RETIRED NASA TEST PILOT LANDS AN HONOR SCHNEIDER TO BE ENSHRINED ON WALK.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Former NASA test pilot Ed Schneider, once dubbed ``Fast Eddie'' by his colleagues, is making another rapid move - going from retirement to Aerospace Walk of Honor enshrinement in less than two years.

Schneider is one of the five test pilots who will be inducted Sept. 24 into Lancaster's Aerospace Walk of Honor. Schneider is being honored for his achievements during a flying career of 35 years that included 18 years as a test pilot at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.

Schneider said he was surprised by the honor, especially since he had only wrapped up his career in May 2004.

``It's a big deal for me,'' Schneider said in a phone interview from his San Diego home. ``It was something that I hoped might happen someday. I was happily surprised that I was picked.''

Joining Schneider in the 2005 class of the walk are John Allavie, Wallace Lien, former Edwards Air Force Base commander Doug Pearson, and Richard Thomas. This will be the 16th class of pilots inducted into the walk, which honors outstanding achievements in aviation from pilots with a connection to Edwards.

Schneider had not planned on an aviation career while growing up in Dayton, Ky., a town near Cincinnati. Originally, he wanted to go to medical school, but a job as a hospital X-ray technician taught him that ``doctors had horrible lives'' and put him off the idea.

At the time - 1968 - the Vietnam War was going on and there was a very real prospect of being drafted.

``If I'm going into the military I want it to be on my terms,'' Schneider said. ``It (a career as a Navy pilot) sounded romantic and fun and it was. It was everything the recruiter told me.''

Schneider spent the first part of his career in helicopter squadrons before going to the Navy Test Pilot School. At 24, he became the youngest to graduate from the school.

In 1982, while still in the Navy, Schneider came to Dryden in a pilot exchange program. A few months later, when a pilot slot opened up, Schneider left the Navy and joined NASA.

``Flying at Dryden was probably the best test pilot job at the time,'' Schneider said.

Schneider has logged more than 7,800 hours of flying and has flown 87 different types of aircraft. He has made first flights in five unique research aircraft.

Schneider's work with the F-18 High Angle of Attack Research Vehicle is regarded as his most important work. That airplane was designed to operate at low speeds and at high angles of attack - areas where aircraft tend to stall and become uncontrollable.

The aircraft was fitted with three thrust vectoring paddles - paddles that redirected engine exhaust to help maneuver the aircraft. The F-18 HARV provided data on high-angle- of-attack flight - meaning flight with the plane's nose held as much as 70 degrees from horizontal.

Schneider flew about half of the program's 385 research flights over a nine-year period.

Among the aircraft Schneider flew while at Dryden was the SR-71 Blackbird, a favorite among Antelope Valley aviation fans. The sleek aircraft was capable of flying more than 2,000 mph and could climb to altitudes of about 80,000 feet.

``It was thrilling. I had to pinch myself when I was cruising 3.2 Mach (about 2,200 mph),'' Schneider said.

Schneider flew the aircraft to assist with pilot training when the Air Force reactivated the aircraft for reconnaissance work and for sonic boom research.

The SR-71 was also a labor-intensive aircraft to fly, needing precise handling and constant monitoring of its systems.

``It was a lot of work. There wasn't much time to look out the window,'' Schneider said. ``When you did it was impressive.''

For a period of about two years, between 1998 and 2000, Schneider served as Dryden's chief pilot. As chief, he headed a team of thirteen research flight crews.

His last job at Dryden was as a deputy director, a management post he held for a few months in 2000. In September of that year, Schneider left for a job as a staff pilot and T-38 instructor at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

``I wanted to go back to full-time flying rather than being a flying manager,'' Schneider said of the move.

Immediately, he said, his flying time increased from about 200 hours of flying time a year to 300 hours. The requirements of flying in the congested Houston airspace and the need to be significantly better than the astronauts he was teaching pushed his flying skills to higher levels, Schneider said.

``I was flying better than at any time in my life,'' Schneider said.

In 2004, Schneider decided to call it a career, having achieved everything that he wanted in terms of being a test pilot and a research pilot.

``I wanted to leave at the top of my game and I did,'' he said.

Schneider still flies, doing flights about once a month for a company in Van Nuys that does aerial photography for commercials and movies. Schneider works with another former Dryden test pilot, Tom McMurtry, who is also a member of the Aerospace Walk of Honor.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Ed Schneider gives a thumbs-up after his last flight in September 2000 at Dryden.

NASA