.net. Her area of expertise is geology and geoscience. Unlike many other speakers, we would not mind sharing a room on the same cruise!

The following recent Cruise History has been recorded for this candidate.